This tarot advent calendar opens one door a day from 1 to 24 December 2026. Behind each door is a card from the Claritas deck, a short message from Clara and one small step for the day. It is free, needs no sign-up, and every door opens on its own date in your time zone.
December is a lot. This is meant as the opposite: two minutes a day, one card, one thing to do or notice, and nothing to buy. The cards were chosen as a path through the month, from rest and quiet at the start, through friends and family in the middle, to the solstice on the twenty first, when the light turns.
One door opens each day from 1 to 24 December 2026.
The 24 cards of the calendar
1 December: The Fool
The first door is the Fool, which is exactly right for a beginning you did not plan. December asks a lot of us. Today, ask nothing of yourself except curiosity: what would make this month feel like yours?
One small step: Write down one thing you would like December to hold, just for you.
2 December: Page of Cups
A small, sweet surprise of a card. Something soft wants your attention today: a message, a song, a memory that arrives out of nowhere. Let it be light, and let it be enough.
One small step: Send one short, kind message you would usually save for later.
3 December: Four of Swords
Rest is not a reward for finishing. The Four of Swords shows a figure lying still in a quiet chapel, and it is a whole card, not an interruption. The year has been long.
One small step: Put ten minutes of doing nothing into your day, on purpose, and keep them.
4 December: The Hermit
The Hermit carries his own lantern up the mountain. In a season of gatherings, this card says that some light is only found alone. Not lonely, just quiet.
One small step: Take a short walk without your phone and notice one thing you would normally miss.
5 December: Six of Cups
The card of memory and old kindness. Someone or something from an earlier December may come to mind today. Let the memory be warm without needing it back.
One small step: Look at one old photo and tell someone the story behind it.
6 December: Ace of Pentacles
A hand from a cloud offers a single golden coin above a garden. Something practical and good is within reach today, often smaller than you expect: a plan, an offer, a first step.
One small step: Do one practical thing you have been putting off, the five minute kind.
7 December: Temperance
An angel pours water from one cup into another, slowly. December leans toward too much: too many plans, too much food, too much feeling at once. Temperance is the gentle middle.
One small step: Choose one thing this week to do a little less of, and notice the space it leaves.
8 December: Three of Cups
Three friends raise their cups in a circle. This is the card of the people who are glad you exist, and today belongs to them.
One small step: Make a plan, even a small one, with a friend you have not seen for a while.
9 December: Nine of Pentacles
A woman stands in her own garden with a bird on her hand, entirely at ease. This card is about being enough on your own terms, and enjoying what you have built.
One small step: Name, out loud or on paper, one thing from this year you are quietly proud of.
10 December: The Empress
The Empress is care: rest, food, warmth and the body. In a month of looking after everyone else, she asks a simple question. Who is looking after you?
One small step: Make one meal, or one cup of tea, slowly and properly, just for yourself.
11 December: Two of Cups
Two people exchange cups and really look at each other. Connection this month is not about grand gestures. It is about being seen, and seeing back.
One small step: Ask someone close to you a real question, and listen to the whole answer.
12 December: Queen of Wands
Warm, bright and unafraid of taking up space, the Queen of Wands brings her own sunflower into winter. Today is a good day to be fully yourself in public.
One small step: Wear, say or do one thing today that feels completely like you.
13 December: Ace of Wands
In much of northern Europe the thirteenth of December is Saint Lucia, a festival of light in the darkest weeks. The Ace of Wands is a spark: a living staff that has just put out new leaves.
One small step: Light a candle tonight and name one idea you want to keep alive into the new year.
14 December: Four of Wands
A garland strung between four staffs, and people coming home to celebrate. This card is about the places and the people where you can simply arrive.
One small step: Do one small thing that makes your home feel more like a welcome.
15 December: The High Priestess
She sits between two pillars with a scroll half hidden in her lap. You already know more than you are saying, even to yourself.
One small step: Before bed, write down the answer you have been avoiding, and let it sit overnight.
16 December: Ten of Pentacles
Three generations stand under an archway with the dogs at their feet. Family, roots and the long view. This card can be tender in December, whatever your family looks like.
One small step: Write down one thing you inherited, a recipe, a saying or a habit, that you are glad to keep.
