A Tarot Forecast on the Russia-Ukraine War's Next Phase

The Collapse Within

Disclaimer: This is a predictive tarot reading based on symbolism, intuitive logic, and collective energetics. It does not substitute real-time intelligence or political analysis, but offers an alternative lens into unfolding global events.

Situation Scope

This reading zeroes in on the current and future trajectory of the Russia-Ukraine war. We skipped past the obvious historical triggers and moral framing—we're here to answer the urgent questions:

• What is Russia planning next?

• How will Ukraine counter?

• Who or what will flip the board?

• When will it actually shift?

• What kind of ending are we headed toward?

• Who pays the final price?

Deck used: The Dark Mansion Tarot

Primary Spread: 5 Cards + Shadow

1. Russia's Next Move — Knight of Pentacles
In this deck’s imagery, the Knight sits rigid atop a weary red horse, glaring from a cliff like a warlord guarding stolen land. His posture is frozen, not poised to strike. This is no charge—this is occupation. The pentacle clutched to his side glows like a symbol of stolen wealth.

Russia’s next move isn’t aggression—it’s entrenchment. They’ll dig in, claim legitimacy through propaganda, and try to normalize prolonged occupation. The scorched earth strategy will continue—energy, logistics, and morale will be the true battlefield.

Clarifier: 2 of Swords

This blindfolded figure with crossed swords isn’t actually torn. She’s hiding behind faux neutrality while holding everyone hostage. This card tells us Russia is performing indecision to delay consequences and freeze diplomatic action. Behind the scenes? The war machine grinds forward.

2. Ukraine's Response — Magician
This steampunk alchemist figure is surrounded by sparks, inventions, and surgical chaos. He’s not overwhelmed—he’s focused. Ukraine, like this Magician, is weaponizing intellect, diplomacy, and tech in place of brute strength.

Clarifier: 10 of Pentacles

A proud multigenerational family, including children and elders, surrounds this card’s golden aura. This is legacy. Ukraine’s real strength is not just resistance—it’s the cultural and ancestral inheritance it protects. Long-term Western support (NATO, EU) will continue because Ukraine is seen as worthy of integration.

Does this Mean NATO Membership for Ukraine?
Possibly in the future! Zelensky’s magician-like strategy is earning Ukraine full integration in function, if not in name. The 10 of Pentacles symbolizes institutional trust and inheritance. Think full NATO cooperation, intelligence sharing, and long-term security architecture—even without official paperwork.

3. International Wildcard — Wheel of Fortune
This chaotic fairground wheel spins above dazed onlookers—events appear random, but something hidden spins the wheel. This is not fate—it’s engineered chance. Global events will shift suddenly, but not accidentally. This card suggests a major external force—possibly the U.S. elections, China’s geopolitical posturing, NATO leadership realignments, or even global financial triggers like oil and tech markets—may act as the great disruptor.

This is the moment the war leaves the hands of those directly fighting it, and becomes subject to forces larger, more erratic, and far more manipulative. It represents the transfer of control to a deeper, invisible mechanism—hidden diplomacy, economic thresholds, or surveillance revelations. The impact will be rapid, public, and destabilizing. Expect headlines that feel surreal, yet inevitable.

Clarifier: 8 of Pentacles
A lone craftsman builds a massive machine. This is a game-changer born of slow, silent labor: sanctions grinding into effect, diplomatic realignments, or technology (AI, surveillance, quantum warfare). The wildcard is being prepared behind curtains—built brick by brick through policy drafts, secret alliances, and contracts. When it hits, it looks like fate—but it’s calculated.

This also suggests a well-prepared, bureaucratic intervention—something with the cold, methodical pace of institutional decision-making. It’s not a single actor. It’s a system, possibly a joint intelligence or economic bloc, unleashing a trigger action they’ve been building for months.

4. The Turning Point (Timeline) — Lovers
A trio stands in decision: two aligned, one on the outside. This card doesn’t just signify love—it’s a fork in allegiance. A powerful NATO or EU nation will be forced to pick a side, exposing fractures within Western unity.

Clarifier: Justice
The blind judge sits behind a sword, balancing scales over a blank document. This is formal law—treaties, war crimes, international indictments. This decision won’t be moral—it will be legal, cold, and divisive.

