Welcome to 2026 Dear Readers!
Phew! We made it!
And I’m riding The Wheel of Fortune already, countering chaos with flexibility, innovation, and an audio version of this forecast for January!
After being nose-deep in year ahead tarot readings all month, it felt so refreshing to have a more coversational collective forecast and speak to you all directly. And yes, you were right; this does mean that the podcast is back! Stay tuned for a v exciting new project/series soon and consider supporting the work by subscribing below:
We have a really fascinating group of cards here, one that is quite different from the past few spreads we’ve encountered. The Moon appears as our card of the month, encouging us to lean into the loopier elements of The Wheel of Fortune while our environment is colored by the discomfort and suffering of the Three of Swords. Yet we’re invited to look for new and refreshing ways to engage with ourselves and the world as we wait for our Ace of Swords insights intead of hiding behind “work” via our challenge card, the Eight of Pentacles.
🎧 You can listen to the full audio forecast here (for now, I’m using the old substack feed for podcast publishing/hosting and hope to switch as subscriptions grow):
If you want to go deeper with the year’s overarching energy, I also created a Wheel of Fortune Guidebook for 2026 with reflections, prompts, and practices that’ll be available in the shop until the end of the month.
Best always,
JANUARY’S THEMES
Disorientation
Inspiration
Woundedness
Discomfort
Breakthrough
Newness
Intuitive Impression
Riding a ferris wheel at a chaotic fair at nighttime. Seeing the flashing colors expand below you as the wheel rises and noticing the cacophony of the crowd below grow quieter as you ascend into the cold, dark sky.
In
Staying up late working on art projects
Meandering poetry
Confounding arthouse cinema
Clearing your schedule and.. filling it with nothing
Strategic rest and respite
Out
Workshopping tender ideas out loud
Narratives
To-do lists on multiple notepads
Usual approaches
Concise statements
Hello!
You’re reading Alchemag, a newsletter devoted to the mysterious intersections of spirituality, environment, culture, and art. Here, we collect points of interest and create constellations of inspiration around key points in the year: the equinoxes and solstices. Come explore with us!
Words for January
Confusion // Dissolution // Surprise
This reading conjures a murky yet exciting mixture, not unlike the pool from which our favorite invertebrate of the tarot emerges in The Moon. (Why, yes, I just googled ‘are crayfish invertebrates?’) Sure, we talk about “not knowing” often, yet that phrase feels more like a blankness rather than a churning soup/the opaque and indescribable grey in a cup of water you’ve been using to rinse paintbrushes. We’re deep in the latter this month - don’t expect clarity, but do expect some flashes of inspiration and even tranformational wisdom in the haze.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
Prompts for journaling and reflection
🌀 How do I react when things feel unclear? How can I lean into confusion?
🌀 What are my favorite ways to avoid uncertainty, discomfort, or boredom? Find your Eight of Pentacles approaches so you can ID and void them throughout the month
🌀 Where am I feeling inspired to communicate differently? When are new approaches resonating positively?