17 December: Strength
A woman closes a lion’s mouth with her bare hands, gently. Strength in tarot is not force. It is patience with whatever is wild in you this week.
One small step: When something irritates you today, take one slow breath before you answer.
18 December: Six of Pentacles
Giving and receiving, held in balance. This card asks you to notice both: what you give easily, and what you find hard to accept from others.
One small step: Let someone help you with something today, and say thank you without explaining.
19 December: The Moon
The longest nights are very close now. The Moon is the card of not seeing clearly, of dreams and half shapes on the path. It is fine not to know yet.
One small step: Leave one question unanswered tonight. Write it down and let the dark hold it for you.
20 December: King of Cups
He sits calmly on a stone throne in the middle of a rough sea. Feelings can be big this week without being in charge of you.
One small step: If a conversation gets heated, say what you feel in one calm sentence, and then stop.
21 December: The Sun
Today is the winter solstice, at 20:50 UTC: the longest night of the year in the north. From tomorrow the light returns, a minute or two at a time, and the Sun is its card.
One small step: Step outside in daylight today, even for five minutes, and turn your face to the sky.
22 December: Ace of Cups
A cup overflowing in five streams, and a dove coming down to meet it. An open heart is not something you force. It is something you allow.
One small step: Tell someone one thing you love about them, plainly and without a reason.
23 December: Ten of Cups
A rainbow of cups over a family and their small house. Tonight the moon is all but full: the Cold Moon, the closest supermoon of the year. This card is about being together, however that looks for you.
One small step: Make room tonight for the people who are here, even if you are missing someone who is not.
24 December: The World
Christmas Eve, and the last door. The World is completion: a dancer inside a wreath, the year coming full circle. Whatever this year was, it is nearly whole.
One small step: Write three words for 2026 and one for 2027, and keep them where you will find them in January.
How to use the calendar
Open the day's door at the same time each day if you can: with your first coffee, on the train, or just before bed. Read the card and the message once, slowly, and then do the small step, ideally before the day is over. The steps are deliberately tiny. The point is not to transform December, only to give each day one moment that belongs to you.
If you keep a notebook, write the date, the card and one line about the day. On Christmas Eve you will have twenty four small notes, and reading them back in one go is often surprisingly moving. If you like, carry on the next evening with the Yule tarot spread, one card for each of the twelve nights after Christmas, one for every month of 2027.
Why these cards
The order is not random. The first week leans toward rest and quiet, because most people arrive in December already tired: the Four of Swords, the Hermit, the gentle middle of Temperance. The second and third weeks turn toward people, with the Three of Cups, the Two of Cups, the Four of Wands and the Ten of Pentacles. Then the longest nights, with the Moon on the nineteenth, and the Sun on the twenty first for the winter solstice, when the light begins to return. The calendar closes with the Ten of Cups on the night of the Cold Moon and the World on Christmas Eve, the year coming full circle.
Dates to know this December
- 13 December: Saint Lucia, the festival of light celebrated across Scandinavia, and the day of the Ace of Wands.
- 13 to 14 December: the Geminid meteor shower, the best of the year, under a dark sky.
- 21 December, 20:50 UTC: the winter solstice, the longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere.
- 24 December, 01:28 UTC: the Cold Moon, the closest supermoon of the year (the evening of 23 December in the Americas).
- 24 December to 5 January: the twelve nights of the Yule tarot spread.
Questions people ask
What is a tarot advent calendar?
An advent calendar with a tarot card behind each door instead of a chocolate. This one has 24 doors, from 1 to 24 December 2026, each with a card from the Claritas deck, a short message and one small step for the day.
When does the tarot advent calendar open?
The first door opens on Tuesday 1 December 2026 and the last on Christmas Eve, 24 December. Each door opens on its own date in your own time zone, and doors you have passed stay open.
Is the tarot advent calendar free?
Yes. There is no sign-up and nothing to buy. Open a door each day, or come back on the 24th and read them all.
Can I open the doors early?
No, each door waits for its date, which is half the point of an advent calendar. Once a door has opened you can come back to it whenever you like, and on the 24th the Yule tarot spread takes over for the twelve nights after Christmas.
