Week 1—in which we:

• step into a year full of impossible things
• blink at a nonverbal theme
• listen to whispers from beauty
• explore how to partner with change

Beautiful Ones,

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

I stumbled upon this quote from the brilliant psychiatrist who upended our view of death and, for that matter, our view of all the painful changes that happen in life. Kubler-Ross described the journey as five stages from denial, anger, and bargaining, into depression, and finally acceptance.

When I first started writing about the spiritual geography of divorce twenty-five years ago, I tried to make my explorations fit her five stages. They didn’t. I needed seven “countries” to reach peace, a place I found far richer than acceptance. But I doubt I would have found my way to my seven stages without Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. So she’s quite dear to me.

The second I read this quote, I knew it had to be the first thing you read, on this first Notes from the Field, in this first week of what is going to be a year of radical change.

When Marcia Wade and Emma Kupu Mitchell and I started talking about the 2025 Forecast last November, the first thing Marcia said was,

“We are in the dying room and the birthing canal at the same time.”

So it might behoove us to listen to what Elizabeth Kubler-Ross can tell us about dying. And what she has to tell us, surprisingly, is about beauty.

Beauty?

I found this quote in a funny place: the New York Times Spelling Bee community. I start my day with coffee and the NYT Spelling Bee game. Yes, I confess, the Bee comes first, even before I drop into deep soul writing.

The puzzle is great fun, and I do get a wee thrill when I start the day wearing my Queen Bee crown, but the real magic lies in the community posts. People around the world offer hints, poems, precious memories, information on the etymology of words, even weather reports and health updates. And plenty of commiseration about the American political landscape. It’s a soft comforting spot to start the day.

On the last day of December, a woman posted this quote. I read it. I read it again. I wrote it in my journal. And now, I am giving it to you as a portend into what’s possible in this year of radical life-altering changes.

I find great hope in this. If “beautiful people do not just happen”—and I think we all recognize the truth in that statement—then beautiful lives do not just happen. Beautiful communities do not just happen. A beautiful country does not just happen. A beautiful world does not just happen. All that beauty emerges when people who have “found their way out of the depths” share their love and compassion.

• Beauty that does not just happen is the message of the astrological forecast for 2025.
• Beauty that does not just happen is the essence of all The Witch Sequence intensives.
• Beauty that does not just happen is the heartbeat of all that I am and all that I offer.

Would you like to see what the beauty birthing process looks like?

If you’ve been with me for a while, you know that the theme for the year is usually a few phrases or a cryptic sentence. But when I tried to come up with a theme for 2025, I came up empty. That is, until I stumbled upon the quote about beauty that does not just happen. As I sat with the quote, I realized that my creative partner, Cathy Stevens Pratt, had already painted the “theme” for the year.

A theme without words. Here it is:

Does this look familiar? It does if you’ve visited the page for the 2025 Forecast. Cathy painted the image last October after reading Marcia’s first thoughts on the astrology for the year. The forecast is called “A New Universe Asks to be Born…in You.”

This image captures that colloidal moment of beauty emerging in the chaos of the dying and birthing process. And isn’t “Cosmic Creator” beautiful! (You can order a print on the forecast resource page.)

So, for my Notes from the Field theme, I asked Cathy if we could focus in just on the dying-birthing moment. All year, you’ll find this at the top of my newsletters. Perhaps we might call the theme, “Beauty doesn’t just happen.”

So to help us fully open to how to actively participate in the creation of a beautiful self and a beautiful world, I have three offerings.

First, the forecast, now permanently on sale

After last Sunday’s newsletter announcing a flash sale, so many people expressed gratitude for the reduced price, that I made it permanent. It’s now reduced from $99 to $72 with no coupon code required.

AND, because this is such a massive year of change after change after change, all calling for our active participation, Emma, Marcia, Cathy, and I are going to host a LIVE conversation to address your questions. We don’t have a date yet. We’re coordinating schedules.

For now, you can watch part 1 on the current conditions and part 2 on what’s coming between spring and summer.

2025 Forecast

Second, all ART intensives are now on sale in January and February.

Cathy and I are DEEP in the very beautiful process of creating ART 5 on divination. Every day, something new makes itself known. And every day we are taken aback by just how profound and important ART 5 is going to be.

I received the title on December 26 which is always a magical day for me.

Your Sacred Prophetic, Oracular, Divination WitchArt Gifts.

A mouthful, I know! But it turns out these three words are all different. They access different time frames: the not yet, the now, and the once was. And it’s becoming clearer and clearer to Cathy and me that in order to fully enter your P.O.D. gifts, you need to be fluent with all your WitchArt gifts:

Full Body Intuition in ART 1

see what your eyes do not see
hear what your ears do not
feel what your skin does not
know what you do not
go where you are not

Threshold crossing in ART 2

step through the round open door between worlds
discover the relationship of tomb and labyrinth

Original prayer in ART 3

undo all the lies about prayer
discover what prayer really is
meet your Mystic Family
sanctify prayer objects

Myrrhophore Anointing in ART 4

learn how to become empty and transparent
meet the Magdalen Triad
journey to remember ancient anointing 

You will use all these WitchArt gifts and more in ART 5 on Divination which opens March 2--the most profound month of the year according to the forecast.

So between now and then, take advantage of the time and reduced registration to add one or two of these WitchArt gifts to your life.

This link will take you to the Intensives Page. Click on the second column for On Demand.

All four ART intensives are already greatly reduced from the original registration fees.

Select any you wish and when you check out add the coupon code ARTSALE and you will receive an additional 22% off. 

To help everyone get everything they can out of the ART Intensives, Cathy and I are hosting special Witch Cafes in January and February.

Sunday January 26 2p Eastern
Sunday February 9 2p Eastern
Sunday February 23 2p Eastern

There's no charge, these special cafes are gifts to help everyone awaken, remember, and trust their WitchArt gifts. Because these are the perfect tools to help us bring beauty alive.

Intensives On Sale 

Could 2025 be beautiful? Yes, because just as beautiful people don't just happen, beautiful years don't just happen. They are born in and through and as each one of us, we who have found our way out of the depths.

to the beautiful journey out of the depths holding hands with one another

Janet

PS: I haven't forgotten that I said I had three offerings. The third will be announced in next Sunday's newsletter. Save the date: Sunday January 19, 2pm Eastern. Jennifer DeVille Catalano will ask the Crystal Tones Alchemy Bowls to help us unite in prayer on the eve of the inauguration. Beauty indeed!

website: janetconner.com

facebook: janet conner prayer artist

YouTube: Janet Conner