2026 - The Magician, and Wheel of Fortune
Nature’s own ‘Magician’s table’
Time to get specific.
The last few years have been sometimes deeply shocking, often painful and pretty consistently confusing around the world. When we haven’t been directly affected, we’ve still been disoriented and upset by news of all kinds of harm beamed to us in real time, with a slew of mis- and dis-information underpinning it all. From Palestine to Sudan, Ethiopia to Ukraine, my heart has been breaking - and I know yours has, too.
So wherever this year takes us, I might regret it but I am going to risk it and say it now… Thank [insert god/goddess/godx/universe/Claudia Winkleman/all that is holy] for some new energy incoming! From the murky dark depths of the Hermit’s cave, we’re emerging into daylight with an increased ability to direct our energy with intention (Magician), roll with the ups and downs, and maybe even use that intention to make our own luck (Wheel of Fortune).
Scroll down to see how this years cards might play out - but first, some quick thoughts on why annual cards are helpful:
Whatever you believe about the specific benefits of Tarot, how it works or why, you can get something from knowing the card/s of the year. Why?
Each of the 22 Major Arcana cards (in fact each of the 78 cards) comes with a bucket-load of wisdom, mythology, symbolism, imagery, archetypes, correlations and stories attached. Wisdom that overlaps with, and over the centuries has been continually woven with and enriched by, various spiritual and esoteric traditions. In my book, that means every single card is worth your time for a deep dive into its mysteries, on any day of the calendar.
By using the numerical correlation to name an annual card/s of the year, Tarot-ists are simply overlaying one or two cards over the whole 12 months of a year ahead, as a kind of filter to see our lives through. Some people (who give weight to numerology) believe the card/s to be a genuine prediction or curriculum for that year, a kind of weather forecast to help us know what to expect. Others feel that by choosing a focus for that year, we can channel some of the card’s wisdom and medicine to support us in challenging moments - or at least let it inspire us by providing a different perspective.
If either of these feel warm to you, or if you’re just curious, you’re in the right place :)
Here’s what I’ll be looking out for in 2026…
🪄 The Magician / Card number 1 - Intentionality, Agency, Empowerment
The Magician is such a gorgeous card to support moving forward with intention, because it’s a card all about drawing on our skills and the elements we have to hand in order to bring about tangible outcomes in our real lives. Instead of receiving, accepting and going with the flow, as we’ve been asked to do in soooo many ways since 2020, this card is our invitation to start more precisely directing our energy and getting specific about what we want to create or do.
Time to arrange our tables, say the transformational words and be (and make) the change we want to see in the world. In order to do so, however, there is a caveat - we will have to identify and put down the things that are outside our remit and outside our control. If we don’t, we risk scattering our energy so that it loses its power and saps our potential to influence the things we CAN control.
Also (as the wise sage Spidey would say) - ‘with great power comes great responsibility’. So it can be scary to use our agency to name our desires and actually start moving towards them. What if we get it wrong? What if we change our mind, too late? What if people think we’re greedy or demanding? All legitimate concerns when working with the Magician. But… the pay-offs might just be worth it.
🎡 Wheel of Fortune / Card number 10 - Change, Present awareness, Expansive risks
Our second card, the Wheel of Fortune, is here to shake things up (hopefully in a good way)! All change, the cycle is moving on. If the Magician is about getting the details in order, the Wheel is an archetype that speaks to the absolute roller-coaster ride of ‘big picture’ life. The fact that we can’t predict when we’ll get thrown a curveball, or be riding high on success. You could in part even see it as a card about the things we can’t control (see above).
That might seem to be in conflict with the empowering wand the Magician just put in our hands, but Wheel of Fortune invites us into a key piece of medicine and wisdom - that even in those moments when things are in turmoil and flux, we CAN still control something: our reactions. Perhaps if we can hang on and stay present when everything rolls downhill, we’ll slowly edge to a much safer and more secure position on the wheel - the centre - where we’re no longer thrown about so much and can find a bit of steadiness amongst it all.
The last piece of the puzzle (for now), is Wheel of Fortune’s connotations of taking a gamble and its links to Jupiter - the planet of expansion, abundance, and luck. If you’re starting out on something new, embarking on an adventure of any kind, calling in your life’s visions, or simply beginning the journey of saying a quiet ‘no’ to things that no longer serve you, there is an opportunity here to roll the dice and imagining it all going… right. Risks do pay off sometimes. The sky’s the limit. Ask yourself, what’s the absolute best that could happen? And if you’re a betting person, spin the wheel and bet on that. Taking the chance in itself might push you to places you’ve never been before.
