Being present. Day 7: Dreamy dark winter mornings

It’s no secret that I love dark winter mornings. And, around here, since it is dark forever it seems, it’s easy to enjoy the mornings. Especially weekend mornings. Even if I wake late (And by late I mean 7am. It’s sick, I know), I can still be certain of a dreamy morning filled with candles + coffee.

This morning, I felt the desire to sit in the kitchen, so I wrapped my robe around me, snuggled with the cat, then went to start the coffee. I gathered a bunch of candles for the kitchen table and decided what mug to use today.

My thoughts turned to the fact that there are only three weeks left in 2017 and I suddenly felt the desire to pull out my oracle cards + do a little magical forecasting for the upcoming year. Mind you, this is not fortune telling nor astrology. Instead, it is simply gathering cards + reading energy/feeling energy. In it’s simplest form (which is where I am when it comes to oracle cards), it is simply connecting with my soul, listening to it, and choosing themes for each month of the upcoming year.

If you’ve been around this blog for a while, then you know that at the end of each year, I share a couple of posts on discovering your word for the upcoming year. I’ll definitely be doing that again this year during the last week of December, so stay tuned + I hope you will join me in that process. It’s a powerful, inspiring way to transition from one year to the next.

And, since I got oracle cards for my birthday this year, it just seemed right to me this morning to take my word of the year plans a step further + begin with unraveling + unwrapping a theme for 2018.

With my piping hot mug of coffee + candles lit, I prepared the table, breathed into the mystery of the dark, dreamy morning, and grounded myself in order to begin shuffling through my cards. When I felt ready, I spread them all out on the table and then simply trust my intuition in choosing 13 cards: one for the overall theme of the 2018 and then 12 more, one for each month of the year.

I cleared away the rest of the cards and then laid out the ones that had been chosen face down in a big circle, with the one that represented the theme of the year in the middle. And then, over hour or so, I picked up one card at a time. Looked at it. Felt the emotions + energy that it woke within me. And jotted down my thoughts + feelings about that card in my journal. I did this over + over again with all 13 cards.

As each card was revealed, I felt more + more magic + inspiration swirling around me, as my soul was preparing itself for the upcoming year.

Once I had made it around the entire circle + all 13 cards had been revealed, I opened my oracle card guide to read what the artist had shared about each of the cards. I combined the artist’s thoughts + wisdom with my inner intuitive wisdom, that I had already journaled about, and wrote my final summaries.

Now, using oracle cards to get a feel for the upcoming year is not necessary at all. All it takes is making some time to ponder a little bit. Perhaps a pen + a journal, and a candle or two – just because that makes the vibe more magical + cozy + focused. Write out the year and the months, and then just sit back it feel it all.

So, are you curious about my themes? Well, I will share them all with you right now. But, I must warn you, I’m not going to go into deep detail about them. Mostly because I need to sit with everything through the end of the year. I want to soak up their energies + let them become part of my preparation for the new year. I’ll expand on them all, month by month, throughout 2018.

And, just to be clear, my new overall theme is not my word of the year. My word of the year has not been chosen yet; though I know that it will all be related somehow.

Theme for 2018: Ancient Forest

Monthly themes:

• January: Gather your tribe
• February: Smudging ceremony
• March: Shape Shifter
• April: Elder
• May: Grandmother Earth
• June: Talking Stick
• July: Medicine Woman
• August: Dream Traveler
• September: Trickster
• October: Spirit of Earth
• November: Sweat Lodge
• December: Ancestors

The only thing that I can really say, after spending pretty much my entire morning with this, is that it all feels so right. I have a sense of deep satisfaction, peace, and anticipation as I think forward into the new year. It will be a big one for us all. So many things will be ending with this year, and the energy for 2018 is very fresh, new, deep, spiritual, and on a much higher level. It is a new phase filled with an energy of coming into one’s own.

So, my friend, how do you feel about the ending of 2017 and the beginning of 2018? Where are you in your life? What do you feel that your soul is calling you to be in the new year? Share with me!

And, don’t forget to check back right after Christmas to begin the Find Your Word of the Year workshop. This year I will be offering it as an email workshop + not here on the blog. So, be sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter to make sure you get all of the workshop emails! Sign up right here!

 

Hope you’re having a cozy weekend, whether you’re out + about or nesting + resting, like me. Love to you, sweet souls. xoxo. liz.