MOON TAROT: A CUSTOM SPREAD FOR EVERY PHASE

Just in time for Eclipse Season 2017, we’ve got your Moon Tarot guide to navigating each Moon phase—with customized card spreads. By Tina Gong.

Labyrinthos Academy Online Tarot School Luminous Spirit Tarot Tina Gong The Numinous Moon Tarot Golden Thread Tarot
Tina’s Luminous Spirit Tarot Deck

As a lifetime student of tarot, and a newer student of lunar cycles, I’ve started exploring the moon’s teachings by casting cards for each Moon phase. I call it Moon Tarot. For this workaholic Capricorn, connecting to the phases of the Moon has taught me that there are times to push forward and times to just chill out a little bit, and I seek the cards’ assistance in figuring out exactly how.

The Moon’s magical cycles invite us to sync our lives to universal rhythms. Through her expansions and contractions, each phase offers us a lesson to incorporate. Likewise, Tarot’s ability to tell stories, ask questions, illuminate answers, and bring fresh perspectives to challenges provides a concrete channel for adjusting to the moon’s timing.

Each spread below offers you the chance to explore challenges and lunar lessons and, like the moon, to incorporate times to push forward and times to reflect. Feel free to infuse your own rituals into these readings to create truly customized Moon Tarot magic!

*Editor’s note: Unsure when each Moon phase begins? We love the Luna Solaria app

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New Moons :: New Beginnings

This phase is all about gathering our energy, strength, and willpower, and finding ways to recharge as we prepare for the coming cycle. It’s a moment to think carefully about what we’d like to accomplish. Use this simple 3-card spread to kickstart your lunar month!

Card 1: Where you have been
Card 2: Where you are
Card 3: Where you want to be

Labyrinthos Academy Online Tarot School Luminous Spirit Tarot Tina Gong The Numinous Moon Tarot Golden Thread Tarot New Moon Tarot Spread
New Moon Spread

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Waxing Crescent :: Setting Foundations

During this phase, we’re ready to develop clear foundations. To break out our notebooks, markers, and post-its as we sketch outlines and create strategies for achieving our dreams. This spread is built to help you identify and utilize all your resources.

Card 1: Your source of energy & willpower
Card 2: Your talents
Card 3: The environment
Card 4: Your resources

Labyrinthos Academy Online Tarot School Luminous Spirit Tarot Tina Gong The Numinous Moon Tarot Golden Thread Tarot Waxing Crescent Tarot Spread
Waxing Crescent Spread

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First Quarter :: Actions & Obstacles

Armed with a vision, we’re ready to act with decisiveness and drive. This time is perfect for pushing forward with our plans and setting things in motion. As we shoot into the future, the First Quarter spread identifies any lingering doubts that might be holding us back.

Card 1: Your self-perception
Card 2: Your obstacle
Card 3: What will help you overcome
Card 4: What holds you back

Labyrinthos Academy Online Tarot School Luminous Spirit Tarot Tina Gong The Numinous Moon Tarot Golden Thread Tarot First Quarter Tarot Spread
First Quarter Spread

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Waxing Gibbous :: Pivot Point

To flow is to survive, to stay rigid is to break. After we’ve worked on our goals, this phase is a perfect time to take a more detailed look at our approach and to assess alternative pathways.

Card 1: The problem
Card 2: Our expectation
Card 3: The reality
Card 4: Guidance

Labyrinthos Academy Online Tarot School Luminous Spirit Tarot Tina Gong The Numinous Moon Tarot Golden Thread Tarot Waxing Gibbous Tarot Spread
Waxing Gibbous Spread

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The Full Moon :: Celebration!

The Full Moon is a time of harvest, self-love, and appreciation for all the things we’ve been given and have earned. Go hang with the people that make you happy and celebrate the joy with this spread!

Card 1: What gives you joy
Card 2: Your gifts to world
Card 3: Your unrecognized potential

Labyrinthos Academy Online Tarot School Luminous Spirit Tarot Tina Gong The Numinous Moon Tarot Golden Thread Tarot Full Moon Tarot Spread
Full Moon Spread

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Waning Gibbous :: Turning Inward

The world is a reflection of our inner selves and so sometimes, our greatest challenge is ourselves. This phase of the lunar cycle asks us to look at our shadows, and challenge our beliefs about who we are. This spread is perfect for drawing at night, complete with an altar of mirrors and candles.

