Exploration doesn’t have to mean travel
Last year was, well let’s be frank: a complete shitshow. Like many folks in 2020, my life was turned completely on its ear and I’m still trying to recover from all that the year brought, most explicitly the global pandemic that is Covid-19. Because of it this now formerly traveling witch (maybe I should do a sigil representing that ala Prince?) is not traveling any more. I know without hesitation it was the right choice to put all that travel on pause and hunker down. I’ve spent a good three months in shock once we made that move and another three months grieving, all while trying to process the trauma that the sudden life change deposited on myself, my Viking, the rest of my family, and friends.
I lost a lot of hope in the bulk of humans on this planet since March 2020; but, beginning in June, I found a new tribe, anchored by some very dear ones, that has blessed my life in innumerable fashions, and for that I have to thank the fall-out that was 2020.
I’m still grateful for all the traveling I (we) did do between Oct. 2018 and March 2020. It was a leap of faith and a dismissal of fear that allowed us to sell everything and live nomadically. And I’m ever grateful for the strength and heart it took for My Viking and I to do that. But by mid-April we recognized that such a life relied on the world being healthy and much more peaceful than it is now. And while we waited for things to return to an improved version of The Before Times, we needed space to prepare for the next chapter. In between we could make some plans to enact some strategies and apply some lessons we learned during our time living alternatively as we were. When I look at my natal chart, it all makes sense. But I digress.
Today’s entry is about my word for 2021, which I notice a lot of folks have adopted. It’s something I’ve personally done for many years. A word or a mantra each year. To come up with it a spend a good bit of time around the end of the calendar year journaling and meditating. Some automatic writing and a bit of dreamwork lead me down the path to find a good focus for the months to come.
My word this year is Explore. That is the part of traveling that I miss the most, that facet of exploration that goes hand-in-hand with it. Although exploration will look much different than travel life, but it will still be thrilling, enlightening, and educational. I have a list of things I want to explore, to include some that will end up populating my public witch life, so you will eventually find them in this space.
As January really gets rolling and many of us here in the States are focused on Inauguration Day, I can say that I’m more focused on the positive things I can bring into my life, be it a borrowed book from the library, a walk along an empty (hopefully) trail, or trying out a new recipe. Exploration will be my balm to distract me from the fact that I haven’t been able to hug my kids at this point in more than a year. Exploration will be my drill sergeant to tear down the old me and build up a better self. Exploration will be the compost for 2021 to enrich my life and let me grow. Exploration this year, for me, will be magic.
Tell me what word or words you are focusing on for 2021? How did you come by finding this new focus? Where are you sprinkling magic, growth, and exploration for your year ahead? I’d love to see your comment below so we could chat further on it.
BB.~Runa
I never thought of coming up with a word for the year. Looking back, I can see that 2020’s would have been Survive, which I did. The ‘Rona didn’t change life much around here, honestly, except for doing bulk grocery trips instead of going to supermarkets whenever, and, of course, wearing a mask when I go out, life as work-at-home folks is not much different from staying home and safe. We had fewer visits with friends, and those were distanced and guarded but still enjoyable. I didn’t have to put up with intrusive hugs from random strangers I was just introduced to (my sole NY “resolution” is never to allow that to happen again), and I did miss going to conventions, but somehow have gotten through a whole year without them. (This year, it will be easier. I don’t see anything like “normality” returning for at least that long.) I did without movie theaters, restaurants (I can always live without those), and the like. And social distancing, to me, is just fine.
2021… I’ll have to give some thought to that, and if I even want a word for the year. Explore is a good word, but doesn’t feel right… Maybe Education or Craft or Growth… something along those lines. I’ll get back to you on that.
Craft seems ripe with possibilities. Thanks for reading and commenting. It means so much.