Three years ago, a friend introduced me to this New Year ritual that has been helping me receive intuitive guidance for the upcoming year and stay on track with it all year long.
It’s called The 13 Nights of Winter, and I love it.
In the original version, you pick a card from your favorite oracle or tarot deck each night for 13 nights, starting on the Winter Solstice.
The first card is your guidance for the entire upcoming year.
Cards 2-13 are your guidance for each month.
The first year I did the ritual, I started on Winter Solstice as prescribed and picked one card each night…but by night 5 I lost patience for it, so I picked all the rest of the cards in one night.
The second year, I tried the one-card-per-night approach again, but this time I only lasted 3 nights before I did the rest of them at once.
This year, I sat down on January 1 and pulled all the cards in a single session.
The reason I keep doing the 13 Nights ritual (which is what I still call it) is because it continues to be eerily spot-on.
The accuracy is because I don’t merely pull the cards —I consciously create the energy needed to step out of current time, into the timeline of the new year, and move forward in time to the next month before I pick the card for it.
If you want to hear how I do that in more detail, watch the video above.
I also describe in the video how and why I was prompted to add a 14th card this year: a shadow card to help me see the blindspots that might keep me from following the guidance I’ve been given, if I’m not paying attention.
This shadow card idea came up because the 13 cards I pulled this year showed a pretty incredible year ahead, which made me feel nervous that I might fuck it up—and when I feel something like that, I choose to do something about it.
To transform this 13 Nights ritual from a purely intuitive exercise into a practical one, I did three things to help me carry this wisdom forward into my regular life, so that I don’t forget about it later in the year:
- While pulling the cards, I captured photos of them in a Google Doc on my phone.
- On my calendar, I set a recurring reminder for the first day of each month, to look up my card for that month and contemplate the guidance it’s offering me. (I don’t do any interpretation while pulling the cards, because what I think they mean in January has proven to be different from what they mean when the time comes.
- Each month, I set that month’s card on my desk, along with my card for the year, so that I have a visual reminder of that guidance.
Want to give the 13 Nights ritual a try? No matter when you’re seeing this, it’s a perfect time to align yourself with the guidance available to you. (Because when isn’t it a perfect time for that, right?)
If you have any questions about the 13 Nights ritual, first watch the video—I went into much more detail there. But if I didn’t answer your question in the video, post your question in the comments below and I’ll be happy to answer it.
And if you do the ritual, I’d love to hear what your theme for the year is. (Even if we’re in a different year by the time you read this.)
Much Love, 💜🤍💛
