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Deepen Your Practice: How to Map Your Year

Deepen Your Practice: How to Map Your Year

Last updated on: January 16, 2025 at 12:14 pm by Esa

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Deepen Your Practice: How to Map Your Year 2025-01-16T12:14:24-06:00 Esa

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In previous years I used to offer a yearly Outlook Reading which gave people an overall path for the year to come and specific month by month readings to help them go deeper. Last year I shared how to do this kind of reading in my article How to do a 2024 Outllook Reading. I loved doing them and throughout the year I would get emails from people who purchased them telling me how spot on and useful they were to both their life and practices. People used them in different ways to help them navigate their own paths and creations. In the end that is the best reward.

I however did not offer that service this year. They take a tremendous amount of energy and time due to how many readings are involved (14 total) and I have been deep in Crane Community and Practice work. We have been adding a lot of new features in our Temple, such as, monthly workshops, Witchy Wed chats, advancing practices with the Temple Guardians, Crane Ritual Magic, a few of us are participating in different spiritual/ magical experiments, and so forth. So my energy has really been focused within the Temple and our community there. That is on top of the Death Emissary course, the changes I have made for that to make it more accessible to people this year, and the Inner Alchemy Workshop I am co-running with Hallie Walker. So I just could not devote the energy to the Outlook readings.

New Kind of Outlook Reading

With that being said though, I have been experimenting with a new approach to that kind of yearly reading. It is based on the Master Pattern of Crane Practice and then combining it with monthly movement of the Moon or Sun. Moon movement if it is internal/ self transformation, or the Sun movement if it is an outward creation or living life movement. This is what I want to share with you today, for anyone else who wants to experiment with it too.

The First Movement

We begin with a reading for the whole year. (You can also use this particular reading for any type of project, transformation, or creation you may wan to manifest – just look at it as steps instead of months.)

picture of a wheel template

Template

The picture above serves as the outline for the reading. It starts at the Seer and moves clockwise till you end at the Weaver. Draw one tarot card, oracle card, or Rune for each section (Seer – Creation – Intention – Illusionist, ect). Focus on the core energy of that card/rune or a few words that encompasses it, and then write that in the large pie like space on the paper. If you are still new to reading or not confident yet, you can use the stitchomancy technique to find a word or phrase for each.

Now you have the overall view of your year (or creation process), and the steps of each. Now you can look at them through the lens of their quarter sections.

The first 3 are all about the creation itself, the intention behind it, and the planning season. It is dreaming what we want to create or what we are meant to create/ transform during this year. We see what we have, what we need, and what needs to be changed for this path to manifest. We gather information, research, or do a deep dive into the aspects being shown to us.

The second 3 are the structure – the start of all the movement, putting the plan into action, developing the structures behind it and actually experiencing it. Through this stage we learn what is holding true for us and our experience as we start working our plan. What the idea looks and feels like in reality. Core elements that make up the foundation for our creation/ transformation and clearing out what does not.

The third 3 are the movement itself. We have experimented, adjusted our plan along the way, and now we are starting to see some results. We are in a stage of nurturing that growth or change. We are not doing so much adjustment, but instead just really diving into the growth of the plan.

The fourth 3 are the ending or transformation itself. It is the “becoming” – the point of wisdom from the experience, what we discovered for ourselves along the way, and the completion and birth of our creation into the world.

There is more depth to the process in advanced Crane Practice, but this simpler view makes this kind of reading accessible to anyone, no matter their background or spiritual/ magical system they work in. Below is a picture of a completed example.

template filled in

Completed Wheel

Monthly Readings

So the Pattern above gives you the core energy and movement – now it is time to get down into the details with them. This comes in the form of monthly readings, combined with weekly or daily movements.

This can be done as monthly in the sense of our societal calendar and the 12 months. If you are wanting to connect deeper to the natural rhythms of time, then I suggest either aligning it to Sun or Moon months. I personal work in this way. I find it much more enriching and feeds my need to be closer in-tuned with energy of nature and the natural rhythms of nature.

Sun or Moon Months

For aligning with the Sun or Moon months you will need to go through and create a calendar, or mark one, with the start and end of every solar or lunar month (it does not align with the Gregorian calendar). Each of these months are marked by the time the Moon or Sun starts or passes through a constellation. Each of the sections of the pattern above can be equated to a constellation – for example: The Seer – Sagittarius, The Creation – Capricorn, and so forth. I highly suggest using the Stellarium website to find the exact positioning and timing of these solar and lunar months, and aligned with your specific location.

If you want workbooks that have already created calendars, all the spreads, and other exercises you can incorporate – you can purchase the Walking in the Moon’s Light (Lunar months) or Walking in the Sun’s Light (solar months) depending on which energy you want to connect to more, Lunar or Solar energy. The Moon workbook cover a 3 year span – 2024 through 2027 – because it follows the macro cycle of the Phoenix moon. The Sun book just goes through 2024.

Spreads

At the start of each month, day 1, you can use the spread below. It give you an energy at the forefront for that whole month. An energy to be cautious of – this doesn’t necessarily mean something negative, but could also be something to be watchful about within yourself or your creation. Then the three below give you: an Action to Embrace – something to cultivate, Questions to be answered – what questions does the card or rune bring up? What do we need to be asking ourselves this month?, and something to Let go of – it could be an action, a perspective, an idea, or something blocking our way.

monthly tarot spread

Monthly Tarot Spread

Then you can incorporate a weekly or daily focuses to go even deeper. One card for a daily focus, or a two card draw – one for an action to embrace that day and one for a question to answer that day (usually connected in some manner). For those looking for more structure or to incorporate a daily practice, this could be a good place to start.

Remember that each monthly spread is connected to the core energy of your yearly section you drew in the very beginning. So when viewing it, view it through that lens. The same for the weekly/daily draws. Each one is just more depth of the monthly and yearly energy, giving us more specific direction and actions for our path or creation.

Ending Thoughts

“The deepest answers come from being a skillful questioner.”

This kind of work is not just about getting a peak into what’s ahead, or helping guide us down a path for our growth – It helps to be more mindful and connected in our day to day movements, mundane, magically, and spiritually. I know looking at all this can seem overwhelming for some, but this kind of practice has helped me in so many ways. Not just in staying focused and organized – but deepening my bonds to my Guides, to nature, to myself, my transformations and growth.

No matter what method you choose, or if you have something similar that you use, I highly recommend trying this kind of practice. It changes more than you think.

Education and Religion

Divination

lunar divination

monthly and yearly divination guide for self growth

self transformation through lunar and solar divination

tarot spreads

yearly divination guide

About Esa

Esa is a Crane Practitioner, High Priestess in the Temple of the Crane, Mother of White in the Sisters of the Well, as well as a CCRN specializing in neurology, cardiology, and Death Doula work. Through her writing, published works, courses, and community connections she sets the stage for personal transformation and personal path development through effective frameworks, skills, and being a Guide for others. Her personal work and tradition is rooted in the pattern of Death and Rebirth, personal transformation, soul healing, and Death Emissary work. If you want to learn more, check out her website and work! You can read more about the author here.

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