Birthday Post: Requiem for 31

As soon as I sat down to write this, Mama SBG came in with this card.

Okay. So. Thirty-one.

Last year, Life (speaking through the wisdom of my friendly neighborhood astrologer, Mecca–she’s actually based in NYC, but that’s not the point) charged me with the following: 

• Focus on transforming your relationship to yourself and others; establishing and maintaining relationships that feed you; keeping something for yourself; setting healthy boundaries 
• Be your own authority–Pair down to the necessities and get your act together for long term reward and stability 
• Formulate plans that lead to financial stability 
• Be up front and unapologetic about your needs 
• Embrace radical transformation; eliminating psychic garbage; trust your intuition and emotions
• Go back to what you know (especially on the career front) and trust your judgement. Don’t be afraid to step into the unknown

Here’s what I’ve done:

• Moved in with Mama SBG to provide a cushion for leaving my job (a job that gave me daily anxiety attacks and psychosomatic body aches)
• Quit the job that made miserable before securing a new one–negotiated an exit plan that allowed me 6-8 weeks to job hunt
• Secured my dream job that includes an amazing boss, more money, and a fun industry
• Owned up to my desire to be desired. Not wanting marriage or children doesn’t relegate me to second-rate treatment. I require my lovers to be present, even if it doesn’t “go” anywhere.
• Accepted more vulnerability–stepped away from people and relationships that required me to wear a mask
• Had uncomfortable conversations and found peace on the other side
• Deepened and fully embraced my belief in astrology and tarot–even if it makes me sound like a flighty hippy sometimes
• Let go of the mythology I crafted about my life over the last eight years–which meant deleting my beloved blog archives (Book coming by the end of the month)
• Decided to listen when a wise woman told me: “Stop TRYING to be. Just BE.” 

So, here I sit, on the eve of thirty-two. I’m coining it the #MagicYear. It started as a reference to Magic Johnson’s jersey number but here’s how synchronicity works: astrologically, the next year of my life will be heavily influenced by the planet Mercury. (My Solar Return chart has a Gemini Ascendant, a Virgo stellium and Saturn in the Sixth House). In tarot, Mercury is represented by The Magician.

The Magician is a very Mercurial card in its expression and meaning. The Fool of the Tarot is no longer taking a leap of faith, he is learning that you can take life into your own hands, that you can think of ideas and express them and so communicate using your own skills, as The Magician is doing. Thus, in the Tarot, the idea is born that we all have talents we can use, and that these are infinite, as indicated by the infinity symbol.

Okay, thirty-two.

Show me a good time.