In looking for an oracle card spread that resonated with me for the new year, I came across this birthday spread by Asali Earthwork. At first glance, it seemed a little more complicated than what I would normally be drawn to but as I explored the card placements and their explanations it just felt perfect. Although I have not seen it done, I knew that I intended to use a number of my oracle card decks in whatever spread I decided on and this twelve card grouping would certainly give me that opportunity! And I absolutely loved the inclusion of numerology by calculating a personal year card!

1) CARD TO REPRESENT YOUR LAST YEAR (DRAW FROM DECK OR CALCULATE PERSONAL YEAR CARD FOR LAST YEAR).
This position reflects the overall energy of the past year of your life. Looking at the card you drew, how did your experiences relate?

Oh and how to calculate your personal year card, if you prefer that approach instead of simply drawing from the deck? Very simple, at least the way I do it. Add your birth date up but instead of your birth year use the year you’re calculating for. So for example, my birthday last year was on 09/30/2019 so I add it up as 09+30+2019=2058, and simplify it numerology style so 2058=2+0+5+8=15.

Now, you can go further if you have a double digit and I could, for example, take the 15 and make it 1+5=6 but since the number came up under 22, I can stick with 15, which would make my last tarot year card, The Devil. I’ll just resist the temptation to simplify it down to The Lovers just to feel more comfortable- not that it would help, in the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) tarot imagery, The Lovers & Devil card are eerily similar so the bond(age) is clearly there.

2) WHAT TO LEAVE BEHIND IN PREVIOUS YEAR?
You can’t, and shouldn’t, take everything with you. To make space for the new, some of the old has got to go. When you look at the card you drew, what is it asking you to leave behind or what practice is coming up to support you in the releasing work? Reflect on how this card connects to the previous position.

3) WHAT TO TAKE WITH YOU INTO THIS NEXT YEAR?
Lessons learned must be integrated so that we don’t have to learn them again the hard way. Some of the old is worth keeping with you, like old notes you reference to support you through whatever you’re working towards. When you look at the card you drew in this position, what is it asking you to bring from the past year? Reflect on how it connects to the two previous positions. Any connections to draw? What is the story being told in these three retrospective positions?

4) CARD TO REPRESENT YOUR NEW YEAR (DRAW FROM DECK OR CALCULATE PERSONAL YEAR CARD FOR THIS YEAR).
Now to look ahead. Whether you choose to draw a card or calculate a year card, what is revealed to you? What does your intuition say this could be about? Are there intentions and practice you can set now that connect with the card? Remember there are no outright positive or negative cards- it’s all about the context (so no panicking if you get The Tower!).

Look at the very first card in this spread. What’s the relationship between the past year and this year’s card? What story is told? What evolution is taking place?

5) HOW OR WHERE MAY CHALLENGES ARISE IN THE COMING YEAR?
Shit happens. We can’t avoid the dips and dives but we can prepare, reinforce, adapt, survive, and learn from these experiences. Think of this as a heads up that allows you take a deep bracing breath to ground yourself in your power. You will make it through.

6) HOW OR WHERE MAY BLESSINGS ARRIVE IN THE COMING YEAR?
What’s the opposite of shit happens? Good shit happens? However you want to phrase it, I do believe that good will come to you, and often, in the span of a year so make a note, see where you can make even more space for it. What are some ways you can set yourself up for the blessings? If you draw a more challenging card, where is the lesson or silver lining beyond the immediate impact?

7) THIS YEAR’S GUIDANCE FOR PHYSICAL WELLNESS?
This section of the spread is pretty straightforward and it relates to the different domains of our lives, I chose to go with a four elements approach- if you like you can change the descriptors to what fits best for you, for example physical to the element of earth or perhaps material wellness. Whatever works for you is best for you!

8) THIS YEAR’S GUIDANCE FOR MENTAL WELLNESS?
Mental wellness includes your discernment, perspective, mindset, communication, self-talk, and all the ways your mind moves you through your days.

9) THIS YEAR’S GUIDANCE FOR EMOTIONAL WELLNESS?
This position is for heart-work. Connection, trauma, joy, intimacy, and all the mushy and sometimes ouchy stuff comes up here. Forgive my choice of words, mushy and ouchy are the words that come up for me around this work which probably reveals a few things about myself!

10) THIS YEAR’S GUIDANCE FOR SPIRITUAL WELLNESS?
This position makes space for your spiritual practice, ancestral and guide connection, intuition, creativity, imagination, and vision for yourself and the future you want to help create.

