It is December 3rd which means this ridiculous year is actually coming to a close. I can’t even believe it. I want to believe it I do, but man, this year. It seems like every one step forward I took as a person, my body decided to push me back three. For every step forward we took as a society…well, you know. It’s hard to be a person right now. It’s hard to be a person with empathy, it’s hard to be a person with their own problems, it’s very hard to be a marginalized person.
A new year isn’t going to change that.
I’m not a naive “new age influencer” who wants you to banish your bad thoughts. Just the opposite in fact. As we think about closing 2018, we should lean in to our anger and our grief and our sadness. We should let ourselves feel however we want, need, or just DO feel. We should use this winter to think about all of the things we’ve lost and if we even want to regain them. We will all feel motivated and peppy to make plans at the start of the year. For now, we should let ourselves feel the feelings.
In letting myself grieve and be sad for losing basically a whole year, I have already started to feel better. See, psychologists think that if we let ourselves experience peak emotion, there’s nowhere to go but up. We don’t actually get stuck in the well of sadness or pain, we start seeing the light and finding our way out naturally. Choking things down leads to bigger blow-ups later, so you WANT to let yourself lose it in the moment.
As I am slowly turning a corner, I am starting to be grateful again. November was a better month than most and this is actually a pretty chipper end-of-month recap. I do these monthly when I’m blogging to remind myself of where I’ve been and hold myself accountable to my goals. I also do them because I really love personal blogging and personal checklists, so maybe you do too?
Business News!
ICYMI: I released this Sex & Tarot E-Zine that I like a great deal. It’s over 20 pages of healing work, thoughts on sex and tarot, and spreads to empower your sex life. I’ve got some grounding exercises should you panic before or during sex, and some personal stories too. It’s just $13.99 and a great way to process your end-of-year dating feels.
My Patreon is off to a strong start! I do this thing community style so everyone gets the same access to my work. I release something on there weekly. This month that meant the next in my “Queering the Tarot” article series, a patron-only spread to tune directly in to your intuition, a Full Moon reading to help you zero in on your intentions for this moon cycle, and a Tip Sheet to help you assess your own relationship to tarot. In addition to this high quality, heart-all-in work, if you sign up by the end of the year you get a FREE workbook or e-zine in my shop around February! Plus I like, donate to charity and stuff.
Most exciting: my book has a sampler! Queering the Tarot comes out May 1st and in the meantime, you can read the first couple of sections here. Pre-ordering helps debut authors A LOT so if you wanna see me do more books, help me get there by snagging your copy ASAP!
I mostly read tarot at Eye of Horus this month, and I’m still there through December and beyond! Check me out if you’re in the Twin Cities!
It’s obviously the perfect time for a year ahead reading. These need a week plus of prep and write-up time, so if you want yours by end of year, now is the time to snag!
Finally, gift certificate sales are OPEN—but ONLY through 12/22! Buy your best friend a year ahead reading, your mom a short general e-mail reading, or bring your partner IN for a reading in January. E-mail snow.cassandra@gmail.com and I’ll get you all set up to give the gifts of magick and insight this year.
Other Stuff I Did In November
Northern Lights Witch took a bunch of us up to her parent’s farm where I actually got to relax, sleep amongst creepy dolls (really!) and enjoy the food and company of her delightful parents and several of our close friends. Also a very cute dog and two very cute cats were there!
I did an escape room set in a “haunted house” for my good friend Troy’s birthday. That was election night and being trapped in a house unable to check my twitter feed incessantly was actually a huge relief!
I had the sweetest vegan feasting holiday with the same friends as the puzzle room, including a vegan wellington that my best friend made! It was amazing and divine.
Recommendations
Tarot Decks: I’m not sure why I waited so long to get a Wooden Tarot but having this animal-rich deck absent of people has been 100% delightful. The deck feels so good even when I’m just holding it in my hands.
Books: Again, not sure why I waited so long given how much I love her other work, but Alison Bechdel’s Are You My Mother hit realllly close to home in a really good, cathartic way. I also read Saga Vol. 9 and cried a lot. If you haven’t started Saga, now is as good a time as any! Finally I flew through Terry Pratchett’s Monstrous Regiment and it’s surprisingly relevant to today but in a way that is fun and relatable and won’t just remind you that you meant to spend today screaming into the abyss.
Movies & TV: Not gonna lie, all I care about from November is the She-Ra reboot.
Music: Cat Power’s Wanderer is what I have wanted and craved from her for so long. She’s back to haunting in this one. It’s wonderful. I’m also re-stuck on Brandi Carlile’s By The Way, I Forgive You album so if you need me I’ll just be over here crying about aging and life alongside it.
Internet: I really loved this piece on Armenian diaspora and writing. Here’s a cuter, lighter piece about drag queens and the children’s books they love. This piece about how white supremacy, fatphobia, and colonialism are linked has been making the rounds for very good reason. Yes and Yes ran this piece that has me a little bit shaken up about my own life and habits. To end on: a really sweet piece about home and tarot.
That’s it for me this month! Please, please feel free to share some of your favorite moments from the month in the comments or on my Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, especially if you have recommendations. (I love recommendations!)
Blessed be y’all!
