Happy new calendar year (and decade), blissmakers! I hope you were able to spend some time in deep and honest reflection around and gratitude for the bounty of experiences that 2019 brought. I know I did, and it was truly astonishing to give acknowledgment to just how much change, growth and expansion I’ve experienced the past year, and the past decade. So. Many. Experiments. So. Many. Feelings. So. Much. Growth.
It’s interesting, the dichotomy of experience that can happen at the turning of a calendar year. It is so easy to let it pass by without conscious recognition. After all, there's a lot of busyness and celebratory chaos that follows the holiday season at the closing of the year. And when we let it pass without ritual observance, the transition hardly seems a transition at all. It’s just business as usual carrying on as it did the moment before and the day before that.
The other approach is to really get present with the transition and give it some thought, some feeling, some acknowledgment. I have found that when I take this approach I receive so much more from this seemingly arbitrary moment in time. I am able to use it as a signpost reminding me to sieve through the memories, victories, failures, and experiences that I’ve collected over the past 12 months. I am able to consciously release all the stuff that didn’t serve me or didn’t quite work out for me or wasn’t really in alignment with who I am and who I desire to evolve into being. I am also able to unapologetically bask in the glory of my accomplishments rather than allowing them to get swept away with the bathwater of everyday busyness. I am gifted with an ongoing narrative of my Life Journey and how I am progressing (or regressing) through it. And I give myself the chance to make adjustments to my course before things get too out of hand.
Once, I have ruminated on where I’ve been, I can then get on with the important work of directing my energies toward where I want to go. I always find it helpful (and comforting) to follow deep reflection with inspired planning for what’s coming next.
As part of my ritual for this recent turn of the calendar, I created a simple tarot spread that I found incredibly useful and inspiring as I move forward into the next 12 months. I thought I’d share it with you now since I love you so much, and want so many good things for you. You can still use this spread now for the entrance to the 2020 calendar year, if that feels good for you. But I’d like to also be clear that I am not limiting this kind of deep personal reflection and planning to the resetting of the Gregorian calendar. You may prefer to start your new year rituals at Imbolc in February, or at Samhain in October, or any other time that feels auspicious for you.
That all said, here’s the spread should you feel called to dance with it:
It should be noted here that these themes are intended to give you some direction in your planning and organizing for the year ahead. They can also give you some insight into what you might be able to expect during these times. However, we all always have free will, so these are NOT predictions set in unwavering stone. Sometimes events and choices change the course of our lives. If you find that these themes are not accurate for you, it might be time to cast the spread again for a revised, updated reading. The tarot is a tool ... use it wisely.
Happy expanding, blissmakers! I am excited to witness the unfolding of this new calendar year with you. xoxo