I’m up early, alone in the house for the first time after a slew of “holiday happenings.” It’s funny how a time of year that’s centered around themes of reflection, review, and intention-setting also happens to be… insanely busy.

Yet underneath all the action, I’ve been sensing a silent and strong current of awareness, calm, and direction. It’s very Hermit-y.

Its had me thinking about sharing more in-depth reflections, creating a space where we can go deeper, get weirder, and really look at how the energy of the times are shaping our lives.

Which is all to say, welcome to the newest form of Alchemag: The Reader Report! Here, we’ll dive into a specific card, event, or energy (yes, I’m leaving this broad on purpose!) and how it’s unfolding, can be channeled, and might be encouraged in our lives. Think of these as exploratory essays, and our first stop is the card of 2025, The Hermit.

A quick note before we dive in - thank you so much for your support and ethusiasm for the year ahead readings! I am BLOWN AWAY by the response and warmed to the depths of my heart by the lovely community we have here. We sold out of the first batch of readings in the first day and the second by the end of the week.

I’ve put up one last deluxe version on the webstore as well as three essential readings, after which I’ll be at max capacity. If you’d like one, you know what to do!

I’m also relaunching the Workbook for the card of 2026: The Wheel of Fortune, so if you’d like to receive (or gift) a pdf exploring the card of the new year through journal prompts, tarot readings, spreads, and more, click here.

These are emergent creations that go out on the morning of January 1 and I love making them; they’re basically what I want, need, and use for my personal tarot practice and it’s my joy to send them out to you all, too.

That’s it for news, now onto the snowy, silent, and mysteriously wise world of our guide for 2025: The Hermit.

Working with a card of the year has slowly, stealthily become an enduring favorite part of my practice over the past few years. If I’m learning one thing about myself as a full-fledged adult, it’s that I naturally thrive in (and relate to) slower cycles. Having a full year to track, observe, and explore a card through the lense of my lived experience? Why, it’s a true chef’s kiss moment, the type of practice that, without fail, leads me to new realizations.

I think we all can agree 2025 has been a year of wild intensity. This has made the subtlely of The Hermit especially potent. What does it mean to seek out nuance in terms of polarization? To go inward to discover enduring truths rather than get swept away on the wild currents of information churning around us?

In a lot of ways, The Hermit has challenged me to be brave in an entirely new way; to step away from the muscular, engaged, and obvious brawn of Strength, our card for 2024, and into something more singular, discerning, and specific. If 2024 invited us to engage with our full humanity in the search of better understanding, 2025 pushed us out of our comfort zones and into the clarifying cold of taking a stand and walking the path made for each of us, individually.

This wasn’t always easy. I’m a huge fan of the stage in The Hero’s Journey where you RESIST THE CALL. Why, yes, I would rather stay in the cozy warmth of predictability and limited expectations! This year, however, had other things in mind, and as we wind down the final days of 2025, I’m feeling bashful gratitude to the challenges that have illuminated far corners of my potential and capability.

So let’s get specific! Here are some ways that The Hermit has surprised me, guided me to practices that have helped me immesaruably, as well as some suggestions we can use to appreciate and integrate this card, number nine in the Major Arcana, before we enter into the spin and churn of The Wheel of Fortune.

It’s likely you’ve been hearing me squawk about social media for some years now. Believe it or not, I only officially got on Instagram when launching my business officially back in 2015. Imagine my surprise when I found that people weren’t just using it to put retro filters on shots of them looking cute with their partners - people were having in-depth discussion about self-care and spirituality? Tarot was COOL?!? It was exhilarating and quickly became overwhelming.

My social media elimination journey hasn’t been born from innate virtuousness; rather, it’s from a burning, overpowering necessity. I love the internet - I’m curious! People are fascinating! Connecting with others is a joy and a gift! But I have no chill when the doors to the social media sphere are opened even a tiny crack. Give me access to anything with an infinite scroll and I will be infinitely lost in a vortex of sensory overload, other people’s opinions, and whatever the hell else is happeing in the messed-up ethers of the internet.

