2024 New Year Spread

Tarot Deck: The Lost Forest (new to me, straight from Kickstarter).

Spread: Joanna Powell Colbert, from the Gaian Tarot.

1. What do I leave behind in the Old Year? The Chariot. The initiation of movement is the feeling I get from The Chariot in terms of this question. It took quite a lot for me to ask for help with my writing, and to accept that help. But there is forward movement now. The lion speaks to sudden strength, but the lion is built for the sprint, not endurance, and the male lion becomes so overheated whilst running, due to his heavy mane, that the lionnesses in his pride do the hunting and chasing. He is there to defend the pride against all threats. The woman sits easily astride this sprinter as they leap over mountains. It took a lot for this powerful animal to get going but now he is supported from below, and guided from above. I leave behind that ignition point, and accept that I am now always moving forward.
2. What do I open up to in the New Year? The Hierophant. Greater, further reaching spirituality. The branches of the tree curl upon themselves, which suggest a conserving of my spiritual energy this year, turning it inwards rather than outwards, but there is also growth from the murk to the more vibrant colours. I can expect a more attuned, spiritual year, if I make it so.
3. Key Opportunity of the New Year: 10 of Oceans. Family connection, loving family. The humpback and her calf swim free and companionably side by side, while a breaching whale is in the distance. The peace of the deep ocean. A time for me to reconnect with my firstborn, forge a new thread by admitting my vulnerability(humpbacks are endangered). My daughter and I have started talking about our difficulties in communicating, and we have both put connection on our vision boards for 2024. Here’s to it.
4. Key Challenge of the New Year: The Mystic(High Priestess). A sphinx in stillness, awareness only the tip of the iceberg, with mystery underneath. Allowing myself my High Priestess quiet time to drop into sacred space, as I have done just now, and remind myself that I am not just Imperial ambition, but also priestess, scholar, channeler of the divine. My words are the oracle. I feel this relates to my deep poetic work.
5. Hidden concern: 2 of Fire. A phoenix emerges from its egg after 1000 years. The incubation of ideas, new hatching. Do I have it in me to not only generate new work, but also step fully into cronedom now that I’ve turned 60? Can I leave behind old stories and emerge anew? There is still one egg not hatched, but that is not for now. Perhaps in another ten years, when I’m 70, that too will hatch and I will be a new person all over again. Do I have it in me to rebirth myself more fully as a writer, grandmother, mother, wife, and other chosen roles, for the reality is that every day, I choose all of these and more.
6. Deep Wisdom/Counsel: 10 of Earth. Bulbs lie dormant for years before they blossom. A long term investment in self, as well as a long term investment in material matters, including finances. Completion of a cycle, too. My astrologer, Stella Woods(Stella Starwoman) twigged me about checking my investments and finances, and here is another reminder. The shadow of the tree is huge, but still there is blossoming. Search out the shadow.
7. Key Theme of the New Year: Knight of Fire. The veins of the volcanic lizard courses with magma, granting them boundless energy. Fearless and bold, they make their nests in active volcanoes. Energy, passion, enthusiasm. This salamander or fire lizard not only generates its own fire, but lives in a fiery environment. Always heated, always burning.

And I’d like to complete this reading with a card from the Rebel Deck: The Oracle With Attitude.

What is 2024 all about for me? Shit is going down with your job: reevaluate, change your perspective or fucking quit.

Well, if writing is my calling, then my job is…..carer? And yes, there is currently shit going down. Miscommunication with the support team while my husband and I were taking a break meant my offspring having a meltdown and losing their shit in an angry way, so that an incident report has been filed. Sigh.

Wish I could fucking quit.