Card 1: Fears
Card 2: Secrets
Card 3: Lies
Card 4: Regrets

Labyrinthos Academy Online Tarot School Luminous Spirit Tarot Tina Gong The Numinous Moon Tarot Golden Thread Tarot Waning Gibbous Tarot Spread
Waning Gibbous Spread

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Last Quarter :: Letting Go

After we acknowledge the shadow self, we must also learn to confront it, embrace it, and let it go. Break out the smudge sticks, and imagine yourself banishing all that burdens you. Each puff of smoke that vanishes in the air represents a piece of your suffering that’s dissolving.

Card 1: What to accept
Card 2: What to forgive
Card 3: What to learn

Labyrinthos Academy Online Tarot School Luminous Spirit Tarot Tina Gong The Numinous Moon Tarot Golden Thread Tarot Last Quarter Tarot Spread
Last Quarter Spread

 

Tina Gong is a self-taught illustrator, developer, and designer of both physical and digital things. She is also the creator of Labyrinthos Academy, an online tarot school taught by monsters and mythical creatures, as well as Golden Thread Tarot and Luminous Spirit Tarot. She resides in Bushwick, and in her own bizarre imagination, with her partner and several sassy stuffed alpacas.

Labyrinthos Academy Online Tarot School Luminous Spirit Tarot Tina Gong The Numinous Moon Tarot Golden Thread Tarot
Nina the Alpaca—Tina’s Alter Ego

THE MANY FACES OF THE FEMININE

The Earth needs empowered feminine energy like never before in 2017. How will you connect to the many faces of the feminine essence?

faces of the Feminine sarah durham wilson jessica sevapreet hesser The Numinous

 

2016 was a wildly challenging ride through womanhood. As we enter the New Year, we sat down with Sarah Durham Wilson and Jessica Sevapreet Hesser to explore how you can activate all of the faces of your feminine in 2017—from awakening your creative force to making friends with death.

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DECIDE HOW YOU WANT TO SHOW UP AS A WOMAN IN THE WORLD

To show up as a woman in the world, you have to understand that first and foremost you are WOMAN. Imagine what it would be like to feel worthy, beautiful, loved, and important without needing to change or maintain anything. What if no matter what you did, no matter how you looked, no matter what happened to you, you understood that these essential things were always yours?

Activation: Grace of God Meditation

Mantra: Bhand Jammee-ai

Crystals: Chrysocolla, Ruby, Larimar, Rose Quartz

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FIND YOUR GODDESS

I didn’t really find the Goddess, she found me. Many years ago I had an experience of my god dying. It really came out of the blue, and this idea of a Christian male godhead started to disintegrate within me. At first I really grieved this loss, but then things started to move in a different way—Jessica

Activation: Finding the goddess is really just about connecting with the parts of you that feel beautiful and graceful. A perfect way to do this is through dancing. Put on music and just let it move you. Raise the vibration even higher by wearing something silky or adorning yourself with jewelry. Start with this Goddess Playlist.

Mantra: Adi Shakti

Crystals: Moonstone, Mother of Pearl, Sapphire

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MAKE FRIENDS WITH DEATH

Women hold the death energy because we are always changing, like the Moon and like the seasons. When we remove ourselves from death and darkness it leaves us very incomplete and disempowered. In working with the Faces of Feminine we can come back into integrity with the beautiful wholeness, which is our birthright and the source of our power—Jessica

Making friends with death is about inviting back all the parts of ourselves we have exiled. It’s an invitation back into integrity and into wholeness. Explorations into this dark space can start by just allowing yourself to really be in the unknown.

Activation: Sit in silent meditation, unmoving, with your eyes closed for 20 minutes per day. See what comes up with curiosity, rather than fear.

Mantra: Kal Akal

Crystals: Black Tourmaline, Obsidian, Black Fluorite

Sarah Durham Wilson, Jessica Sevapreet Husser, Faces of the Feminine, Faces of the Feminine Course, DOITGIRL
Sarah Durham Wilson

DISCOVER THE “FOUR NIGHTS”

Once a woman understands the cycles of the earth and phases of the Moon, she can understand herself better. She doesn’t feel so alone because she is one with the Mother, which is where we feel best; it’s where we feel most natural, most feminine, most alive, most nurtured, abundant, and empowered—Sarah

Activations:

Dark of the Moon—Let yourself be emptied. Have a day of silence. Turn off your phone, computer, and TV and just experience being only with yourself, alone and quiet.

Waxing Moon—Make a list of all the new things you want to do for the next year and then go do one! Go on an adventure. Explore. Listen to music that enlivens your spirit.

Full Moon—Get creative. Paint, draw, or cook a fabulous meal.

Waning Moon—Self care. Take a bath. Get a massage. Do some slow yoga. Let yourself eat in a way that really feels nourishing.