11) MESSAGE FROM GUIDES AND ANCESTORS?
Rounding out the spread, some support from those who move with you, unseen though always felt.

12) MESSAGE FROM YOUR INNER SELF?
This is Ori, you at your highest vibration, the innocent inner child who is also your wise future ancestral elder self, the space that your spark and power comes from, the youest part of you.

Trust this incarnation of yourself.

Trust yourself.

As the sun sets on 2022, I am reviewing my list of 55 things I want to accomplish over the next 55 months. Some of those things have been easy, like #11 – saving $55/week. After I set up the account and the auto-transfer I can forget about it, it just happens, no effort required. Some of the things I listed are done, like starting this blog, and listing 55 things for which I am grateful.

But some of those things are hard, like losing 1.5 lbs/week, walking 55 minutes/week, and drinking 55 glasses of water/week. The things that I have the most control over, the things that will have the biggest impact on my health and mental wellbeing are those habits that I am struggling to master. Why?

“Look outside and you will see yourself. Look inside and you will find yourself.” — Drew Gerald

This simple quote explains the importance of self-introspection. Finding yourself is the basis for any improvement. You need to know where you are, who you are, what you are, how you are, and most importantly, why you are*

In 2023, may I never stop asking myself the important questions, and may I never stop listening to my own answers.

*9 Rare and Powerful Quotes About the Importance of Self Awareness

The burning of a special log in a fireplace for luck and fortune has been a holiday tradition long before the arrival of Christianity in Europe. As are most holiday traditions, the origins of the Yule log are believed to have stemmed from Germanic or Scandinavian paganism. On December 21st, I lit a Yule log and as I watched the fire burn, I made a list of 55 things for which I am grateful (and number 55 was not that I was grateful to be finished my gratitude list!)

Other progress that I have made on my list of 55 in 55:

In addition to donating a bag of dog food and a bag of cat food to the NE SPCA, I donated $250

I went for coffee and discovered a new coffee shop (in Melfort)

I gave away a book (it counts, it’s like donating, only more personal)

I meditated for 55 minutes

I tried two new wines (Solemnis, a primitivo that my daughter wanted to try and Bread & Butter pinot noir with turkey dinner)

I read and made some notes on the upcoming Wolf Moon (full moon in Cancer on January 6, 2023)

And I wrote a poem (after seeing my son)

To Joseph

It was him
but it wasn’t him.
It was he
but he couldn’t be
the Joseph of
my memory.

My son.
My boy.
My pride.
My joy.
Life has dealt you a hand
and now, you are a man,
with a need for space
and to find your place
in the family tree . . .
your destiny.

In your eyes,
I still see
that boy
who is a part of me.
Blood of my blood,
Bone of my bone,
like it or not,
you are not alone.

I love you son, Mom

When you make a list, at the point of writing, you make a conscious decision to commit to completing the items listed. The mere act of recording fifty-five things that I want to accomplish in fifty-five months (and actively tracking my progress of completing) has challenged me? Changed me? For example, I travel an hour and a half to Melfort, SK regularly. Sometimes I have to venture to the booming metropolis of St. Brieux (or Naicam, or Kelvington). I usually take the same road. Last week, I decided to take a different road home, one I have never taken before. I am so glad that I did as I came across this log construction home.

Other progress that I have made on my list:

I photographed an abandon building (on a brutally cold day, I might add);

I read three poems (one of which was Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken);

I donated nine books;

I visited my daughter;

Not only did I take grid 773 from St. Brieux through Pleasantdale and Kinistin reserve, but I also took hwy 15 between Leross and Raymore to get to Lumsden (two new to me roads);

I wrote/published a story;

I tried a new wine (aptly called Gigglewater);

I lit a fire in the fireplace;

And last night, after lighting my Yule log,I made a list of 55 things for which I am grateful.

If you’ve ever cleaned out a junk drawer or a stuffed closet in your home and felt an incredible surge of satisfaction, you’ve experienced some of the magical (yet totally practical) benefits of clearing clutter.

In feng shui philosophy, free-flowing energy creates health, wealth, love, and overall abundance. Clutter is thought to stop that energy flow and create stagnation, exhaustion, and exasperation*. To put it another way . . . clutter is nothing more than postponed decisions!

Number 9 of my 55 in 55 list was to recycle, or donate, 55 items that I have been holding on to. Although there are 55 items in this photo, not all of the items are mine and not all of them are things that I have been holding on to but it is a start. There were nine books in that bunch of stuff, which helps with Number 54 of my list . . . donate 55 books.