This Hermit year has really forced me to get serious about what I allow into my mental, spiritual, and creative space. The austerity of the card definitely became clear as I made the transition from Substack - whose feed was quickly getting enshittified and spitting out vapid content at best, morally questionable and even straight-up bigoted content at worst - to Beehiiv. It felt desolate and lonely at first. There was no comment section, no obvious discussion of cross-pollination. Yet as the time went on, a crisp clarity started to come into focus. I noticed my creativity start to rise, my voice and inspiration begin to crystallize into work that felt both satisfying and galvanizing. Without the constant barrage of input, most of it vapid, I could finally breathe and begin to listen to my own voice.

In this way, the experience of further retreating from social media (and, subsequently, mainstream news and even blogs), had me feeling like how I imagine The Hermit feels as they walk through the wildnerness, the squeaking crunch of each step through the snow sounding loud and clear in the stillness: bright-eyed, refreshed, and in touch with a sense of purpose.

A huge part of my Substack/social media/internet exodus came from discomfort - the snow that The Hermit is traversing is cold! - and this forced me to look more seriously at my true nature. Not just how I wish I could be in the world, but how I actually was being. This required going back into the closets of my childhood, embarking on some new healing modalities, and walking away from linear stories and outside voices of what “normal” is.

While I’d had a lot of intellectual understanding of my psychology and wiring, this Hermit year was more about learning and integrating parts of myself by doing. As I walked away from things - social media, relationships with people who didn’t truly see me, and dreams that were hobbling me like too-tight shoes - I found a surprising mix of ease and grief. You mean if I accept who I am, listen to my body’s signals as I go through life, and care for myself accordingly, things will go better? The ease, joy, and clarity that have been coming have felt almost shocking, necessitating even more hermit-y time to decompress, process, and feel.

For me, the specifics of this have (probably surprising no one) centered around my sensitivity. In many ways, I’d love to be a person who can inundnate themselves in the internet and other overwhelming spaces and feel good! But that’s now how I work. In many ways, this year has felt like a huge breakthrough when it comes to “learning my operating manual.” Turns out I need limited input, bursts of focus, long refraction periods, and lots of nature, coziness, and novelty (yes, that last one doesn’t immediately make sense, but maybe we’ll get into that later if anyone’s interested in exploring high sensitivity and high sensation seeking!).

Long story short, The Hermit has helped me better understand how I work and, in doing so, pushed me to walk away from norms, conventions, and pressures in order to grow a life that nourishes me specifically.

Part of this journey has been hilariously practical, and one of the techniques I’ve loved most is… simply walking away. (Is it clear that walking away is a theme of this card?!) When giving readings, I often tell clients that working with The Hermit doesn’t have to be grand. Modern life isn’t exactly supportive of multiple silent retreats or long periods of isolation. But what’s always (hopefully) available to us no matter where we go? A bathroom!

Feeling overwhelmed at a party? Go to the bathroom!

Rising blood pressure at a family gathering? It’s bathroom time!

Stressed on a long drive? The bathroom is your refuge!

I’ve started carrying an essential oil spritz in my purse (let’s be real it’s a fannypack) which I then whip out once I’m seated on my “throne of meditation.” Three deep breaths in and out, a spray of refreshing tincture, and I’m on my way to feeling regulated and back in my hermit-sphere of self-posession.

If you’re in need of a little extra calm, my favorite addition is to wash your hands slowly and then let the water flow between a triangle made by touching your thumbs and index fingers.

The Hermit sets us all on individual journeys of self-discovery. I’ve started to see this is an act of going into the wilderness to uncover our unique strengths and perspectives. Having done so, we can return armed with our innate wisdom and an awareness of the skills we’re bringing to healing the world.

As the number nine in the Major Arcana they reflect that group of cards’ themes of subtle yet powerful fulfillment, balance, power, and perfection. There’s a mystery to this number, one that asks us to choose when enough is enough, when we’ve landed on an important truth, and how to share this with others.

Part of the trickiness here is to accept that you’ll have to stand on your own and, thus, own your perspective. We can’t go along with the crowd always, relinquishing both power and responsibility. I’ve seen a lot of people struggle with this, myself included, assuming that a stance, opinion, or question has to indicate the presence of negative judgment. That we’re somehow being unkind by not considering everything else all the time. But we know that’s a) impossible and b) an absolute confusing mess. If anything, 2025 has pushed me to take up my lantern and see what I can observe given the life path, challenges, and knowledge I’ve experienced so far.

Together, we raise our individual lanterns to create a collective light. What piece of that light might you have brought into awareness this year? And what might it tell you about the work you’re taking in to 2026?