Happy New Year!
After laying out the cards for my 2025 year-ahead tarot reading, I was immediately struck by the energy flow between cards. All tarot spreads, even single-card draws, illustrate energy flows (learn how to spot them in my intuitive tarot course), but this reading brought the energy front and center.
I’m going to walk through the broad strokes, should you want to look for similar patterns in your own readings.
Since this is still an active reading for me, I won’t be sharing specific cards, but let’s whip out a handy diagram instead. Given that I’ll be heavily focused on my fiction-writing career this year (fun news below 🤓), I divided my cards into quarters, mimicking how I divvy up the work year.
What was interesting is how strongly the cards in Q1 and Q2 mirrored each other. For instance, what I do in January will heavily influence what happens in April.
These two cards were in the suit of wands (wand = symbol of the will = ability to channel energy towards an aim), and it’s clear that if I don’t do the personal and professional work outlined in January’s card, my wand will be spluttering in April, a time when I’ll definitely want it to be in tip-top shape. 🪄
In Q3 and Q4, the energy flow morphs into what I’m calling the alembic after a two-part contraption used in alchemy to distill liquids (emotions, unconscious “dew”). The inner + outer work each card represents allows me to distill something important (a lesson, skill, awareness, new habit, etc.), which will then transfer to the next card.
Further, the mirroring pattern of Q1/Q2 is still present, but with an additional layer. The first and third columns are like bookends to the very transformative middle, a time of intense (and largely unconscious) change. During that middle period, I might be tempted to think nothing much is happening, but I would be very wrong, indeed. Things are brewing under the surface, and I’d be advised to enjoy the calm while it lasts. 😴
The interconnectedness of this reading (and the contemplative new-year mood) made me realize something: this romance novel I’ve been working on for the past three years encapsulates so many of my core interests. The tapestry of threads extends all the way back to my childhood, and seeing this, seeing just how much of myself has been woven into this book, made me all happy-weepy-grateful.
✍️ Thread #1
Writing in general, which I’ve loved for as long as I can remember, and writing fiction, in particular, which was a precious childhood dream, one I abandoned for decades in order to “be more serious.” The more I write fiction, the more I see parts of myself unfurling and coming out to play, which brings us to…
🪆Thread #2
Miniatures!! I have a memory of going to an old-timey festival with my dad, and for the most part it was excruciatingly dull (aside from hanging out with my dad). Lots of hammering with antique tools and plunking on old instruments—all things I would appreciate now, but my eight-year-old self was slowly dyyyyying.
That is, until we came upon a booth selling leather goods. The artist had crafted a teeny tiny drum from a sawn-off circle of a tree branch lashed with a buttery soft leather top and bottom. Oh, and did I mention the toothpick-handled drum beater? Instantly, the day was redeemed. 🥳
Over the last two weeks, I’ve been putting together the Kickstarter launch for my romance novel, and a few of the rewards are miniatures modeled off desserts from the book. In her present-day life, Ev, the main character, bakes sweets with medicinal herbs, an unconscious echo of her past life as a healer.
While sculpting these teensy foods, I remembered that way back in 2009, when I started my miniatures business, I had a dream of designing a line of dolls, complete with loads of accessories. Check out these notes from a very battered notebook:
Ever since my childhood love of American Girl dolls (mainly the accessories—it was always about the accessories! Tiny lunchboxes and alarm clocks, colored pencil sets and baking supplies 😌), I’ve dreamt of making minis tied to my own stories. And now I get to!
🧠 Thread #3
It’s no secret that I looove Jungian psychology, and the power of the unconscious, archetypes*, dreams, the dangers of repressing psychic content, and so much more is woven throughout the entire book. There’s even a very special character named after Jung himself—only this one has whiskers.
*in the form of the tarot’s major arcana, which appear throughout the series as cosmic beings known as the Eternals
🔮 Thread #4
Speaking of the major arcana, I’ve just finished writing + designing A Traveler’s Guide to the Tarot, a (mostly) nonfiction companion guide that I’ll be offering through the Kickstarter. The guide is written from the POV of Calmiris, a curmudgeonly scholar of the Cloaked Ones—a spiritual order you get a little peek at in the first book—but all of the exercises are things you can actually do IRL.
Eeeee! Can we just take a moment to squee over the cover? 🤗
Starting the year with a bird’s eye view of the threads that had to be woven together to create my unique interests and outlook and skills…well, it feels pretty darn magical.
If you want to see these things in action, please follow along with the book’s Kickstarter. It’ll be launching next month, and by following the campaign, you’ll be the first to know!
Here’s to a year of meaning and purpose, my friend. 💕
