We’re down to the last days of 2018. What a wild ride this year has been. Here’s a recap of everything I’m proud of for 2018. I also had many great clients and reading events. Thinking about them all puts a smile on my face.
The big thing I did this year was accept a contract from Llewellyn for my first book, Tarot Inspired Life. It’s a dream come true for me, years in the making. I received my author copies a few days ago, and have been hearing from friends that they’ve received copies. I’m both elated and nervous but that’s par for who I am. While copies are available in some stores and online at Google Play right now, the official street date is January 8, 2019. So there’s still time to preorder your copy now!
I also got some professional pictures taken of me for the book and all my sites. My photographer, Christy Carr, was fabulous in keeping me focused and helping me feel like a rockstar, despite my mind-body issues. I’m so grateful for her help.
In addition to the book release, I separated out the two tarot domains I own. Inner Compass Tarot, the business site, got moved over to www.innercompasstarot.com. The www.tarotinspiredlife.com domain has been repurposed to promote my book. I spent most of autumn and winter creating worksheets, templates, and other downloads. I plan on posting book specific entries over there.
Classes
I taught Pop Culture Tarot with Rose Red at PantheaCon this year. We had a full room full of eager attendees who learned many ways to integrate tarot and pop culture references in their cards and spreads. Each table created a unique spread, which we collected, and I created a fun download as a keepsake.
Ruth Ann and Wald Amberstone asked me to run a Breakfast Round Table at Readers Studio this year. I chose to focus my discussion around how we as tarot readers can promote great change in the world as we’re going through all these political, social unrest, and environmental changes. I was blessed to receive many awesome responses to this question and have integrated many suggestions into my personal practice.
While I din’t teach at NWTS this year, I did focus on producing a quality conference for everyone to enjoy.
Publications
The year in review posts are especially important for me to see what body of writing I produce out into the world every year. Much of what I wrote throughout these months, won’t be released until next year, so it creates this weird perspective where I feel like I haven’t done much of anything. However, as you’ve seen I have.
Arcanum Tarot from Lo Scarabeo
I wrote the booklet for the second deck by Renata Lechner. Once again, her dreamy lifelike art provides a wonderful backstory to tarot’s adventures.
The Cartomancer, Vol 4, Issue 2
The editor asked my advice for the Sage Advice Experts Roundtable. I’m one of six experts answering the question “What is your favorite card in the Tarot and why? Or cards, if that works better.” (Link goes to the PDF version because the print issue sold out.)
Fairy Oracle from Lo Scarabeo
I cowrote the booklet with Rose Red, and for some reason only my name shows up on this. We attempted to give a good structure and victorian backdrop for this deck which features Arthur Rackham’s art.
John Bauer Tarot from Lo Scarabeo
I wrote the booklet for this deck which features John Bauer’s art.
The Starman Tarot from Lo Scarabeo
This was a HUGE project and an honor. I wrote the tarot introduction section, the keywords, how to use the cards, and created two spreads for this David Bowie inspired deck by Davide De Angelis. I also ended up being a primary editor for the whole book which he and his wife co-wrote.
Rose and I continue to produce episodes of Tarot Visions. We added a new member to our team who has taken over audio processing. While I enjoyed processing episodes, having our new teammate doing them gives me the space I’ll need in 2019 to tour for my book. We’re still interviewing people and we’ve also expanded our solo episodes to discuss our own practices and thoughts. I also took small breaks during this year to focus on TIL edits and website work.
Lifestyle
My word for 2018 was community. I wanted to make better and stronger connections to my friends and to share who I was with the world. I think I’ve done a good job of that with my various platforms.
I stepped away from Facebook on my birthday and haven’t logged in since. I feel less stress and it gives me more opportunities to talk about what is going on with friends over the phone or email, or… gasp.. in person! I’m still active with Facebook Messenger, as many friends use this service to communicate. I am also very active on twitter. For some reason, I don’t see twitter as threatening to my mental stability as Facebook.
You’d think that with all this new time on my hands, I’d have read a lot of books. Sadly, I only got through 27 books. One of the books in my current reads pile I’ve been working on since last year! Sheez… maybe I need to read more.
I DID get caught up on podcasts this year. Podcasts got weird for me after my dad died in 2016, and it felt like a huge relief to get most of them current. Perhaps this is one step along my grieving process?
A lot goes on in my head. Last year I lost a dear friend and my personal counselor. While I’m sad and miss him, I’m happy to say I found a new counselor to help me navigate my brain and the challenges of being bipolar. I feel more grounded, heard, and helped through the difficult changes. It can be hard to admit mental health challenges, so if you’re struggling…please know I’m here. I hear you. I hold space for you.
I continue to listen to my body and give it what it needs. I exercise, get massages, and see a chiropractor. I also am working on changing my perspective of my body and self image. I’m still facing pita pain in my neck, and as such, I am eager to add acupuncture into the list after the new year.
I look forward to 2018 drawing closed and seeing what 2019 has to offer. I have big plans for this next year: adding new services to the Inner Compass Tarot site, new blog posts here and at the tarot inspired life domain, and yes, I am working on new book ideas. I’ll also be teaching and traveling. There’s never a dull moment in my life.
This about wraps it up for 2018. I look forward to 2019 and what surprises it has in store for me. More travels, more words, more thoughts, more tarot!
What achievements have you done this year? What are you looking forward to doing in 2019? Let me know!
