Strength

By Leila Brillson

In November 2023, when I was about to give birth to my daughter Jet, I went to a tarot reader. For my present card, she drew Strength. A week later, at my baby shower, I drew it again. Later I found the same card, somehow apart from its accompanying deck, in my bedroom as I was packing it up. The Rider Waite tarot deck loves showing men in various states of peril, but Strength is a feminine card featuring a woman calmly reaching into a lion’s mouth, subduing it with patience and resilience instead of force. (Its astrological equivalent is Leo/The Sun, both masculine symbols, but even in its most classic depiction, there’s a lady on the face.)

I had a very eventful 2024. I could say something here about the resiliency of women, and the uncanny aptness of my tarot readings, but the true story of my chaotic year was simply a mixture of poor planning and absolutely batshit crazy decision-making. I bought a house. I bought an internationally renowned and award-winning newspaper. I became a wiggleworm. My lifelong platonic soulmate was diagnosed with Stage Three cancer. I turned 40. I was the only person who felt like that Billie Eilish album was fine. Big year for me.