In 2023 we completed a major cycle. In 2024 we awake on the another level.
Welcome to 2024!
I hope that you had a fun time ringing in this new year, I know that I did! As I sit down to write about our card of the year, Strength, I’m already enjoying its energetic shift.
We arrive at Strength as our card for 2024 because 2 + 0 + 2 + 4= 8, which is the number of the Strength card in Tarot’s Major Arcana.
Examining the energy of our card of the year is not an exercise in predictions. It’s more of an invitation to step into an exploration of our personal journey, as it relates to the collective.
By centering on the spirit and the message of the Strength card now, we can return to it as a compass point throughout the year.
At it’s core, the shift from Line One and The Chariot into Line Two and Strength calls us to move away from answering, “Is it right?” and begin to deeply question, “Is it right for me?”
Strength is the first card in the Line Two of the Major Arcana
We’ve now began a whole new cycle.
Thanks to the work of Rachel Pollack, we can think of the Major Arcana Tarot cards like three acts in a play:
In Line One, we learn: I AM. I have beliefs, I have a body, I am.
In Line Two we explore: Who Am I?
In Line Three we learn: There is No I, as in, there is no ‘self’ to defend. Nothing that is real can be threatened.
It can be helpful to think of Line One as the natural stages we go through from birth to adolescence. Line Two is where we encounter most of our adult experiences. Line Three is what we must pass through to complete one spiritual cycle.
That said, remember that our journey through the Major Arcana is not linear, it’s spiralic. In reality we will bounce through different seasons of the Majors all the time, and not necessarily in order.
To better understand the significance of this year’s shift to Strength, I want to touch briefly on what we learned in Line One:
When we moved 2019 to 2020, we moved from Line Two with The Hanged Man (XII) back to Line One and The Emperor (IV). From 2020 until now we have been progressing in Line One.
2020 was a year of The Emperor, which is about structure and foundation. As you well recall, 2020 was a year in which all our foundations were rocked.
2021 was a Hierophant year, which symbolizes initiation and a kind of education of listening to Spirit.
2022 was a year of The Lovers, in which we come to recognize ourselves in the world at large, and we are called to greater self-love.
2023 was The Chariot, the last card in Line One. Ruled by Cancer, The Chariot allowed us to complete the sentence “I am.”
When we finish Line One, our ego has fully formed ego, which has utility.
If you ask a 5 year old, “Is it right that you bit that other kid” she might say, “Yes, he kicked sand in my eyes.” If you ask a 16 year old, “Is it okay to bite?” the answer will be an unwavering no. Thank goodness!
It’s great to be able to say, “I am able to read and write. I am able to finish my schoolwork. I am able to acquire and maintain a job that provides me with food and shelter. Better still, I’m proud of the accomplishments that go along with this self I call I”
This business of right and wrong is the work of the ego. Our egos long to keep us safe, and that is a beautiful intention!
The Chariot and the ego are fantastic vehicles for protecting our bodies, but if we are to expand our spiritual exploration in this life, we’re going to need to leave The Chariot.
The moment we choose to leave The Chariot, we’re saying, “No thank you” to the ego, and saying “Yes” to the soul. For that, we have Strength.
We might instinctively associate the word strength with brawn, but when we turn to the Smith Rider Waite, we see a beautiful maiden and a playful happy lion. In this instance, Strength is synonymous with courage.
“Courage is a heart word. The root of the word courage is cor — the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant “To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.”
Over time, this definition has changed, and today, we typically associate courage with heroic and brave deeds. But in my opinion, this definition fails to recognize the inner strength and level of commitment required for us to actually speak honestly and openly about who we are.”
When we surrender our illusion of control, when we are courageous enough to ask, “Is it right for me?”, we then open ourselves to a vast unknown.
This can feel scary and messy, but ultimately it will lead us to a life greater than anything we could have imagined for ourselves.
Line Two and 2024, begins a new level of humility and a willingness to allow Spirit to help.
The lemniscate ∞ in Strength is a reminder that nothing is lost or gained. Though we’re progressing on a journey, there is no end point to reach.
The nature of a ‘New Year’ and a ‘card of the year’ is inherently linear, but the spirit of Tarot is spiralic. Like a mobius strip, Strength is here connect these concepts.
Our connection with Spirit is a closed loop infinity system. The ∞ also connects the energy of the lady and the lion.
The maiden represents the yin energy. She is reason, logic, beauty, and the divine feminine. The Lion represents the yang. He is passion, power, energy and the divine masculine.
As we evolve this year, we will be called to connect both of these energies and see how they are a part of our authenticity, our heart’s power.
The ∞ turns to form an 8, as in Strength. The Eight’s of the Tarot are filled with potential, movement, and growth. The Eights are defined by change.