Timing: Lovers = Card VI. In a time-based layout, this marks ~6 months. Expect this moment of diplomatic reckoning by late 2025.

5. Outcome (12-18 Months) — 2 of Cups
Two parties toast under an apple tree. The peace here is not idealistic—it’s survival. This card shows a cold reconciliation, most likely in the form of an imposed ceasefire. No one wins. Everyone swallows loss. Russia keeps some ground. Ukraine gains guarantees.

Clarifier: 6 of Swords
A family escapes through swampy water, swords lodged in the boat. This card is exile, forced movement, and quiet despair. In the context of this war, the 6 of Swords signals a dual migration: it reflects both Ukraine's trauma-laden recovery and Russia’s slow, managed retreat.

Yes—this card absolutely suggests Russia will retreat from some contested zones but not all. But it won’t look like surrender. It will be framed as a “strategic repositioning,” an orchestrated step back to consolidate hold over areas it still wants to claim. The symbolism is quiet, deliberate withdrawal—not a chaotic collapse, but a tactical backpedal meant to preserve image and bargaining power.

At the same time, the boat imagery still carries profound emotional weight. Ukraine, even in a post-conflict state, will not sail peacefully. The water is muddied with displacement, sorrow, and the enduring presence of grief. Whole cities will rebuild with missing pieces. Families will return to rubble—or not at all.

The swords by the boat mean the war travels with them. The ceasefire may stop the gunfire, but the memory of it remains sharp, unburied. For both sides, this is movement through aftermath—not toward joy, but toward a tentative, fragile stability.—it will need collective soul work. And Russia, too, may experience internal flight: silent dissidents, disillusioned citizens, and fractured identities leaving their country emotionally before ever crossing a border.

Shadow Layer: The True Cost

Shadow Card: The Tower
A lightning bolt cracks through a twisted mansion, ejecting bodies, fire, and illusion. The Tower doesn’t fall because of war—it falls because of rot. This is the symbol of a regime (likely Putin’s) collapsing from within. It’s theatrical, chaotic, and final. The grotesque structure was never solid. This Tower represents a fantasy of invincibility that ignored the weight of history, the instability of oppression, and the decay of truth.

This collapse is not a clean demolition—it’s a cataclysm sparked by the very things the regime sought to hide: corruption, surveillance, fear, and cruelty. The bodies falling from the tower are not just literal victims—they are ideological symbols being thrown from a dying narrative.

Clarifier: 10 of Wands
A skeletal figure drags heavy logs through a haunted forest. He is overburdened, overextended, and still trudging forward. This is the karmic overload. Russia’s collapse won’t be a sudden assassination or surrender—it will be slow suffocation under self-made weight. Greed, lies, and history crush the spine of the empire.

This card also suggests that the burden isn’t just national—it’s personal. Putin himself, or those close to him, will suffer under the psychological and physical cost of keeping the Tower standing. This is fatigue disguised as discipline. The regime cannot carry the weight of empire, censorship, propaganda, economic instability, international isolation, and mass dissent forever. Something—or someone—will finally break.

The owl watches from the trees: the world sees what’s coming. Whistleblowers, journalists, and historians are already collecting receipts. This is a fall that will be witnessed, recorded, and mythologized.

Together, these cards confirm: a regime—likely Russia’s—will collapse not because it is defeated militarily, but because it is crushed by its own karmic overload. The Tower falls, not by warheads, but by the weight of deceit, exhaustion, and exposure. The regime that built itself on control will be undone by the chaos it created—and the legacy it tried to bury will rise from the ashes.

Final Download:

• Russia is entrenched in slow attrition, feigning indecision.

• Ukraine is conjuring power through innovation, legacy, and alliance.

• A massive shift will come from quiet, long-laid international strategy.

• A fracture in global alignment happens within six months—triggered by legal action.

• The war ends in a forced agreement, with territory split and people displaced.

• A major regime collapses not with a gunshot, but with a thousand burdens finally breaking its back.

This isn’t a peace treaty. This is the moment when history redraws the lines in blood and silence.

If this reading resonates with your understanding of the conflict, share it. This is a tool for piercing illusion—not replacing reality, but clarifying its shape.