1/24: The Friday Five
reality tv, digital tarot decks, book subscriptions, and more!
It’s Friday! Venus’s day! How is your heart? Have you engaged with beauty today? What about pleasure? Sea foam or the forest floor? What about righteous rage? Deep despair? It’s a fucking mess out there!
A huge thank you to everyone who’s shared, liked, commented, or otherwise reached out about my latest, Getting Sick as the Empire Falls. I am so honored to hold the health and hospital stories of those who’ve generously shared, and I’m sending love and solidarity to all of those navigating illness, both obvious and mysterious. To quote Andrea Gibson: “There isn’t a healthy body in the world stronger than a sick person’s spirit.”
Today, Friday, January 24 is a 16/7 day in a big way (1+2+4 = 7, 7+2+0+2+5 = 16, 1+6 = 7). Seven in the tarot is The Chariot, and sixteen, The Tower. These are massive energies that are equally forceful as they are misleading. The Chariot doesn’t have any wheels. The Tower is struck by lightning, but it’s the King who’s falling to his death. If the news cycle of the day is all-consuming, take a break and a breath, for keeping one’s wits about them during this moment in the cyclone of time requires fierce discernment and discipline. To quote
(who was writing about 2025 and The Moon, but it feels apropos): “It’s the difference between independent thought and conspiracy theory, reasonable suspicion and paranoid confabulation, spirituality and escapism, seeking and following.”1But also, let’s get back to joy…
ICYMI:
❤️🩹: Resources & Mutual Aid Requests from Los Angeles
🌀: Welcome to 2025, a Nine Collective Year
💍: Marriage By the Numbers: Planning Your Wedding Using Numerology
📆: DAILY DIGITS: A 2025 Agenda for Magical Makers
🎧: Call Your Coven is back! Listen to January 2025: Shedding Season
THE FRIDAY FIVE 🖐️
Here’s what’s gotten me through this wacky week:
Season Three of The Traitors US — I fucking love this show. It’s another one that I love in every colonial part of the world: US, UK, and AUS… But while abroad they like to use everyday folks, in America, each group of faithfuls or traitors to sit at the infamous round table are reality television stars. So every season is like an All-Stars version of MURDER! And don’t even get me started on host Alan Cumming and his immaculate diction and wardrobe. Even his dog is killing me softly with fierce lewks this season. Anyway, not saying you have to be like us and make Traitors Thursdays a thing, but also do it, it’s so fun!
The Internet Lore Tarot — This is my new favorite deck and it’s taken me completely by surprise! Rolled out as a new year gift for all account holders, The Internet Lore Tarot by the geniuses behind Moonlight is a near-perfect deck imo. It’s deep, it’s funny, it’s relatable… Just zoom into the below version of The Devil, which features a head of lettuce wearing pink sunglasses, alongside the phrase, They’ll never guess I used to be normal. Iconic. But seriously, I am loving this deck and it’s so easy to just hop into a digital room and take it for a spin. So far, I’ve used it for myself, for clients (both live and recorded), in this week’s weekly forecast, and to help flesh out some new characters for a creative idea that’s wiggled its way between my ears. If you try, let me know which cards are your favorite!
Death Wish Co.’s Dark Roast Coffee — If you read about my hospital stay, then you already know I confessed to drinking Starbucks while admitted. But once I got home, you know I was loading up my coffee machine with Death Wish Coffee Co.’s Dark Roast, which is a much more values-aligned choice. According to their website, they follow strict grading requirements, source USDA Organic and Fair Trade Certified™ beans, and maintains rigorous standards that protect the environment and the livelihoods of coffee farmers! We love to hear it. And I love to drink it! My current recipe is a splash of sugar-free Salted Caramel syrup and a decent pour of oat milk. Delish!
Book of the Month — IDK if you knew this, but I’m a BFF of Book of the Month. That means that I’ve stuck around this monthly book subscription service long enough that I now get cute perks like a tote bag, a free book on my birthday, and more! And the below denim hat, which rightfully announces that READING IS SEXY, was my free gift for completing the 2024 Reading Challenge! It was waiting for me when I got home—along with my January pick, The Favorites by Layne Fargo—and I love it so much I have worn it while just laying on my couch. If you’re a BotM member, please come scream at me about your current pick, and if you’d like to be a BotM member, please use my affiliate link so we can both get free books! YAY FREE BOOKS, MY FAVE!
The Soup™ Discord Server — Is this cheating? Maybe! But this is my Friday Five list and I’ve been having the best time in my own server this week. We’ve chatted about new email platforms that aren’t owned by bozo boy billionaires, we’ve considered our numerological yearly cycles and how to best work with the SITS weekly forecasts, I’ve pulled cards from the Internet Lore Tarot for whoever was interested (What can I say? I really do love it!), we added a new channel for sensitive topics, and more! I’m so grateful to everyone who’s swimming around in there, and I also hope you’ll join us if you feel called!
Happy Friday! Let me know what’s gotten you through your week, and/or if you love any of the things I love! <3
Until next time, just keep swimming!
xx, bee
Burgess, C. “A Year of Soul-Searching, Authenticity, and Service.” Queerly Devoted. 17 January 2025.
Okay, first of all: Coffee is LIFE. I can't wait to order some Death Wish. I got freaked out about microplastics so I need to get a new pour over glass chemex thinggy, then I can go back to ground coffee.
Secondly: HOW did I now know Book of the Month existed? I mean, I guess my excessive library usage is probably to blame, but I'm def. considering joining. We have a lot of little free libraries in our neighborhood so I could always drop the books in there when I finish if I don't want to keep them.
Hype to poke around Moonlight and start Traitors.
Discord is where it's at!