Friends, soul writers, mystics, and lovers of prayer,

Do you know what happened in 2021? You’ve walked through almost 11 months of this five year. What has it all meant to you?

Before you attempt to answer that question, consider that 2021 is a five year.

Five is the number of change—divine change—so something happened. But if you don’t take the time to stop and look back, you can miss it. And then wake on the other side of the Solstice, in the midst of the early months of a new year, and feel a bit lost.

That’s why Looking Back is always the first step in The Lotus and the Lily, our annual gathering to explore, integrate, and honor the year coming to an end, so we are ready to welcome and create the year coming with hearts filled with love and joy.

I start writing these Notes from the Field in deep soul writing. But I typically get the seed idea in the dark before I wake. This morning (Saturday, Nov 6) as I rested in that delicious liminal space between sleeping and waking that I call “morning theta,” I received a reminder to offer tools—lots and lots of tools—to help people start looking back.

Because we can’t go forward until we gather the stories, and gifts, and mysteries of what has already happened.

But the sad thing is we rarely actually know what happened. Why? Because we don’t take the time to slow down and notice.

Sure, you can probably name a few important dates. Anniversaries, perhaps. Or landmark events like weddings or deaths. And you probably remember a few dates when something important or upsetting happened in our world.

Well, what did happen in 2021 in your country, our world, the environment? The virus and vaccine might be near the top of your list. Or impacts of Brexit. Or heat and fires in the Western US and floods in Germany. Consider all of that.

But then ask, what’s the bigger picture? What was the core theme? The umbrella meaning for you in your 2021?

It’s not for me to tell you what 2021 meant.

Those days of turning to some teacher or leader or guru to tell you what is true are over. That's one of the fading faces of patriarchy. No one can tell you your truth. Because it isn’t your truth until you find it and embrace it and integrate it.

Then, when it’s integrated into your body, you know—and you know that you know—what is true for you. And you can then build a life centered around what you know is true. That’s a life you can love. And a life that makes a difference.

Once you know your truth, you can and will begin to speak your truth. And it's truth that will heal our suffering world. It's truth, and only truth, that will carry us through patriarchy's frightening death throes.

So in this Notes from the Field, I’d like to offer a few of the many tools I use to look back.

And how perfect, that we’re having this conversation on November 7. Because this date and this week both add up to a 9.

November 7 = 1 + 1 + 7 = 9
week 45 = 9

Nine is completion. Integration. It’s a perfect week to start looking back.

So how do you begin? Well, there is no end to the ways. I’ll suggest a few of my favorites. But there are so many that I’m recording a special master class bonus video on Looking Back for The Lotus and The Lily.

Here are a few tools I use to help me look back

1. Calendars

My primary calendar isn’t the square solar calendar we all use. I own one, of course, and use it to keep track of the dates of my intensives, but day in and day out, I open my circular The Moon is My Calendar calendar.

Each morning as I sit down for my soul writing, I pick up my moon calendar and ask myself, what happened yesterday? I jot down a few words or a tiny drawing to capture what happened. I might not see the importance at the time, but if it seems worthy of notice, I notice and acknowledge.

Then, at the end of a lunar cycle, I sit with the filled-in cycle from dark moon to dark moon and simply look at it. Without fail, an overall meaning of that cycle will surface. It’s totally organic and often quite a surprise.

Then I write the meaning or message of that lunar cycle at the bottom of the page. Come November, I can look back at 11 cycles and invariably a picture of the year will surface. As with the meaning of the individual cycles, the overall story is totally organic and always a surprise.

I do the same thing with the solar calendar. What happened in January? February?... How do those stories interplay with the lunar cycle stories? The lunar cycle stories really lead the way here, but I do look at the solar calendar as well.

2. Soul Writing Journals

As a daily deep soul writer, I have five or six journals filled with all the conversations I had with myself and my Beloved Sacred Self throughout the year. If something stands out on my lunar calendar that I want to remember more deeply, I can easily find that conversation in my journals. The calendar holds the highlights; the journals hold the story.

3. Astrology

If you follow any astrologers, you’re undoubtedly beginning to see a slow but persistent chorus of change. My dear friend and mystic, Emma Kupu Mitchell, shares the “Celestial News” in all my events and she helps us slowly open to the cosmic dance. Emma reminds us constantly that that dance isn’t just happening in the sky, it’s coming alive in us. It is us.

4. Numerology

There are two major tracks to follow here: the universal year and your personal year from 1-9.

We’re all sharing 2021, a five year. Change. So…what has changed for you? What have you been called to change? Where are you flowing with change and where have you been resisting it?

An additional filter is your body, because this is the year of the body. So a delicious exploration in your looking back process would be to review the rhythms and messages and nuances of the story your body has been telling you.

Do you know your personal year?

Emma and I always record a bonus video on the relationship of your personal year within the frequency of the universal year. So what was your personal year in relationship with the universal five?

I, for example, am in a personal 9 year and this review has been intense and powerful. It is giving me the opportunity to look back not just at this year, but a whole 9-year cycle—a treasure trove of my soul’s story.

To determine your personal year, add the single digits of your birth month and birth day and reduce to a single digit. Then add that sum to the 5 for our 2021 year.

My birthday for example is June 16, so 6 + 1 + 6 = 13 which reduces to a 4. That means to get my personal year I add 4 to the universal year.

We’re in a 5, so my personal year starting in June is 4 + 5 = 9.

That means this cycle started with a personal year of a 1 in 2013. Reviewing these past 9 years through the vibration of the 9 numbers has been profound.

Want to take this review to the next level? View your personal year through the first 9 cards in the major arcana of the Tarot.

I know I don’t want to step into my new 1 year on my birthday in 2022 until I have integrated all that has happened since 2013.

5. Mandalas

If you’ve been in previous Lotus and Lily events and made mandalas, a glorious look-back tool is to simply sit with them. And let them sing their song.

The truth is when you make a mandala you think you know what you’re doing. But you don’t. And that’s a good thing. The mandala holds your soul’s long story and will reveal it when you’re ready to see it.

This is such a powerful experience, that I made a video about it last week.

6. Books and courses

What books changed your life this year? What events or intensives or workshops? I always ask myself what books mattered this past year and keep a running tally. I can look at those titles and see myself coming alive over the years.

There’s lots more including tracking your novena and other prayer intentions, dream messages, visits from animal messengers, and more, all of which I will show you how to collect and integrate on the ancient mystical tool of the labyrinth. I’ll capture it all in the bonus video I'm recording this week for the Lotus and the Lily.

I’ll also talk about how to look back on our opening session on Monday, November 15  with a UK/Europe watch party on Thursday, Nov 18.

But I hope this list of six favorite look-back tools helps you start gathering your own tools and begin to explore the profound question: What really happened in 2021?

Join The Lotus and the Lily

We gather LIVE on 5 Mondays at 7-9:15pm Eastern starting November 15.

For our UK/Europe members, there is a Watch Party on Thursdays at 7pm UK/8pm Europe.

There is also a special Hana I Ka Pono event on Saturday, Dec 4 at 2pm.

And a Mandala celebration on Sunday, January 9 at 2pm Eastern.

Everything is recorded if you can't be with us live. Please NOTE that this intensive will NOT be offered on demand.

Be sure to look at all the rich new bonus videos and PDF Handbooks. It's all waiting for you on the resource page when you register.

The Lotus and The Lily 2021-2022

to the sacred time of peering back so we can step forward carrying our true story

Janet
PS: The Lotus and the Lily will NOT be available on demand. So do please register now even if you will be watching the recordings later.