Even if you’re abled and neurotypical, the holidays can bring a lot of stress with them. Travel, shopping, family drama, etc. And if you’re disabled or neurodivergent (ND), all that stress can be exponentially more impactful. Travel is physically demanding and can be mentally overstimulating. Shopping means extra expenses, organizing, wrapping, and shipping. And family drama can be all the harder to navigate if, for example, you tend to go nonverbal in the face of conflict, or if you have a family member who’s especially ableist. This isn’t to say that holidays can’t be wonderful, disabled, ND, or otherwise! Just that any challenges that might arise can be all the harder to manage when your body and/or brain work differently than the average body or brain.
As you may have deduced, I really love tarot spreads that act as quick-ish check-ins. A 3-4 card spread doesn’t need to take too much time or energy. But it still gives you more details and context than pulling a single card. This spread is a holiday-specific check-in. It’s intended to give you a heads up about any possible speed bumps coming your way this season, how you might get over that speed bump with minimal jostling, and how you can care for yourself in the midst of a demanding time of year. As always, I’ll show you the spread itself, and then offer a sample reading so you get a sense of how it might play out.
- What challenges might the holiday season present?
- What can I do to mitigate the challenge?
- What gift can I give myself for the holidays?
I used the Next World Tarot for my sample reading. I love this deck for its social justice-minded energy and its diverse range of characters depicted–definitely recommend checking it out! (Though if you have small hands like me, definitely grab the mini version. I have the full-sized deck and these cards are BIG.)
What challenges might the holiday season present? I drew the Two of Wands, which this deck also notes as “dominion” and “Mars in Aries.” I do a lot of traveling for the holidays. We go from my in-laws’ in one state to my mom’s in a neighboring state. It’s mostly wonderful to see everyone, but it’s definitely exhausting. I usually associate the Two of Wands with collaboration, and I wonder if this draw is pointing to the difficulty I have collaborating with my body. It’s easy for me to see my body as a ball and chain to drag about, when it would be much healthier and more constructive to see it as a well-meaning if sometimes-easily-overwhelmed ally.
What can I do to mitigate the challenge? We have the King of Pentacles, which Next World subtitles as the Throne of Security. The Pentacles are all about resources–and not just financial resources, but emotional and energetic resources, as well. The Kings are all masters of navigating and allocating their respective areas of focus, so the King of Pents is someone who knows how to manage their resources wisely. I get this advice from my cards often, but here in particular it feels like a reminder to guard my energy fiercely and don’t be afraid to speak up when I and my body need a break.
What gift can I give to myself for the holidays? Finally, I pulled Three of Wands, AKA “foresight” and (again) “Mars in Aries” in the Next World Tarot. The Three of Wands is a midway point on any journey, that place where you can see how far you’ve come and simultaneously how far you have yet to go. In my upcoming book, Your Tarot Toolkit, I call out the Three of Wands as an opportunity for pride. We don’t celebrate our accomplishments as often as we should, especially the disabled and ND among us. Often our accomplishments feel too small, too late, too different, etc. But we deserve to be proud of what we achieve, even if it’s as small-feeling as getting out of bed on a bad day. The gift I need to give myself this holiday season is pride in what I’ve achieved, no matter what that is.
There you have it–three cards, three tiny insights that I can carry with me into my holiday travels. What about you? If you give this spread a try, I’d be honored to hear what challenges and gifts you come up with, and what insights you glean from your cards. And PS, if you tend to draw cards and think to yourself, “Okay, I understand what this basically means, but what do I DO with that information?” you will love my aforementioned book! It’s choc full of affirmations, reflection questions, and activities for every card in the deck so you can turn your daily draw into a self-care toolkit. Click here to preorder–Your Tarot Toolkit hits shelves on February 8th!
Holiday Health Tarot Spread – Tiny Witchcraft
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