A Note: Last month I forgot to mention Winter Solstice and Yule, which in the Pagan world represents an earlier start to the New Year! We’ve been able to access the new year energy since December 21st.

 

New Year: 1st

New Moon: 11th (Capricorn)

Full Moon: 25th (Wolf)

 

Intro: 

In honor of the new year, I’m changing some things for this year’s tarot forecast for the Ahimsa newsletter. I’ll be rotating different decks and spreads for each month of the year. In addition, I will only be creating playlists when music related decks are in rotation. January features the Starman Tarot deck, in honor of David Bowie’s birthday, death date, and final album release. This month’s spread is a preview for what you can expect for the Minute Analysis year-ahead readings I am offering for 2024. 

 

Now accepting sign ups for the Angel Intentions Newsletter! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeQeQZYTscuvBCaycVjpvKjwvNVvbZfygkYmqxQXSvZtTGBvQ/viewform?pli=1 

 

I’ll be sending a monthly three card forecast with an oracle card, plus send out invites for a monthly discussion group! For those who sign up this month, I’ll be offering $5 off a one hour year-ahead reading, or $10 off the Minute Analysis reading (a two hour year-ahead reading)

 

January galvanizes us to pursue new goals with vigor. Being the first month of the year, it is symbolic of creation, manifestation, and willpower. In the first few weeks we feel disciplined and determined that this year is the year we can finally make a change. After several attempts, we learn momentum alone is not enough. We ask ourselves, what can we do this year to make lasting change? How do we navigate change when affecting our personal sphere seems to pale in comparison to the greater change we want to see in the world?

 

Theme or Major Event: The Lovers ~As the World Falls Down by David Bowie~

 

With the world in the state that it is, it may feel counterintuitive to think that the Lovers could be at the heart of it all. Our collective love is tinged with grief and heaviness. The world seems senseless and painful, with little room for lasting thrill or fun. Yet beyond this binary of light and dark, love and grief, is the possibility for coexisting experiences. In this time, we find support, and those who are there for us. Spirit grants us the gift of seeing clearly. We are given the ability to hold dreams, relationships, intuition, and natural cycles in our hearts that can make waves. We are able to experience beauty, richness and love. 

 

The key word we are granted in this card is “cede,” as in, ceding and not ceding to the other (boundaries). This could be in relation to partnership, narratives, ways of thinking, and more. The image of Tipheret suggests we find spirituality, balance, integration, beauty, miracles, and compassion when we embrace the spirit of the Lovers card. In this card we experience a mirroring of the self, in relation with another on several levels –mind, body and spirit. We learn what we need, how we communicate, how we can be our best selves, how to hold space for ourselves, for another, and for the relationship (be it with person or Spirit). We learn to become flexible and nimble. We learn to catch each other like circus performers and fling each other to the highest heights. In this union, our third eye opens and we experience closer communion with the divine. We tap into fertility and creativity, inspiring creativity in kind. We ourselves are creation. Part of a greater web. We are able to be vulnerable, sensual and in greater connection in an emotive, intuitive, subconscious, creative, and fertile water. We want to be able to keep tapping into this space and this ability throughout the month, in all the facets of our experience.

 

Block, Complication, Need for Spiritual Maintenance: The Hierophant ~Quicksand by David Bowie~

 

The beauty of the Lovers card is a result of putting two forces together and seeing what unfolds; the sum being greater than the individual. In contrast, the Hierophant does not really allow room for this curiosity. Instead, it subjects the forces to judgment values of what love “should” look like. When we get caught up in what relationships should look like, we stifle connection. Or, if we get caught up in the idea of what things should be, perhaps we feel powerless or like things are going wrong when they don’t follow this model. We sink in the quicksand of our thoughts and cease to believe in ourselves when we fail this model. We deceive ourselves with this belief of failure. 

