Most New Years come in with a bang of global fanfare and excitement for the next 365 days. I would argue that 2021 crawled in with a whimper as we took a collective sigh of relief to leave 2020 behind. As I was wishing people a “Happy New Year!” on January 1st via social media and messaging apps, I almost felt like I had to tone it down a bit. While I want to carry a sense of hope that things will get better, maybe that exclamation mark and party emoji was a little too enthusiastic considering everything the world has been through?
I don’t want to make this a retrospective of all that went awry last year. But I also think it’s important that we not gloss over facts or close our eyes to the truth. In many incalculable ways, 2020 has exhausted us – physically, emotionally, financially and spiritually. By now, our societies and communities have become acutely aware of the various ways in which our well-ingrained systems and structures have collapsed as a result of COVD-19.
While we’d all like to think that 2021 will be radically different, things won’t change overnight and we still have a lot of work to do. But see, here’s where the sweet in bittersweet comes in.
We Need The Right Tools to Forge Ahead
What do you think of when you think of nectar? For me, I trip back to my childhood. I’m sitting on a chair in our backyard taking a bite of a ripe peach in the middle of a summer’s day and brushing the juice from my lips and chin. My bare toes are tickled by blades of fresh, green grass and I feel comforted by the slight breeze breaking through otherwise stagnant, heavy air. As an archetype, Nectar represents a sweet, potent and heavenly essence that lubricates our spirit back to life.
In The Wild Unknown Archetypes deck by Kim Krans, The Nectar is part of The Tools cards and I think it’s fitting that I pulled it as I was looking for a focus for the energy of the year ahead to share with you. When this card pops up, it’s a calling to identify and relish in the places, practices and people that regenerate and heal us. It calls us to seek the most sensuous fruit in the garden that we may have forgotten about and embrace its power to bring us back to life. These places, practices and people can be tools to our collective healing as we inch towards a new way of being in a world that has learned many tough lessons.
Where have you been holding back on experiencing joy? How can you indulge to celebrate the end of a rough year and the beginning of a new one? Is there someone you can call to talk things through? A place you can visit that translates into positive emotions for you? (Don’t underestimate the power of going through old travel photos to remind you of places you’ve visited that really impacted you.) Is there a ritual or habit that you know has the power to infuse your days with more energy that you’ve left aside?
Let’s move into the New Year with a focus on how we can heal ourselves because the world’s healing depends on it.
If this resonated with you and you’re interested in getting a personal reading, I just launched my tarot services. Deets are here.
Until next time, xoxo
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