Facing an Ancestral-Inspired New Year

Josie Dimmitt Faulkenberry and ancestral tarot

Covid came. Then the year after Covid. Then the year after that. It feels – at least to me – that 2023 is the first time we’re almost back to some kind of normal – albeit a normal without comparison.

Or, maybe it’s the same normal our ancestors experienced after 50 million died during the Spanish flu pandemic. I would ask them, but – of course – none still live on this side of the veil.

Reaching out to the Other Side, I asked if one of my ancestors who survived the 1918 Pandemic would come forward. The Queen of Wands appeared. Not surprisingly, I knew it was Josie, my great-grandmother, the ancestor who guided me throughout the writing of Ancestral Tarot.

I asked her

  1. What was it like living through the pandemic?  Hermit – Isolating, but there was help, one-to-another
  2. Did life go back to normal by 1919? Justice – no, but a better balance was maintained than in 1918
  3. How did you adjust to a new normal? Emperor – making sure life was as she wanted it to be – it was up to Josie to create the new norm
  4. What advice do you have for me as I move into the fourth year of Covid? Hanged Man – take a minute and ponder what *I* want to create (I did this on New Year’s Eve).
  5. What persona would it help me to adopt in 2023? Exploration

tarot spread for 2023

An Answer Filled With Major Arcana

Josie didn’t hesitate in pointing out the importance of 2023, Covid, and how I could best navigate the year.

Of four questions asked of the Relative Tarot, all four were Majors. Nothing lightweight here. All of the cards made so much sense, except the persona for me to adopt in 2023.

Or, maybe it did make sense.

Exploration.

Here, we see an Arctic or Polar explorer with angel wings. The message is twofold (at least to me)

  1.  Don’t be afraid to get out there and explore new opportunities, places, people. Do what hasn’t been done. Explore the unexplored. AND
  2. Don’t be foolhardy, as THIS explorer apparently was.

I think I would call this Judicious Explorer.

Thanking Aunty Josie

I’m not sure why Great-Aunt Josie has taken on the role of my most trusted and often seen Ancestor – but I thank her for taking time out of her own path to help me on mine.

By the way, that’s her in the photo up top, along with one of my (long-deceased) aunts.

 

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