2024: The Year of Expansion
Of love, peace, joy, care, creativity, and collective flourishing
Note, this post draws from the Making December Magic series and 2023: The Year of Enchantment.
Dearest readers,
Happy 2024! How is your 2024 starting? How was your process of making December magic, and how is it unfolding so far? According to Chani, the 2024 new year energetically gets forward momentum starting around January 9-10, so if you are starting slow, you are not alone.
Mine started slowly with returning to Costa Rica on Dec. 31, my favorite day to travel during the holiday season, as airports are not congested. We returned from two busy and nourishing weeks in the US visiting family and friends.
We returned to our house to no internet (still - it had gone out before we left in early December).
Making magic tip: Watch what you ask for! Or rather, be specific, and when you get what you ask for and it looks differently than you imagined, be ready to laugh, and give thanks, even when it’s annoying.
Just about every year, I set attention liberation1 as an aspiration for the new year. Always more - more attention, more presence; always less - less phone, less distraction.
Not always, though- this is a phenomenon I’ve only had to deal with, like most of us, since the advent of smart phones and social media. There was a time in my life before this, a time when I would generatively have more natural pauses in my daily life, not filled with scrolling and immediate responses to messages. Maybe you remember this time, too, a time in our lives when our attention was more liberated, less distracted; both more focused and with more space to wander freely.
Every year, as I return to my year-end process, a recurring theme is trying to find right relationship with the phone and technology. Hilariously, this year, I was supported by my more-than-human collaborators by a month-long internet outage that began in early December and lasted through early January.
It was hugely annoying and disruptive. And, I kinda got what I asked for :) It meant starting the new year with a new relationship to technology that I didn’t necessarily choose but was also what I was seeking.
When the internet returned, we were relieved. We celebrated by binge watching our favorite (respective) shows, and ordering delivery food from the phone app. I responded to messages in real time. We delighted in the conveniences made possible by smart phones and internet that we have become so accustomed to.
It is easy to slip back into bad habits, but I am trying. I hope this forced recalibration can stay with me. The absence of something doesn’t necessarily change our relationship to it - a toxic, dysfunctional, or imbalanced relationship can persist even when we are removed from someone or something. But it gives us a new perspective from which which we can recalibrate our relationship when we return to it.
I am practicing, which is all I can do.
I also had to giggle at whatever forces were collaborating around this, whether the Costa Rican dry season winds that knocked out the infrastructure, or Mercury (which was retrograde throughout this period), or spirit guides colluding with my intentions, or maybe all of the above. We make our intentions and aspirations, but we can’t fully know what form they will take or what kind of help and support will show up. As frustrated as I was by the inconvenience, I had to laugh at the ridiculousness of it. I had to give thanks for the support in my ongoing intention.
Oh universe, you trickster!
Who or what has been helping you in your intentions and aspirations, collaborating with you?
Give thanks, even reluctantly.
You can also always refine the specificity of the help you need :)
I retuned home and burned my 2023 spell after reading it one last time. I placed my new spell on my altar. I finished my vision board. I tidied up the altar to bring in fresh energy.
I circled around and landed on my 2024 word of the year: EXPANSION.
Expansion.
It feels scary to write this, to claim it, to say it out loud. Which is also why it feels important to do so.
I am calling in expansion.
Expansion like the rings of a tree2.
Expansion like mycelial networks connecting roots.
Expansion like rainy season plant life, wild and free.
Expansion as the result of slow, steady, sustainable, regenerative growth.
Expansion that is nourishing for everything around it, like a mother tree. Stable, supportive, collectively flourishing and nourishing.
Expansion of love, care, and creativity. Expansion of joy and freedom.
Expansion of hearts. Of spaciousness.
Take up space. Unfurl. Grow. Extend. Unfold.
I want to unfold.
I don’t want to stay folded anywhere,
because where I am folded, there I am a lie.-Rainer Maria Rilke, Book of Hours
Why is it scary to call in expansion?
Because for people socialized as women, we are taught to stay small, to not take up too much space. To cross our legs. To stay quiet.
Because expansion under capitalism is unsustainable, toxic. Unchecked growth on an abundant-yet-finite planet is what is causing so much detriment, demise, harm. Violence.
Why is it necessary to call in expansion?
What about expansion of love, care, peace, joy, creativity, collective flourishing? This is the expansion I am calling in for 2024. This is the expansion we need.
To grow is a literal growth edge.
Naming the year is a powerful act. Last year, my word of the year was enchantment, from which this Substack was born, and from which so much magic and beauty spilled through my life. I am excited to see what this year’s word brings, which I know will take shapes and forms I cannot yet imagine. I am here for its unfolding, and here for the mysterious collaborations.
Did you choose a word for 2024, something you are circling around and calling in? I would love to hear it, and call it in with you.
Dear reader, I kindly ask for your help in this expansion. In the 9 months I have been writing Enchantable, I have seen a slow, steady growth in this reader community. It has been at a pace that has felt manageable, enjoyable, delightful. I am giddy with every subscribe email I receive, honored that each of you takes the time to be here, gives the gift of your attention to my words and this space.
In 2024, I am also calling in my people- students, readers, teachers, communities, collaborators. You are my people! And I am guessing that some of your people are my people, too.
My request to you, my call to action, in the spirit of supporting this aspiration:
Can you please share Enchantable with a few kindred spirits who might enjoy it, too? Who are the people in your life who might also enjoy it, perhaps with whom you could even talk about it?
Thank you for many of you who have already share it, and for supporting Enchantable’s expansion!
I have a lot of aspirations for Enchantable this year, too, including doing more audio accompaniments, beautifying it, writing more love stories about more-than-humans and friendships, maybe starting a 52-week series in honor of its birthday, and other ideas I have floating around. I always welcome your ideas around what you would love to see more of.
The year provides us many chances to renew ourselves. In fact, we can begin again at any moment, with any breath. Even now. That said, I love working with auspicious days for fresh starts, days aligned with natural cycles and rhythms. Some of my favorite additional “new years” I work with are the spring equinox (which is celebrated in several cultures as a new year, and is also Enchantable’s birthday!) and my birthday (everyone’s personal new year), and of course, every new moon.
All of this to say, there are many chances to restart, and many, many chances to make magic every day.
Keep me posted on how your magic unfolds. I can’t wait to hear about it!
With wishes of expansive love and care for all,
Stephanie
adrienne maree brown
Thank you to my dear friend Hannah for naming this image and planting it firmly in my psyche where it has continued to roll around and root and grow :)
I loved, loved, loved reading this edition. It really resonated with me. Last year I was introduced to a program called Flourishing and I really liked it. the term stayed with me, and when you suggested to choose a word, I chose it. I love Expansion as well. I feel 2024 is that year! Thank you for these inspiring posts. Much love, Fran
With your Expansion and my Synergy, we could make magic!