It’s time to come out of the oven. 2020 threw everything at you, and here you are. Standing at the Threshold of the Cocoon of Winter. Mere days away from turning the page to a new calendar year. What has this crucible of a year crafted you into?

Whatever your story about 2020, there are lessons in this year. What are you learning? About yourself? the world? people? how you think and feel? Looking at the lessons helps alleviate the drama about how the lessons arrived. Thanks to Mark Manson for this prompt.

Death teaches much about life. Death can be a cheerleader for life, reminding you every day to go for it because one day you won't be able to.

Death encourages you to love more and focus on what matters. Death wants you to enjoy life and to spread it around by living and sharing life. To love and laugh and challenge yourself to grow.

When you tune into what you're heading towards and why you're doing it — which boils down to how it will make you feel — it makes the whole roller coaster worth it.

Do you need someone to help hold this intention and keep you in the vibration of holding space for yourself? Is it even possible to hold space for yourself? Because holding space is a misnomer. What’s actually needed is permission to let go. A relaxing of your grip so you can stop holding. The deeper yearning is to be held.

Over-consuming to fill the holes leads to more sluggishness. More sludge. There’s something below the surface that needs to be tended. Something that needs to be seen. Let’s get to it and dig in.

Cultural conditioning is a task master. Doing can keep you on the surface, in a cycle of seeming productivity. But what if something bigger is gestating? Procrastinating may actually be percolating, that low level simmer needed to bring out the depth of experience.

Letter writing gives voice to different emotions and moments of appreciation. There are many ways to honor the seasons with offerings, altars and magick, and yet a letter feels simple. Try writing a letter to Autumn. What do you share of yourself? Is Autumn a trusted friend that you spill secrets to? Acknowledge her arrival as you would a guest. Is this guest welcome? Is this a love letter or some other missive?

Your one life is still precious, even during a hard year such as 2020. These writing prompts will help get you below the surface static of stress, elections, pandemic and daily tasks to see what wants to come during these final months of 2020.

As Autumn rolls in, we bid adieu to Summer. What better way than to dash off a note to share how you feel. Letter writing captures the essence of things and emotions, helping you distill down what needs to be said and what’s best left alone. It’s up to you whether this is a love letter or filled with heated emotions that need to be vented rather than carried over to the next season.

Modern culture tells us to be constant — go, go, go all the time rather than ebb and flow the way nature does. Summer is a season for rest, an opportunity to recharge before the busy-ness of Fall. There are 3 weeks left to Summer. How can you be with what is by being with the now?

The New Moon is the void. The darkness. The lack of light ( but isn't it amazing how it allows for stars to shine that much brighter). Consider the New Moon as an emptiness not to be filled but a spaciousness that allows you to expand and open to new possibilities. What stars appear in your darkness?