A full moon tarot spread

A full moon tarot spread is a reading laid at the height of the lunar month, when the moon’s whole face is lit, to look back over what has grown since the new moon. The six-card spread below asks what has come to fullness, what the light now shows, what deserves your thanks, what to release, what resists the release and what to carry into the waning weeks.

This is a layout for your own deck, not one of the spreads in the TarotSeeker app; the last section explains how to bring a full moon question to the app.

Why read tarot at the full moon?

Reading tarot at the full moon is a way of marking time, not a claim that the moon acts on events. The moon’s cycle is one of the oldest calendars there is: the word “month” comes from it, the Islamic and Hebrew calendars still follow it, and the date of Easter is still reckoned from a full moon.

A new moon comes roughly every 29.5 days. The lit part grows (the moon is waxing) until, about two weeks later, the whole face is lit; then it shrinks (the moon is waning) toward the next new moon. The full moon is the midpoint, which suits a reading about what has ripened and what is ready to fall away. The moon does not cause what you find in the cards; it gives you a date to look.

Which tarot cards belong to the moon?

Two Major Arcana cards carry the moon. The Moon, card eighteen, is named for it, although the Golden Dawn assigned it to Pisces. In the Gilded Garden deck it shows a great full moon cradled in a crescent above two stone towers, with a dog and a wolf howling up at it and a river winding away between them, a path you can see only by moonlight.

The MoonThe shadow surfacing: the unconscious, hidden forces, and the need to trust instinct in the dark.

Full moonlight shows the shape of things but not every detail, so what this spread brings into view deserves a second look by day. The High Priestess, card two, is the card the Golden Dawn links with the moon itself. In this deck she is a barn owl on a golden crescent: the moon’s watchful side, where the Moon card shows its restless one.

How do you lay out the full moon spread?

The full moon spread has six positions: a centre and a ring of five around it.

• Card 1, the full moon. What has come to fullness since the new moon: the matter at its height. Ask: what has this month brought to a head?
• Card 2, in the light. What the light now shows that you could not see before. Ask: what is plain to me now?
• Card 3, the harvest. What has grown well and deserves thanks. Ask: what am I grateful for here?
• Card 4, what to release. What has done its work and can be set down as the light wanes. Ask: what am I ready to let go?
• Card 5, what holds on. The part of you, or of the situation, that resists the release. Ask: what keeps my hand closed?
• Card 6, carried forward. What to take with you toward the next new moon. Ask: what do I keep?

Lay card 1 in the centre of the table, then lay cards 2 to 6 in a ring around it, starting directly above and moving clockwise, so that the six cards make a full disc with the first at its heart.

A worked example

Here is a full moon reading for the question “What has this month of working for myself brought to fullness, and what can I set down?”.

• The full moon: the Nine of Pentacles. Self-made comfort and independence.
• In the light: the Moon. Uncertainty; hidden feelings rising to the surface.
• The harvest: the Six of Cups. Warm memory; someone from the past returning.
• What to release: the Eight of Swords. Feeling trapped by fear more than by walls.
• What holds on: the Four of Pentacles. A tight grip on security.
• Carried forward: the Star. Hope returning after a hard season.

In the Gilded Garden deck, the Nine of Pentacles shows an unhooded falcon on a stone pillar in a ripe vineyard. At the centre, it suggests the month has brought a footing of your own to its height.

The Moon, in the light, suggests how much of the month ran on unspoken fear, the dog and the wolf howling beside a path that was there all along. The Six of Cups, cups of flowers on a cottage step by an open gate, names the harvest: people from earlier years who came back when you began.

In the place of release, the Eight of Swords comes as a welcome card. In this deck no one is bound: the ribbon lies untied and the road runs open. What can go is the habit of standing still as if trapped. The Four of Pentacles beside it, an iron-bound chest half swallowed by ivy, suggests why the habit persists: a grip kept so long it feels like safety.

Eight of SwordsA prison of the mind: bound by fear and blindfolded to the way out.

The Star, carried forward, shows a still lake with one path of light running toward you. In the Major Arcana the Star comes just before the Moon; here the order is turned around. Once the moonlit fear is seen, hope of a quieter kind is what you take on.

How do you read the full moon spread as a whole?

The full moon spread reads as a centre and a ring, with three key relationships.

• Centre and ring. Every card in the ring answers to card 1, what has come to fullness.
• Release and holding on. Cards 4 and 5 sit side by side: what can go, and what clings to it. In the example, the open road and the locked chest describe one reluctance from two sides.
• Harvest and carried forward. Cards 3 and 6 frame the ring, one looking back with thanks, the other forward with intent.

Then count. Two Majors in six cards give the reading weight, and two Pentacles keep it on practical ground, which fits a question about work.

How do the full and new moon spreads work together?

The full moon spread is the second half of a pair with A new moon tarot spread, in this Library. At the new moon you lay that spread to choose what to begin; about two weeks later, you lay this one to see what the beginning has become. Look for the new moon’s seed in this spread’s centre or harvest, and notice whether the obstacle you named a fortnight ago has turned into what holds on. What you release now clears ground for the next new moon.

You need not read on the exact night: the moon looks full for a night or so either side. Keeping a tarot journal covers recording readings so a month can be compared at a glance, and Tarot spreads: how to choose one covers adapting a layout.

Bringing a full moon question to TarotSeeker

In the app, ask a moon-framed question with one of its own spreads: the three-card past, present, future (“What has this month brought to fullness?”) or the five-card Simple Cross, whose roots and aspirations suit a reading about what has grown. Add your first impression before the companion reads, and keep the reading in your journal, where the calendar sets it beside your new moon reading.

Questions readers ask

What is a full moon tarot spread?

A full moon tarot spread is a layout laid at or near the full moon to reflect on what has come to fullness during the lunar month. The six-card spread in this guide places the matter at its height in the centre, with five cards around it for light, harvest, release, resistance and what to carry on.

When should you do a full moon tarot reading?

A full moon tarot reading is best laid on the night of the full moon or a night either side, while the moon still looks full. The full moon falls about two weeks after each new moon, and the cycle repeats roughly every 29.5 days. Many readers pair it with a new moon reading at the start of the month.

Which tarot card represents the moon?

The Moon, card eighteen of the Major Arcana, is named for the moon and describes uncertainty, intuition and the unconscious. In the Golden Dawn scheme, however, the Moon card is assigned to Pisces, and the card linked with the moon itself is the High Priestess, card two, a figure of intuition and quiet inner knowing. Both suit a reading framed by the lunar month.

Does the full moon affect a tarot reading?

The full moon does not change what the cards mean, and there is no evidence that it acts on a reading or on events. What it offers is timing. Reading at the full moon gives you a regular moment to take stock, a fortnight after setting an intention at the new moon.