Here, at the Halfway Mark
a check in on 2025 + june editions of ICYMI and The Friday Five
2025 IS ROLLING RIGHT ALONG! HERE WE ARE AT THE HALFWAY MARK!
This year of Humanity, Service, Solitude and Completion has lasted a thousand lives, and is also, like sand, slipping through the hourglass of time.
How have you spent your time?
What has harpooned or helped your heart?
What and how have you overcome?
What is still on your radar?
How will you close the gap between here and the end of the year?
Psst: This information is still relevant for almost 4,488 hours:
I’m in a personal five year, amplifying my Changemaker/Writer public persona.
Historically, five years been heavy hitters, ushering me through intense and jarring portals, but offering me freedom, love, oppportunities, and the chance to become more myself. They are messy, but profound, and I am better for them.
This year hasn’t been any different, and also entirely new—
I spent the first thirteen days of 2025 in the hospital (out of an overall thirty-six day stay), before leaving on the full moon in Cancer without a diagnosis (of cancer, likely a type of lymphoma), but with a marrow-deep need to be at home with my dog. Then, I spent the rest of month shifting into caretaker mode as my wife received her own (breast) cancer diagnosis on January 31st—the numerical inverse of my homecoming on the 13th.
February and March were deliriously liminal, a purgatory that felt as cruel as it did senseless, and still there were moments of joy and beauty, including the clean cut I got from Aquarian queen Sheila at The Alchemist’s Salon in Sherman Oaks.
April was a real mixed bag. Fool’s Day delivered confirmation that yes, I do have cancer, but would also need another surgery to properly type. Tax Day decreed a diagnosis of Nodular Lymphocyte-Predominant Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NLPHL). And by the month’s end, I would receive my author copy of Tarot In Other Words, acceptance to a graduate psychology program at Antioch University, and my first doses of drugs: a combination of chemo- and immuno- therapies, and steroids.
May and June were mundane and magical. Heavy and light. I was sick, but not like anyone thought I would be, thank everything. I cut my hair to look like Leonardo DiCaprio. I helped my wife get through her own rough cycles of chemotherapy. I immediately loved being bald. I got my heart broken by a close friend. I received supportive, generative therapy sessions. I started to feel sturdier in my body. I had a repeat PET scan that showed ESSENTIALLY COMPLETE RESOLUTION of the lesions previously ravaging my bones! I was told I am in a medical remission!! I processed everything and nothing! I got to share good news!
I’ve also published almost fifty articles on SITS and read almost twenty books.
You know. No biggie.
Here, at the halfway mark of the messy middle, I am grateful to get to see it through to the end. I want the opportunity to live more life, and be more myself.
Everything willing, of course.
Jonesing for July? Call Your Coven’s got you covered. Welcome to WIP Summer!
ICYMI: June on SITS 🥣
A write-up of the month’s notable numerology, food for thought for weeks #23-26, and a tarot reading (to read or listen to) re: the summer solstice and the season ahead!
The Friday Five 🖐️: June Edition
Here’s what’s gotten me through this monstrous month:
The Body is a Doorway: A Memoir, A Journey Beyond Healing, Hope, and the Human by Sophie Strand — I’ve been holding onto this book for a moment, knowing that the minute I cracked the spine would also be the time that I, too, would be cracked open. And of course, I was right. Sophie’s generous, expansive, deeply important experiences and hard-won wisdom are a true gift. I have laughed, I have cried, I have sent quotes to friends, and even Sophie herself! I want every person who lives in a funky body to read this book, which is EVERYONE!
To celebrate Pride, Gemini season, and the release of their newest book, Tarot Spreads: How to Read Them, Create Them, and Revise Them (out 7/7, but pre-order now), Meg Jones Wall led a Tarot & Tropes challenge for the first twelve days of June! I had so much fun pulling cards, and playing with new characters, as well as my current works-in-progress. Catch up on all of my entries now on tumblr dot com, and try some of the spreads out for yourself!
Love Island USA Season 7 — After giving us a season for the books last summer, I am thrilled to report that this year’s villa is delivering yet again. [SPOILERS AHEAD] Just ask the newest couple, Nic and Olandria, aka my favorite boy and girl, aka Ariana Madix’s ship of dreams, aka proof the producers read Reddit! (That last joke I stole from Meg, who flails with me nightly.) Tonight is the grand conculsion of Casa Amor, which has been messy and full of tears, and I couldn’t be more excited!!
Ancestor Work — I should’ve known that invoking my Great-Grammy Martha in June’s to-dos would set off a chain-reaction of magical moments to deepen my ancestral connections and practices! But truly, it’s been rich, meaningful, and undeniably real. I’m grateful to be alive and online! If you’re curious about creating your own ancestral or spirit relationships, make sure you listen to Call Your Coven’s June conversation, “Gods, Ancestors, & Spirits, Oh My!” It’s one of our most vulnerable conversations yet, and we’re all quite proud of it.
Roses, roses, roses — Way back when in Friday Five history, I confessed my love for Trader Joe’s Rose Spray, and this month, I added some new rosy connections to my life: an Earl Gray and rose tea blend and a homemade, Venus-attuned, room spray from a beloved, a lovely smelling rose candle from a care package for my altar, and a fresh bouquet of brightly-colored roses that were delivered by accident. Roses also stepped forward in the July 2025 forecast at Coven as an ally for working through complex collective grief.
I’d love to know’s getting you through and what you made in June! Tell me about fave reads, watches, tools, tips and practices, and your art, products, services, etc!