Sagittarius and the Tarot: A Full Moon Ritual

Can you believe it's almost JUNE?!

We are nearly halfway through 2026, and we have a Full Moon in Sagittarius on May 31st.

To help you get the most out of this moment, I'm calling on the Major Arcana cards Temperance and the Wheel of Fortune.

Sagittarius in the Spotlight

The Sun is in the sign of Sagittarius from November 22nd to December 21st.

If you or someone you love has a birthday in Sagittarius season, you can understand that it's tough being squished into the holiday rush. Birthday celebrations get combined with holiday parties, gifts arrive wrapped in Christmas paper, and the majesty of this sign can be overshadowed by the "season's greetings."

It's not fair, and unfortunately, it happens in my little tarot world too.

My busiest times of the year are before Halloween and between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am always stretched thin at these times, and so I haven't been able to give as much love to Sagittarius's cards. But our upcoming Full Moon is here to change that.

Sagittarius and the Tarot

The archer of the zodiac, Sagittarius, is a fire sign.

Its primary Major Arcana card is Temperance.

Because its ruling planet is Jupiter, Sagittarius is also aligned with the Wheel of Fortune.

And, in the Minor Arcana, it's the busy Eight, Nine, and Ten of Wands that carry the fire.

Adventurous and philosophical, this ambitious sign has its feet on the ground and its dreams in the cosmos. Sagittarius is always asking: What is the bigger picture? What does this mean? Where can we go from here?

This is not restlessness for its own sake. It is the energy of the soul reaching for something larger than itself. Sagittarius wants to understand, to explore, to grow.

Our Full Moon in Sagittarius is an opportunity for you to pull back your bow, rest in that dynamic tension, and work with your highest self. Where would you like to be when the holidays come this year? What miracles would you need to get there? Your fiery archer is ready to collaborate with the divine and take aim.

Temperance and Sagittarius

Smith Rider Waite Deck, Temperance

In the Rider Waite Smith deck, we see an angel standing at the edge of the water with one foot on the land and one foot in the stream, a physical impossibility were it not for her wings. She pours water both up and down at once, defying gravity. In the distance, a clear path leads toward a glowing light on the horizon.

Temperance is all about the middle path.

The word "temperance" comes from the Latin temperare, which means to mix, or to combine in due proportion. Not too much of one thing and not too little of another.

We reach Temperance as the last card of Line Two in the Major Arcana. It is preceded by The Hanged Man and Death. Think of these three cards as the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Christ. The whole point of the story is that we were never separate from our divine selves.

In A Course in Miracles, it's said that humans needed to see a big sign like the crucifixion (The Hanged Man) in order to pay attention. In Death, or while Jesus is in the cave, we recognise that the ego is not the whole self. When we emerge in Temperance, we see that our miraculous being was never doomed to suffer. We just had to forget that before we could believe that we can really rely on the divine for the miracle of the middle path.

Once we have taken our situation as far as our self-will can carry it and then tried to keep going anyway, finally, we reach the moment of release. We give the rest to the divine. And that is when the miracles begin.

Sagittarius understands that we receive miracles from heaven, but only while remaining grounded in our work here on earth.

The Wheel of Fortune and 2026

2026 is a Wheel of Fortune year.

What does that mean? In numerology, we add the digits of the year together to find its resonance. 2 + 0 + 2 + 6 = 10. The tenth card of the Major Arcana is The Wheel of Fortune. 2026's additional cards are The Fool (0) and The Magician (1).

So this Full Moon is a meeting point between two of Jupiter's domains: the expansive, truth-seeking fire of Sagittarius, and the great turning wheel that is setting the tone for all of 2026.

These two energies are speaking the same language right now, and that language is this: your job is bring your focus inwards, like the tension of the archer's bow, and let Jupiter do the rest.

Smith Rider Waite, The Wheel of Fortune

The Wheel of Fortune

Of all the cards in the Major Arcana, the Wheel of Fortune is the most chock-a-block full of symbolism.

There is the wheel itself, tagged with the alchemical symbols for sulfur, salt, mercury, and water, which align with the four suits in the tarot: wands, pentacles, swords, and cups. In the four corners, we see the four fixed signs of the zodiac (Aquarius, Scorpio, Leo, and Taurus).

They are reading the Torah, which might be spelled on the wheel itself, or it might spell TARO. There's also a monster named Typhon, an Egyptian god Anubis, and a Sphinx with a sharp sword. Each of these figures is on one cycle of the spinning wheel.

It is a lot to take in.

And in my experience, all that symbolism does very little to help a reader out.

The traditional interpretation of this card is that things change. But as a reader and a teacher, I have to laugh at that. Of course things change!

If you are seeking clarity from the tarot, especially if you are looking to predict the future, this card will simply stick out its tongue and say good luck.

And that's the problem. Traditional interpretations of this card rely on luck. But if the divine really always has your back, and if you can't predict the future, what can the Wheel of Fortune offer?

The Center of the Wheel

I like to imagine the Wheel of Fortune as a water wheel, connected to a mill.

We may experience our lives as if we are in one bucket going up and down, with little to no say in our fate. From inside the bucket, it can feel like life is just happening to us. We are at the mercy of the wheel.

But if we engage with the Wheel of Fortune from the center hub, there is much less movement and motion sickness.

You are the whole wheel, and the water is time itself. Time flows in one direction. You cannot place your hand in the river in the same place twice, because you are not the same and the river has moved.

Though the buckets rise and fall, at the center is your soul's purpose, giving momentum to the mill, filling the world with what you came here to manifest.

Jupiter rules the Wheel of Fortune because Jupiter is the planet of expansion. So the real question is not what luck or fortune the wheel will bring. The question is: when you are uncertain about the events at the edges, what are the facts of your being that motivate the center of your core?

A Tarot Ritual for the Sagittarius Full Moon

For this ritual, you will need a candle, a piece of paper, and something to write with.

Light your candle.

Before you write anything, take a moment to find your center. Not the bucket at the edge of the wheel, but the hub. Breathe into the place in your body where your knowing lives, the place that is steady even when the events around you are not. Take as long as you need here.

When you feel grounded, take your piece of paper and write down what you are aiming for. Not what you think you should want, and not what feels safely within reach. What does the archer in you, the one with its dreams in the cosmos, actually want to aim at? Write it down.

Now here is where the ritual asks something of you.

Do not put the paper down yet.

Hold it. Sit with what you have written the way an archer sits with the bow drawn back, arrow nocked, arm steady. Feel the tension of wanting something and not yet having it. Most of us rush past this moment, either grasping for the thing or talking ourselves out of wanting it at all.

Temperance asks you to stay right here, in the dynamic tension of the drawn bow, grounded in your work on earth, trusting the divine with the rest.

When you feel ready, and you will know when, set the paper down.

That is the release. The arrow has left your hands. Your job was the aim. Jupiter's job is the rest.

Keep the paper somewhere you will see it through the Full Moon. Let it remind you not of what you are waiting for, but of what you have already set in motion.

Bullseye

There is no perfect aim, and there is no wrong release. The medicine of Sagittarius is not in the landing. It is in the willingness to draw the bow at all, to want something true enough to hold the tension, and to trust that the divine is already in motion on the other side of it.

The events of your life are not the facts of your living. The facts of your living are at the center, steady, purposeful, and entirely yours.

Sagittarius does not get lost in the shuffle this time.

I am so glad we get to mark this one together.

xoxo Meredyth