Week 1--in which we receive a rather odd theme for 2026 and suddenly understand why

Beautiful Magicians,

I promised last Sunday that today I would introduce the theme for 2026. The yearly themes arrive in different ways. The only thing they have in common is that they don’t come from my left analytical brain.

I do not plan them or develop them, I receive them.

This year, I received the theme on Monday December 15 as I lay in bed in morning theta.

I was surprised. Because throughout November and December, I had been immersed in the deep work we were doing in The Lotus and the Lily intensive looking back at the meaning of the nine-year cycle from 2017-2025. This has been a massive undertaking, and one filled with surprises. We not only summarized nine years in words; we created an image to hold the essence of all that unfolded.

My image turned out to be a simple drawing of what I imagined to be a stained glass rose window of nine petals, each holding something big that changed my life.

• For example, the first rose says Prayer Artist (2018) which upended everything I do.
• The second, Reverence Structure, arrived in the night that year to announce the purpose of all I do is to build a reverence structure—the opposite of the prevailing power structure.
• The Third rose says Mystic Witch (2020). I didn’t plan or ask for witch, but when she arrived, she changed EVERYTHING.

These and the rest of my nine roses were, and continue to be, massive awakenings in my life, my work, and how I am called to help heal the wasteland. It’s been quite the nine year cycle—not just for me but for everyone.

At the bottom of my little rose window image, I summarized my nine years with: To activate and protect Her embers of the Original Starter, I must become Different. To become different, I must live in a permanent state of Discovery.

In short, my nine years were about Discovery.

So maybe I should not have been surprised that a discovery arrived on Monday Dec 15. One I didn’t expect. What I expected, what I was waiting for, was the name and image for my 2026 mandala. That’s what the last two weeks of December are usually all about for me.

But instead, lying in bed that Monday morning, I clearly heard: Magicians reporting for duty.

What?

I recognized magician because 2026 is a 1 year and Cathy Stevens Pratt, whose many mystical gifts include oracular wisdom, had taught us in Lotus class a bit about the Magician, the 1 card in Tarot. The primary thing Cathy stressed is that a magician is NOT someone else. Not someone who has special powers, or talents, or abilities. No, a magician is us, every one of us.

Every one of us is called to activate our own sovereign magician skills and use them to heal the wasteland.

Now, I rather liked the sound of “magicians reporting for duty,” but I needed to know the numerology. When I added up the values of the individual letters, I just laid there laughing. Of course!

Magicians Reporting for Duty comes to 136,
which reduces to a 10, which reduces to a 1.
Just like 2026 is a 10/1.

So I wrote our theme in my journal, but set it aside so I could focus on receiving my 2026 mandala. That came slowly in increments. I finally made my mandala yesterday, January 2. If you have heard about my mandala process or read about it in The Lotus and the Lily book, you know that I always make my mandala on January 1. But not this year. Do you know why?

On January 1, I sat here at my computer transfixed and thrilled and elated as I watched Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration in New York City. My heart overflowed with hope. With possibility. If you missed it, I cannot recommend watching this highly enough.

Every single person speaking was intelligent, creative, and filled with belief in the power of a people to live together in peace.

• The big surprises for me were the Comptroller, Mark Levine, who welcomed everyone in Spanish, Hebrew and Greek! He took his oath of office on a Hebrew bible.
• And the Public Advocate, Jumaane D. Williams, who brought two people he had just protected from ICE to the event. Jumaane took the oath on a Christian bible. He began to cry as he spoke to his younger black self.
• And the poet! Cornelius Eady read his poem, "Proof" and as he ended, I realized the entire ceremony was proof that we can heal the wasteland.
• Zohran spoke with eloquence, conviction, and so much intelligence. He took his oath on a Quran.
• Oh and don't miss Imam Khalid Latif from the Islamic Center of NYC who gave the invocation surrounded by leaders of all faiths. It was the most elegant and inclusive prayer I've ever heard.

My plan for this Notes from the Field was to talk about the magic that is afoot in New York.

Magic that can inspire us all to help create a better new year.

But then, today, Saturday Jan 3, I woke to the horror of my country invading a sovereign nation and abducting its leader. And I wondered how I could possibly talk about joy and hope and possibility in 2026, at the same moment that my country has relinquished any semblance of world leadership and violated its once sacrosanct commitment to law and democracy.

I felt sick.

So I turned to Heather Cox Richardson, the smartest, wisest, big-picture historian.

I trust you read her Letters to an American every day. I do. Today Heather recorded a half hour video explaining the situation and giving us the context, the history, and the harm we are doing not just in this moment but in creating an environment for other countries to invade smaller countries. As she says, this is a really really big deal. We, the country other countries used to look to for leadership in creating a rules-based international order, are now the thugs, invading and attacking without any legal foundation or authorization.

I listened carefully to Heather. Then came upstairs to write this newsletter.

And here’s what I see.

• Every astrologer is describing 2026 as a year of massive change, foment, shift. New beginnings, indeed.
• The new lunar year is the fire horse. Just looking at that image tells quite the story.
• Two wild things are happening astrologically: Saturn and Neptune will meet in Aries. The last time they met it was in Capricorn and the Berlin Wall fell. In other words, tyrants fell.
• Pluto is going to go Out of Bounds South in the summer. The last time Pluto did this was the American and French revolutions. In other words, tyrants fell.
• The current US regime is proof that tyrants create chaos to try to stay in power…
• Zohran's improbable election is proof that magic can happen and establishments can fall.

So, it turns out the theme of Magicians Reporting for Duty is perfect.

• They, the fascists, are issuing marching orders to foment murder and destruction and mutual hate so they can accumulate even more power and wealth.
• We, the magicians, are arriving with marching orders, too, but our orders are to bring one another together to create beauty, kindness, coherence, and peace.

I'm not sure how the mystical guides in the night knew that Magicians Reporting for Duty would be just what the world needs right now, but they did.

And so for the next 52 weeks, through chaos and suffering, we can, and we will, and we must, show up prepared to bless this world.

We can see the harm obsession with power creates. Now, it is we, the magicians, who must gather together to create a reverence structure.

Next week, I’ll share a slew of Magicians Tools, but for this moment, let me give you one small gift from our most powerful bag of tools: prayer.

You can call it a spell, a song, a blessing, an invocation. This is just one stanza from A Magician’s Anointing Spell, dictated by Our Lady Queen of Magicians at the beginning of what became a seven intensive Witch Sequence.

This is the mystical image Cathy painted for this spell. Saying the words while looking at the image activates will help you activate your subtle senses.

Perhaps you’d like to anoint yourself with an oil you love, or olive oil (the original anointing oil), or water. And speak these words aloud:

Our Lady Queen of Magicians,
pray me, dream me, sing me, anoint me
into the fullness of the magician
you know me to be
and guide me into the holy use of these
your most sacred mystic gifts

Life is fragile, handle with reverence,
magic, and prayer

Janet

PS: Do you want to activate all your intuitive senses and learn the entire Magicians Anointing Spell? Then, this first intensive in The Witch Sequence is perfect for you.

The Art of Becoming a Witch: How to Awaken Remember and Trust Your Body's Natural Intuitive Senses. 

PSS: Emma Kupu Mitchell has created a radically different, year-long astrology walk for 2026. The first gathering is next Sat Jan 10. Register now, the very low price of $55 goes up after January 11.

Ignite Change

website: janetconner.com

blog (all newsletters): janetconner.com/blog

facebook: janet conner prayer artist

YouTube: Janet Conner