Major Arcana · XIX

The Sun Year

Fire

A Sun year lets you be glad without bracing for it to end. You dance in the kitchen because a song came on. You tell the story at dinner without scanning their faces to see if it lands. The warmth of being fully yourself in front of people turns out to be safe. This is the small everyday magic you actually let yourself enjoy, confidence that isn't performed because it's just how you feel. You deserve to be seen this year. After a long dark, you get to be glad, out loud, in daylight.

What to do with a Sun yearLet yourself enjoy a good thing this year without immediately bracing for it to end. Celebrate the small wins instead of rushing past them, and let yourself be visible where it's safe.

Your twelve months

Each month steps one place forward through the cycle. The same twelve, in the same order, for any Sun year.

January
JudgementFebruary
The WorldMarch
The FoolApril
The MagicianMay
The High PriestessJune
The EmpressJuly
The EmperorAugust
The HierophantSeptember
The LoversOctober
The ChariotNovember
StrengthDecember
The Hermit

Element weather

How the twelve months balance across the elements.

4Earth months3Fire months3Air months2Water months

The rest of the cycle

The nine Majors a Sun year doesn’t touch.

Wheel of FortuneJusticeThe Hanged OneDeathTemperanceThe DevilThe TowerThe StarThe Moon
The full year-ahead reading

The whole Sun year, woven

This page is the theme. The full reading walks all twelve months in the Almanac’s voice, reads the element weather, brings in how your Bearing meets the year, and closes with the skills and reflection questions a Sun year calls for.

See a sample reading →

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More on this card: The Sun, the full meaning · The Sun as a Bearing · all seventy-eight cards