5 cards · beginner

Full Moon

A five-card check-in at the peak of the cycle: what has come to light, what is ripe, and what is ready to be let go.

Draw the Full Moon spread

Optional, and worth doing. Questions starting with what or how, about you, get far more out of a reading than yes/no or predictive ones.

Changes which part of each card's meaning is surfaced.

Reversals

New to tarot? Turn these off until the upright meanings feel automatic.

How to read the Full Moon

Where the new moon spread plants, this one looks. The full moon is the point of maximum illumination, and the traditional use is review and release rather than intention.

How to read it: the "what has surfaced" position is the important one. Full moon readings are usually about something becoming undeniable rather than about something arriving, and the card here often names a thing you already knew and had not said.

Pair it with a new moon reading from two weeks earlier if you did one. The gap between what you planted and what actually came up is the most instructive thing either spread produces.

Do not force a release. The last position asks what is ready to go, not what you would like to be rid of. Those are frequently different cards.

Full guide and layout diagram

The positions

  1. What Has SurfacedWhat the light is now on. The thing that has become hard to ignore.
  2. What Is RipeWhat has come to fruition and is worth acknowledging.
  3. What Is Still UnfinishedWhat has not landed yet and needs more of the cycle.
  4. Ready to ReleaseWhat is genuinely ready to be let go, which is not always what you want gone.
  5. Carry ForwardWhat to take into the next cycle.

For reflection and entertainment. Not medical, legal, or financial advice.