And So We Begin Again

2025 is (finally) coming to a close. It's been a long year for many of us, especially here in the US. To be perfectly honest, I was on the fence as to whether I would even write this post. It was a toss up between this, or simply welcoming January without comment to the year just gone by. Because I am a witch, and an elemental one at that, and because I emphasize balance in my practise and my writing about this craft, I decided that it would be disingenuous and imbalanced to quietly shut the door on 2025 and not say anything more. If that sounds strange to you, well, welcome to the way my mind works. It's all about balance. With that said, out with the old and in with the new, right?

Regardless of how relieved we may be to see the end of something, especially trying and chaotic years, it is still fitting to look back on the year gone by and to reflect. For me, as most of you know and as I've recently written about, if 2025 was a tarot card, it was The Tower. I won't rehash what's so recently been said (by me) on that particular subject, but I will say this instead: the foundation is strong and did not crumble. As autumn tide turned to winter tide, I've had more time to reflect on this subject in my life, and to notice synchronicities.

I remember waking up one morning in August of 2024 and feeling a sense of overwhelming dread about the year to come. Nothing preceded this. It was before my first abnormal mammogram. Before the election. It was a beautiful day and things were humming along as I was preparing to open the doors to The Sea Wych Salem for the first time. Yet I sat outside in my little oasis and tried to shake the feeling through journaling and copious amounts of caffeine. I tried to shrug it off, but it remained, persistent. It was a sense of desperately not wanting 2024 to end because nothing good was coming.

We all know, of course, that light still shines in the darkness. 2025 did bring many good things but the prevailing atmosphere of this year was rooted in dread. Dread of the next headline. The next sabre rattle. The next nightmare for so many here in the US. For me, it was all of that and more. Not long ago, I confessed to my fiance that I don't remember. Large chunks of time from this year are just...gone. For me, this is especially terrifying because I have a rather good memory and recall for things most people would just dismiss out of hand as unimportant. To have lost that, and have no real memory of many important things too has been a dark forest to navigate. I know that it's because I was operating in survival mode for most of the year, and I'm sure that two back-to-back surgeries with full anesthesia didn't help matters much. But if you've spent any amount of time in survival mode, you know that it's just treading water so you don't drown. Remembering things is a waste of treading water energy and is often the first thing to be discarded when you're simply surviving. I've been here at a few other points in my life and I can say that those were Tower Card years too. One of them far more dramatic than this one even, but that's what survival mode is.

And yet...

A few months ago, I sat once more in my little oasis and realised that, despite the state of, well, everything right now, I woke up feeling really optimistic, dare I say, excited even, at the prospect of what's to come in 2026. Once again, there has been no real seminal event for this sense of excitement and possibility that has been growing as 2025 winds its way to a close. It just...happened one morning, and it's grown steadily as I've finally, finally, started to emerge from the mists and fog of this year. And of course it won't be all sunshine and unicorn farts. That's not how life works. But I am excited to welcome in 2026 and throw the back door wide open to sweep out 2025.

I have many things planned for the shop, for collaborations, events, and in-house programming in 2026 and this time, I'll be able to hit the ground running from the get-go. I can't wait to share them with you - and I hope that, like me, you're finding a sense of hope and light in the year as yet to come.

The winter tide will be ending before we know it, and I hope that each and every one of you are able to sit in contentment and spend time resting, awaiting what's to come for you, too. As always, fair winds to your sails and following seas to propel you safely and happily into new waters in 2026!