I’m not going to get into the Eights of the Minor Arcana here, except to say that all of the Eights bring us into an experience one way, and we exit it transformed.
We are going to be changed both internally and externally. That can be said of every year, but as far as the Tarot and I am telling you, this year is going to bring some decisive transformation. As a collective, and individually.
As a collective, we know this is another election year, and the stakes are as high as can be.
Obviously we’re not going to see the planet start to detach from ego simply by virtue of the card of the year. In fact, we’re going to witness in full view what it looks like to cling to an outmoded ride on The Chariot, big time.
In this fire-energy, Leo year, we are going to be in movement. That doesn’t mean it will necessarily be as fast or as positive as we’d prefer, but these outdated scripts from The Chariot are simply not going to make it into a future based in reality.
You are hereby invited to face those things you might rather avoid, with Strength, with courage, with help from Spirit, and become visionary.
What might that look like specifically for you?
It depends.
If you start to probe your heart and ask the question, “Is it right for me?” you’re going to get some interesting answers. Some things might be a clear no and others a timid, maybe?
When we say yes to Spirit, we’re attuning to our hearts’ desires. We must then confront what we’d rather have avoided in the past.
Acting with courage does not take place in the absence of fear, but rather in spite of fear.
Just questioning and listening to the answers that follow Is it right for me? requires vulnerability. Acting on those answers requires courage. It requires Strength.
“The opposite of belonging is fitting in. Fitting in is assessing and acclimating. ‘Here is what I should say/be, here is what I shouldn’t say, here is what I should avoid talking about, here’s what I should dress like/look like,’ that’s fitting in.
Belonging, is belonging to yourself first…Speaking your truth, telling your story and never betraying yourself for other people. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are, it requires you to be who you are. And that’s vulnerable.” — Dr. Brené Brown The Call To Courage
Are there goals that you set for yourself when you were 23 that you’ve since outgrown? It takes courage to replace them based on your heart’s knowing now.
Perhaps you’ve got a long held belief that you could never feel comfortable speaking in public. This is a time to push past your comfort and bravely trust that your voice matters.
Forgiveness in a major act of courage. Are you holding onto a story of resentment about your family, a lover, an employer, or a stranger? Almost certainly the answer is yes.
Resentments are one of the heaviest armaments the ego employs. Forgiving everything and everyone, including yourself, is one of the scariest endeavors that a person can imagine, and it is a requirement for peace. This work can only be done in collaboration with Spirit.
As you consider how to work with your passion, your calling? in this Fire year, understand that this energy is not the same as The Emperor in Line One. We’ve laid the foundation.
Our call now is not to do so that we might be. In Strength, we learn how to be, so that we can do.
In Line One, we understood that if we want to be X (safe, happy, loved, peaceful) we need to do X (labor, sacrifice, compromise, defend).
Line Two and Strength call us to explore what it means to be X (trusting vulnerable, happy, peaceful) so that we can do X (meaningful work, joyful relationships, peaceful existence).
The Journey we begin in Strength culminates in Line Three, with The Sun
In The Sun, we end a long intense journey of searching that starts the moment we leave The Chariot. Since both cards’ ruling forces is our Sun, we’ll be working with The Sun card’s energy in 2024.
The Sun is the source of all life and the ultimate fire energy.
The Sun’s brilliance, light, and power isn’t a ‘power over’ but a radiant and unapologetic ‘power to.’
When we face with Strength the contractions that were avoidable in Line One, we discover these fears and ‘weaknesses’ were actually our superpowers in shadow.
When we enter the energy of The Sun card, it brings us clarity and illumination. It allows us to see.
That doesn’t mean that we’re always going to feel ebullient, happy, and fun when we are working with The Sun. There are no ‘good’ or ‘happy’ cards, just as there are no ‘bad’ or ‘tragic’ cards.
How we feel about what is illuminated in The Sun, is directly tied to how deeply we allow ourselves to stay visionary in a world of egos.
To quote A Course In Miracles, however much we’ve come to trust that, “In my defenselessness my safety lies.” (ACIM, W-153) is how we will feel when our authentic self is illuminated in The Sun.
And so, here we are, 2024!
We’ve entered into a new realm of expansion. With this 8 year of Strength and The Sun, there is going to be a dawning of light. We are going to see movement and, for better or worse, we are going to have some f’n clarity!
However that resonates with your journey, what a relief to be able to say that all the work we did in The Chariot, in Line One, in 2023, it’s taken us as far as we can go. It is done. We are not growing, birthing or dying in that way any more.
As you move ahead and begin to question, “Is it right for me?” celebrate that your answers will be illuminated with Spirit. Your are no longer going to feel protected by the ego, and so sanctuary from here on out, must be found in vulnerability. Hoorah!
If you are looking for more guidance on how to work with the energy of 2024, come to my Vision Board workshop in San Francisco on January 21st!
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