It’s New Year’s Day. I’ve just had my first serving of Hopping John. This dish of black eyed peas, rice, greens, and ham hocks is an annual spell of sustenance and prosperity for the upcoming year. At midnight last night my daughter-in-law led us in the rituals of survival she grew up with. First we ate 12 grapes quickly before it became 12:01 and then we burned a small paper man representing the past. Around the flames we called out out what wanted to say goodbye to in the new year, what we were ready to let go of. There was plenty.
And of course, I had us all pull a tarot card. I got the 10 of Pentacles. Perfection. This is a year to ground in family, logical and biological, a year to focus on what is abundant in my life and nurture it, to notice what gives stability and balance.
As Dylan said “You don’t need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows”. There are storms ahead. Rituals of survival and strengthening of our connections are storm gear. Today, the first day of 2025 it is clear the storm is already in full gear.
Last night, as midnight approached, the energy of the Fool card was palpable. We are making a leap into a new era, a new time, a time to expect the unexpected, when all bets are off. As I was falling asleep I thought about how every card we’ve met on this Fool’s Journey is part and parcel of the storm gear for this moment.
Today I’ve been reflecting on how each of these cards have led to the one we work and play with this year. Temperance. Amidst the storm, we have one foot planted on earth, the other in a body of water, inviting us to be both grounded and fluid at the same time. A challenge of this card is to hold two disparate things in our hands and mix them, creating a third thing. Grief and gratitude, beauty and horror, dread and hope, joy and despair, these are things I’m working on not only holding in both hands, but imagining something different coming out of the mixture.
I am so thankful for the journey we have been on, for the ever evolving community of fools it has created. Our connections matter, this magical endeavor matters. I have not welcomed this leap into 2025. I can’t seem to be able to say “Happy New Year”. However, this journey has hopefully prepared me for this time of the unexpected, has given me the tools of the Magician, the power of Strength, the ability of the Hanged One to be be suspended in mystery and unknowing. Every one of the cards is part of my storm gear. I choose to believe that this will be true for all of us, even our newest fools. When you join the journey, all the previous cards are in the knapsack. I also choose to believe we are ready. And that the Temperance card will be our teacher.
May it be so.
Deborah Oak 1/1/2025