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ALIGN WITH YOUR FEMININE AND MASCULINE ENERGIES

When I reside in the unhealthy masculine, I’m chasing, not receiving. I’m pushy, rushed, and faithless. When I lose touch with feminine energy, I lose touch with the best parts of myself. Re-finding the balance between the two serves not just me but everyone around —Sarah

We all have feminine and masculine energy. The key is to know when each is useful. Masculine energy is essential in order to manifest your creativity and turn your feminine force into action and form. But too much masculinity can show up as disconnection, rigidity, aggression, or irritation. Too much femininity arises through overly-emotional reactions, indecisiveness, confusion, or an inability to take action. If you’re experiencing either of these, it’s time to call your neglected side back to the table.

FEMININE ACTIVATION: Try reading or writing poetry, dancing, or singing. Focus on receiving. Do a few minutes of left nostril breathing.

Mantra: Adi Shakti

Crystals: Moonstone, Pearl, Rose Quartz

MASCULINE ACTIVATION: Get physical — go for a run, take a kickboxing class or do a few minutes of Sat Kriya or right nostril breathing.

Mantra: Har

Crystals: Black Lava or Tiger’s Eye

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TRANSITION FROM MAIDEN TO MOTHER

Woman is always the creative essence, whether through giving birth to children, ideas, businesses, art, words, or any other form you put into the world. The Maiden energy is full of vitality and energy. But when we stay there too long, the opposite actually happens: we are drained of our energy and we are stripped of our power. The Maiden doesn’t quite yet know what being woman is, but the Mother embodies it completely—Jessica

MAIDEN ACTIVATION: The gift of the maiden is innocence. If you feel a loss of vitality in life or are lacking passion and enthusiasm, you may need to connect to your maiden energy. Engage in something new—go on a road trip, check out a class you’ve always wanted to take, have an adventure day.

Mantra: Ardas Bahee

Crystals: Aura Quartz, Citrine, Spirit Quartz

MOTHER ACTIVATION: The gift of the mother is grace. If you find yourself really concerned with what other people think of you or are wrapped up in appearances, you could do with a good dose of Mother energy. Connect with Mother Earth. Go outside, walk barefoot, lay in the grass, pick wildflowers. Try the Maaa Meditation.

Mantra: Beautiful, Bountiful and Blissful

Crystals: Mother of Pearl, Celestine, Aquamarine

Jessica Sevapreet Hesser, Sarah Durham Wilson, Faces of the Feminine, Faces of the Feminine Course, Mantras + Miracles, Mantras and Miracles
Jessica Sevapreet Hesser

WORK WITH OTHER WOMEN

I know that the Goddess is the missing piece in so many women living in a patriarchal culture—these are tools I wish my mother had had, the self love and intuition and feminine alignment of cycles and seasons in our lives. When I had a feminine awakening, it literally saved my life and I wanted to share the gifts I’d been shown with every woman I possibly could. I didn’t just want to, it felt like a mission that Goddess had handed me—Sarah

The first step to working with other women is to be willing to get over yourself! Allow yourself to really enjoy the things that other women bring to the table without needing to compete or compare. Every woman has her own gifts and when we join forces our power is exponential.

Activation: Explore lunar wisdom by joining the Moon Club or The Faces of the Feminine.

Mantra: Me Within Me is the Purity. Me Within Me is the Reality. Me Within Me is the Grace. I Am the Master of the Space.

Crystals: Blue Lace Agate, Blue Chalcedony, Turquoise

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BECOME A SACRED ACTIVIST

2017 will be the year of the woman. There is a huge awakening in response to a call felt deep in the heart of every woman, a call put out by a planet which is suffering. Women are rising up, ready to be sacred activists, ready to be protectors of the earth and its people, ready to be the saviors we have been waiting for—Jessica

Becoming a sacred activist means first coming into integrity and alignment with your own values. Take a look at the things you find yourself impassioned about. How much energy do you use that you don’t need to? What do you “make war on,”attack, or hate in your own life or in yourself? Where do you sell yourself as a woman—where do you abdicate your power? After you dig into questions like these, the work you can offer the world shows up really clearly.

Activation: Find an activist group near you or online. Practice the Meditation to Invoke Your Inner Light.

Mantra: Magnificent Mantra

Crystals: Vanadinite, Jasper, Carnelian, Pyrite, Amazonite

 

Join Sarah Durham Wilson of DOTIGIRL and Jessica Sevapreet Hesser for FACES OF THE FEMININE, a four-weeks online women’s study course, with guidance, virtual circles, rituals and Kundalini Yoga starting January 8th. Find out more and register here.