Quick, fun, (important) update...

...when your body makes other plans

My winter “vacay” was a blur.

Winter Solstice retreat (can’t wait to share the pix)! Soul Cards workshop! Full Moon Intention Setting ritual! A wap bam boom! Now, suddenly, my PhD program at UCLA started back up yesterday and here we go again.

[Insert gust of 💨 emoji here].

Funny thing is, I only really slowed down after the full rush of the holidays was over. Then, soon as I did, wouldn’t you know it? I got sick!

Has this happened to you?

You don’t have the time to get sick. You run on adrenaline and fumes, then finally when you’re “allowed” to rest, you lay down and … can’t get up again for a week.

The Devil warned me this would happen.

In 2025 – my Devil Card year – Beelzebub kicked my butt.

On the plus side: he showed me what I can do when I refill my well of inspiration. Poetry, pilgrimages, ideas overflowing. More than enough to share…

On the shadow side: he slapped on the handcuffs and showed me the bad habits I inevitably fall into if I insist on pouring from an empty cup. Hint: it’s not cute.

Now I’m entering a Tower year. And if I don’t listen to my body, the Tower will probably reduce me to a pile of smoldering rubble.

On the other hand, if I do listen, I have a feeling the Tower will liberate me from patterns that have held me back for years. The Tower is nothing if not motivating.

At our Full Moon Intention Setting ritual last weekend (still available via replay) we literally conjured new realities with our intentions.

Let’s say you’re going down a path you don’t want to be on. Set an intention and a fork in the road will appear. Intentions invoke change.

One of my intentions for 2026 is: Listen to what my body is telling me.

My Devil year taught me the cost of not listening, of prioritizing literally everything else, but my body crying out for rest and care.

Obviously, if it were easy to listen to my body and get everything I need to get done, done, I’d be doing it already.

But during the Intention Setting Ritual we asked ourselves, What happens if I don’t follow through on my intention? What does five years of ignoring this look like?

I do NOT love the future where I ignore what my body is telling me for the next five years while complaining about how much work I have to get done. 😐

The healthy, inspired future I DO want to call in gives me the courage to listen to my body now, even when I fear that there’s simply nothing I can can cut from my itinerary at the moment.

I may not be able to change my schedule, but I can change my priorities, and my attitude. And for me, that begins with my INTENTION to do so.

As my friend who loves Al-Anon says: We always have choices.

So here’s what I want to share with you:

✨ First…

…because I’m sick, I’m moving the Cards of the Year workshop from this Sunday to Sunday the 18th at 11am. Thank you for your care and flexibility. Founders and Annual subscribers, please mark your calendars.

✨ Second…

…I invite you to try intention-setting as a daily practice. Before your first day of class. Before you sit down at the writing desk. Before you step into your day. Call in a quality – any quality you like – groundedness, patience, courage, whatever you need. Invoke your intentions and the fork in the road will appear! Try it now! I’d love to hear what fork shows up for you.

✨ Third:

I want to share a New Year podcast episode from one of my favorite writers and podcasters, Manda Scott. Her New Year missive was super inspiring. I miss podcasting so much and I can’t wait to get back on that horse again when my schedule allows, but in the meantime, listen to Manda, because if I did a New Year podcast episode for 2026 it would basically be: “What she said.” Here you go:

If today’s message resonated, please consider:

• Liking, sharing, or leaving a comment with the intention you’re working with and how it’s going for you

• Joining us for the upcoming (rescheduled) Cards of the Year workshop on Sunday the 18th at 11am PT

• Or simply resting a little more than you think you’re allowed to

My intention with this email is to brighten your day. So I’m sending it your way with love,

Amanda

P.S. Don’t worry too much about me. It’s just a cold. I did the tests.

P.P.S. If you want to know what the upcoming year has in store for you according to tarot numerology, become an Annual or Founder’s level subscriber today. We’ve got our Cards of the Year workshop coming up on the 18th. It’s included in the cost of Annual membership, which also saves you 20% (!!) off a month-to-month subscription. It’s a ridiculously good deal, honestly. My friends keep telling me I offer wayyyy more value than what I charge - so lock these rates in now while the getting is good!

P.P.P.S. I just want to say that the world is in turmoil. Fuck ICE. Fuck colonialism and capitalism. I have more nuanced things I want to say and will say when I get a minute — I mean, I’m not going to run out of horrors to give my hot take on — but in the meantime. Be gentle with yourselves and the people you love. And know that our intentions to create a liberated reality can and WILL succeed if we PRACTICE them.

ACTUAL FOOTAGE of me in my Devil Year. Just kidding. It’s a painting by Marcos Alvarado called, Love's Paradox. Find out more about the artist here.