As I do every several years or so, once again this Feb. 14, I invite you to join me as we reject the patriarchal cult of dead martyrs, guilt, and consumerism. Instead, let us reclaim this day of love and celebrate the divine gift of all consensual love, beauty, and pleasure.

Rejoice this happy day, when we dedicate to new magical studies, renew our devotions, undergo initiation, and, under the light of the Owl Moon, welcome the transformation of the Crone to the Maiden. For Imbolc is Life’s Promise: no matter what the ice and cold may deliver, Nature is bigger, stronger, and will triumph.

As I do each year, I examine the Tarot Year’s card, based on the year’s numerology, using the lens of the Major Arcana. Everyone reading this is feeling the twists that began barely 24 hours after the New Year’s stroke of midnight Eastern time. They haven’t let up and aren’t likely to. But they can be navigated. Here’s how.

Happy New Year! Through the powers of sympathetic magic, and some very, very old traditions, everything you do today can set the tone for the coming year, so make sure you encourage good fortune and avoid the bad. Especially in a Wheel of Fortune year. Here’s how!

New Year’s is a time of very old magic, and all forms of manifesting, spells, and rituals are amplified at this turning. Beginning with the traditions of New Year’s Eve, I offer my annual suggestions for making sure you are attuned to the beautiful opportunities of this magical threshold.

It’s time for those celebrating Christmas to light (or re-light, if you were also observing Solstice) your final candle. Whether this holiday is deeply spiritual for you or not, its heart is Good, and is an offering of hope and rebirth that humanity could surely benefit from. May Grace bless you this day and always. So mote it be

Light the final candle on your Solstice wreath! Ring the bells! The long, slow descent of the Sun has ended, and the ancient promise of rebirth is come. Life and Light now return. This is the day of Solstice – Winter in the Northern Hemisphere, and Happy Summer Solstice below the equator!

Now we arrive at the day before Winter Solstice. It marks the ancient celebration of Mother Night. Make way for the Dark Goddess, who holds us at our beginnings and our endings. Welcome the gift of quiet pause preceding the Yuletide birth.

We stand on the final threshold before Winter Solstice, the last Sun Day before Solstice. This holy night, as the birth of the Child of Promise draws ever nearer, we celebrate our Joy to the World. May the Keeper of Earth’s deepest places, the roots that are beyond knowing, guide our way home.