2026 New Year's Card Draw

On New Year’s Day, Cyndera Quackenbush welcomes Julienne (Jules) Givot back to the Archetypal Tarot Podcast to revive a long-standing tradition: a collective archetypal and tarot reflection for the coming year. The episode serves as a contemplative portal blending tarot, archetypal psychology, lived experience, and cultural reflection after a difficult and grief-laden 2025.

The core archetype drawn for the year is The Amateur, selected from the Identity Pursuit archetype board game (no longer in print). Rather than framing the future through mastery or expertise, the hosts explore the Amateur as a figure of humility, love, experimentation, and community.

Light aspects of the Amateur:

Doing something for love rather than reward or compensation

Following the heart without needing certainty or expertise

Allowing messiness, openness, and shared learning

Creating the path by walking it, together

Shadow aspects:

Undervaluing oneself or one’s work

Exaggerating or misrepresenting skill or authority

Cultural dangers of “false experts” and influencer culture lacking depth, lineage, or accountability

The Amateur becomes a response to collapsing patriarchal systems, toxic productivity, and ego-driven power structures. In a time of upheaval, the hosts argue that not knowing—and admitting we don’t know—is both honest and necessary.