Lessons from the Strength Year
Life is easier when you learn them + PLUS invite to workshop
2024 - our collective Strength Year according to tarot - taught me that we are only as strong as our relationships.
I think of the Cards of the Year as classes we take together in the collective Mystery School that is earth.
We have a collective Card of the Year and a personal Card of the Year (which is like an independent study we’re taking in our own personal Mystery School based on our soul card - I talk about this alot in my 1-1 sessions).
Each time the earth makes a revolution around the Sun, the Mysteries invite us to participate in a new class guiding us to deeper understanding of our path and purpose.
In 2024 we were all taking the Strength class together. But we have to avoid thinking of Professor Strength as a mean school marm ready to mark us down and shame us for not getting a good grade.
Strength is a Teacher in the true sense. She really does help us grow in our capacity to form bonds and nourish each other.
For those of us who studied with Strength this year, she invited us to increase our ability to authentically connect.
Authentic connection requires us to be fully ourselves while honoring our interdependence with others.
One of Strength’s classrooms is the forest.
The strongest trees - the Grandmother trees - are the ones with the most interconnected root networks.
The most powerful trees are not the ones that dominate but the ones that bond and share.
Consider how this forest teaching asks each of us to re-evaluate our lives, our health, our businesses, our nations.
If the strongest nations are the ones that have the most caring bonds with others, then despite all its weapons and military spending, the USA is basically in hospice. RIP.
And what about you? What do the quality of your relationships tell you?
Many of us have been taught (or traumatized) to believe that the more independent we are, the stronger we’ve proven ourselves to be.
But those who studied with the Strength card this year will understand the error in that line of thinking.
Individualism is not strength, it’s weakness. Strength as isolation is not only miserable, it’s a death sentence.
True strength comes through our networks of kinship: our relationships with friends, families (chosen or otherwise), lovers, and the more-than-human world.
True strength completely reorders our system of values.
Understanding that our strength arises through the vitality of our relationships can change the course of our lives.
Realizing your strength comes through the health of your relationships will change how you behave, the choices you make, what you value, and where you focus your energy.
When you change your behavior, you contribute to changing the larger culture.
Strength is an act of solidarity.
Working with the Cards of the Year Helps You:
make more empowered decisions
figure out your greatest contributions to the world
deepen your spiritual practices
practice tools to ease distress
become more fully yourself
Next year is the Hermit Card year.
Now that we have learned to become strong in our relationships, the Hermit comes along to teach us how to truly to commit to our spiritual path.
The Hermit teaches us to trust our inner knowing, and to recognize that the guide we have been seeking has been with us all along.
I’ll be talking more about the Hermit over the coming months, but in the meantime, I invite you to join my upcoming Cards of the Year workshop series…
Pilgrimage: Your Guide to the Hermit Year - A Workshop Series
This 3-part workshop series includes…
Opportunities to reflect on and integrate the lessons of the Strength Year (2024)
Intention setting and skill building for the Hermit Year (2025)
Lessons on how to work with your SPECIFIC Cards of the Year and your personal Soul card (which is like your own personal Mystery School)
A Book of Shadows class to help you track your progress, dream, and create (revised from last year, specific to 2025)
A class on Calling In Your Inspiration (based on my Guardians of the Directions workshop from the Salem Witch and Folklore festival, in case you missed it)
If you can’t make it to any of the sessions, you will get a replay and a downloadable PDF to support you.
Free and monthly subscribers to Mystery Cult can purchase all four workshop sessions for $291. But…
… Yearly and Founder’s level subscribers get this workshop series FREE with the cost of membership!
I want to make the benefits of a yearly Mystery Cult membership explicitly clear…
A yearly membership to Mystery Cult is $279 (20% cheaper than the monthly rate).
If you get a yearly membership (or renew your yearly membership) you will get the FULL year of Moon Rituals etc. PLUS the workshop series, which is worth $291 on its own, FREE with the cost of membership.
That means, if you are a yearly subscriber, and you miss EVERY SINGLE FULL MOON gathering, AND miss every other offering, and JUST attend this workshop series you’ll STILL be getting the workshop for $12 LESS than if you buy it as a one off.
You get an amazing workshop series, a year of Full Moon rituals (reading groups, Live Chats, and more), and I get a stable income for the year so I can focus on creating content for you rather than marketing. Huzzah! It’s a win-win!
Sometimes monthly subscribers worry that they won’t be able to attend all of the Moon rituals and reading groups, so they hold off on getting a yearly subscription.
My solution for these folks is offering these high value workshops at the beginning of the year. That way, even if you NEVER attend another Mystery Cult event throughout the year, you’ll still be getting good value.
If you have questions, please feel free to email us at: guardian@oracleoflosangeles.com
Workshop: Essential Information
Here are the things you need to know about Pilgrimage: A Hermit Year Workshop Series…
Pilgrimage Workshop comes in 3 parts (but I might add an extra class if necessary, because I don’t like to rush)
We’ll be focusing on creating your Hermit Year Book of Shadows, reflecting on 2024 and planning for 2025, and setting our intentions for the skills we’d like to develop throughout the year
This workshop series will include writing, art-making, and witchcraft
We will use the work we do in this workshop series throughout the year in our Moon ceremonies and in the monthly Witch Guides
If you can’t attend any of the Live Calls, you will get a replay
This workshop series and/or yearly membership makes a great gift! More information at the link below.
Dates of Classes
All classes are on Saturdays at 11am PST.
12/21/24 - Lesson 1: Creating Your Book of Shadows on the Winter Solstice
12/28/24 - Lesson 2: Reflecting on Strength Year + Preparing for Hermit Year
1/4/25 - Lesson 3: Orienting Towards Enchantment, Finding Your Guides
Again, please note that I might add one extra class (IF necessary) because I want to move at a leisurely pace and not feel time-crunched.
Necessary Ingredients for Class 1:
Many of these things you might already have at home. Glancing through it may seem like a lot, but if you look closely it’s really not much. If you don’t have the art supplies, I recommend you support your local art supply store, but you can also grab them online if necessary.
A blank journal (your Book of Shadows for the Hermit Year, examples here)
Glue (I use PVA glue, but even Elmer’s will do)
A paint brush (to apply the glue)
Graphite transfer paper (here’s an example) - note, you can also make this by rubbing ashes all over the back of a piece of thin paper, it’s just a messier option
An eraser
An embossing tool (here’s an example, but you can also use a regular pencil if necessary)
A photocopy or print out of your favorite version of the Hermit card
Watercolor paints (you don’t need many colors, in fact, if you only use one color and white that’s totally fine - I will provide you with examples during the class)
Watercolor paint brushes (again, you don’t need to break the bank for this, just use what’s available)
A candle and matches
Incense or burning herbs
Salt
A cup of water for blessing your journal
To Purchase Pilgrimage: Hermit Year Workshop Series…
a la carte for $291 click this link (for free and monthly subscribers)
or join Mystery Cult as a yearly subscriber and receive the workshop as part of your $279 yearly membership click the subscribe button below
… if you’re already a yearly subscriber, no need to do anything except make sure your membership is up to date. You will receive this workshop series automatically. Put the dates in your calendar :)