*MindBodyGreen.com

Desmond Tutu once wisely said that “there is only one way to eat an elephant and that is one bite at a time.” Ten days into an almost 1700 day commitment-yes, 55 months works out to that many days-and I would have to say that I have managed to take more than a few bites:

I started this blog and a conversation with a stranger about kitchen renovations;

I visited my daughter and her family;

I coloured a picture in an adult colouring book (and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it);

I wrote a haiku (Twenty twenty-three/It’s my time, new year, new me/Free of history);

I got my nails done;

I tried a new soup recipe (Cold Buster with lots of onions and garlic);

I lost 5 lbs (okay, I have been really sick with a viral thing these last 5 days);

I read a book (full disclosure, I read a cookbook but I was sick, it counts);

I set-up my savings account and auto transfer to save $55/week (two Fridays in 10 days so $110 in the account);

I watched a sunset and a sunrise;

I got a good start on the donation pile (it is not all things that I have been hanging to to but I am working on it); and

I photographed a very cool set of ruins near Dysart, SK. There was a plaque affixed to a large stone that read, “to honour the pioneers who built the stone Roxborough Presbyterian Church on this site June 1887. Destroyed by fire September 1887.” I had to read the dates twice. All that work, every stone picked and placed, only to be consumed by fire three months later. On one hand, I couldn’t help but think, “what a waste.” On the other hand, here I was 135 years later, standing in the cold in awe of the pioneer spirit, as evidenced in this foundation stubbornly still standing. Perhaps next summer, I will visit the Dysart Museum and get the full story on that little church on the prairie.

Yes, it all started with the research and purchase of a planner and one quickly approaching milestone . . .

In the weeks leading up to my fifty-fifth birthday I have had the opportunity to reflect on my life-what makes me uniquely me, what makes me tick, what makes me happy, what (and who) feeds my soul, and what I want to do with the time I have left on this earth.

With the intention of moving forward from this moment with grace, gratitude, and grit . . . always grounded, what started as an ad-hoc list of things to help me live life more fully has turned into a bit of a bucket list of things to do before I turn 60.

Aside – I love that the organizer that I selected is called the “Legend Planner”!

1. Try 55 new wines.

2. Visit 55 towns I have never been in.

3. Go for coffee 55 times (family, friend, co-worker, or business acquaintance).

4. Make a list of 55 things I am grateful for.

5. Write/publish 55 stories.

6. Try 55 new recipes.

7. Buy 55 new plants for the acreage.

8. Read 55 books.

9. Recycle 55 items that I have been holding on to.

10. Start a conversation with 55 strangers.

11. Save $55/week for 55 months.

12. Read 55 poems.

13. Write 55 poems.

14. Visit my daughter and her family 55 times in 55 months.

15. Visit my Mom 55 times in 55 months.

16. Drive 55 roads that I have never driven.

17. Give 55 pieces of clothing away.

18. Volunteer for 55 hours.

19. Lose 55 lbs.

20. Meditate for 55 minutes/week for 55 months.

21. Write 55 letters and mail each one.

22. Read 55 short stories.

23. Walk for at least 55 minutes/week for 55 months.

24. Drink 55 cups of water/week for 55 months.

25. Make 55 phone calls to catch up with old friends.

26. Try 55 new soup recipes.

27. Spend 55 minutes in a wheat field.

28. Spend 55 minutes by a lake or river.

29. Spend 55 minutes walking the beach.

30. Discover 55 new artists (music).

31. Take photos of 55 abandoned farm yards.

32. Watch 55 sunrises.

33. Watch 55 sunsets.

34. Colour 55 pictures in an adult colouring book.

35. Paint and install 55 birdhouses at the acreage.

36. Donate 55 bags of dog food.

37. Donate 55 cases of canned cat food.

38. Visit 55 art galleries.

39. Limit podcast list to 55 and spend half of my time driving listening to podcasts instead of the radio.

40. Mark the changing of the seasons, new moons and full moons with 55 minutes of reflection.

41. Get 55 massages.

42. Stay in bed 55 Sundays to read for at least 55 minutes.

43. Light and sit around 55 fires.

44. Learn 55 Croatian words/month for 55 months.

45. Invest in 55 hours of professional development.

46. Donate $550/year to charity.

47. Plant 55 trees.

48. Donate 55 cans of soup to the food bank.

49. Spend 55 nights stargazing.

50. Catch 55 fish.

51. Get either 55 manicures, or 55 pedi-cures, or a combination.

52. Donate 55 books.

53. Buy coffee for the car behind me in the Tim Horton’s drive thru line 55 times.

54. Add 55 gemstones to my collection.

55. Start an accountability blog.