 

It is also striking that in this deck, the Hierophant seems to be a werewolf. A werewolf does not belong fully to either the human world or the natural world. Furthermore, they do not have packs. In this case, the binaries of light and dark, neither nor, create a sense of distance, and a defensiveness against anything beyond the self. Every part of the Hierophant’s body is either subtly shielded or clothed. This presents an obstacle to the flexibility and vulnerability that the Lovers card has to offer us this month. The feeling in the reversal of this card is very one-sided. The symbolism in this card suggests one sided insemination of information. This Hierophant feels they are the only ones who have something to teach, and cannot imagine that they have something to learn from the student. In this card the students do not even have a face, and seem spectral in nature. They emerge as a projection from the Hierophant’s hands, much further down on the stairs. The rest he perceives as innocent lambs that need his protection. He does not seem entirely altruistic either – he bears a couple medallions and money lies beneath his feet. It may be time to question those financially benefiting from us adhering to certain beliefs, and from the historical revisionist narratives we are meant to believe.

Lean In: Reverse Seven of Pentacles ~Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide by David Bowie~

 

The Hierophant would have us believe that his paradigm -external success that others can see– is the only valid way to be. Under this paradigm, we might find marriage without love, work without fulfillment, a place to live but not a home, Instagram likes but no connection, and so on.

We may make efforts to adhere to this image of success, and find ourselves failing. We are asked to step back and reassess what in our environment is causing our garden to struggle, what needs tending, and what we truly want to grow. We should focus on things that nurture us in the long-term, rather than ripping out what little we have nurtured just to have something to show. We do not want to collect the harvest preemptively under the Hierophant’s pressure, procuring something under quick, capitalistic, extortionary means. If we move with slow and careful cultivation for a grander vision, we have the potential to grow Jack’s beanstalk, which can take us to the crystal palace in the sky. We are asked to stick with it. Instead of assuming the worst of ourselves, we need to see what is not supporting us. In these circumstances we can look to the larger community that can support us, and see we are not alone. If we reach out and take each other’s hands, we may be able to see that we are wonderful in our own rights.

 

Lean Out: Reverse World ~The Man Who Sold the World by David Bowie~

 

We do not need to put the world on our shoulders like Atlas, in an endeavor to meet the standards of the Hierophant. This is overwhelming. We do not need to have it all accomplished, nor pursue every area of interest. It is better to simplify and pick one thing to excel at. Further, we should select something that we are okay with pouring ourselves into, regardless of the outcome of our efforts, which we cannot always control. We do not constantly have to be a source of strength for ourselves or others. To come up with or present a solution that could solve the world’s problems. To be wise and always know the next step. To see above it all. If we can lean out of this pressure, we can focus on tending what we are working towards in the 7 of pentacles above. January does not have to be about accomplishing some great thing to be worthy of celebration or even rest. It can be enough to just be. 

 

Hidden Jewel: Reverse Temperance ~Under Pressure by David Bowie~

 

That which is not working in the reverse 7 of pentacles can be used as the fuel for transformation in the reverse Temperance card. This is the hidden jewel. Energy that was once expended for something we no longer want to pursue can get redirected to a new goal. It can be used to bring us back into balance with the higher self. We can create the image in which we would like ourselves and others to see us. This shedding of old energies, old forms, things we no longer recognize or want in our lives, all of this can be recreated into what represents us best. Rather than think of this time or energy as lost, we can see it as great potential that we can call back to ourselves. The sense of feeling pressure can be transformed into the love we need to give ourselves one more chance.

Your Gifts/Blessings: Reverse King of Swords ~Space Oddity - Moonage Daydream Mix by David Bowie~

 

This month, we are able to see the world with clarity, in its greater macrocosmic totality. We are lone explorers that offer an imaginative and very different point of view. What’s missing is the ability to connect with people so they can properly hear us. It does not seem like this is going to be achieved through conventional means, such as teaching from a higher platform like the Hierophant. An authoritative stance like the Hierophant or King of Swords is what distances us from students and people. It is in fact to our benefit to lean into the reverse 7 of pentacles energy. We are more relatable when we are not an authority and do not know it all. We are figuring it out with everyone else, and thus do not have a judgmental air. We make a greater impact when we step out of this role and reanimate ourselves. We step out of the throne of one-sided judgment, and intermingle with the people so that we are better able to learn their circumstances for ourselves. Further, when combined with the Lovers card, even moments of short-sightedness or unjust judgment on ourselves and others can teach us to practice greater compassion and humility in regards to others. We are not immune to this, and thus we do not expect others to live up to this clean ideal either. This is how we can bridge the gap in misunderstanding and miscommunication, or lack thereof.