2016 has been a strange one for many of us. It feels disingenuous to type that, though, when I’ve lead a very comfortable life all year. Considering the atrocities faced by people in Syria, for example… Yet 2017, as most years, will also throw some difficulties at us, challenges that can feel insurmountable. Sometimes they will be, and they will crush us mentally, physically, and spiritually. More often, though, I think we can take the challenges and ride them with grace, learning the required lessons and, perhaps, teaching others along the way. 2016 saw us lose many heroes and inspirations. Some of us lost family members or friends to various circumstances. Many of us saw 2016 as a battering ram of defeat, and the tumult reached me on a personal level right at the very end.
I have not done my annual saining and divinatory reading for the New Year. I have not yet looked for insight into what is coming, but I am optimistic. Typical to my Sagittarius sign, I always look on the bright side, even after a painful situation. To me, every hurt is a lesson. I realize I’m showing a lot of privilege in saying that given that I’m not in a war zone or scared to use the bathroom at night… I have gratitude for the blessings I’ve been given and I want to do more to help those in need. It’s a theme that’s continued to show up in my magical work. I’m looking forward to growing as a person in 2017. I’m looking forward to growing in my spirituality and strengthening my grove. My grove! We became a grove in 2016. I must focus on the successes and learn from the failures. I will continue to work through the Nine Virtues to be the best I can be!
“Turn, Turn, Turn” – performed by the Byrds and written by Pete Seeger – came to mind today. Despite its biblical origins, I’ve always felt the song is very Pagan. Life is full of comings and goings, beginnings and endings, as painful as that can be. Perhaps our paths will cross again one day, but for now, all I can think of is the wheel turning… and the work that I must continue.
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late
Author M. A. Phillips 
I always look on the bright side, too, even when to everyone else the situation is hopeless.
What kind of divinatory thing do you do at the beginning of a new year? I’ve wanted to do one for years (preferably with Runes, but have also considered tarot cards as they seem slightly more suited to such a thing), but don’t know any kind of spread that would work well.