2024 Roundup, 2025 Threshold
Celebrating one full year on Substack and an affirmation to enter 2025.
This is my twelfth month publishing pieces on Substack. I have really enjoyed the people and communities I’ve found here and I look forward to what the next year of writing will bring :) To cap off the year, I wanted to do a round-up of my most popular pieces, as well as my personal favorites. I gained an influx of subscribers after my most recent, and now most popular, list of Anti-Appropriative Resources for the Self-Taught Witch. I figured an end-of-year roundup would give everyone a chance to revisit old favorites and get to know more of my writing if you haven’t checked out my other posts yet!
Thank you all for being here. I have dreamed of connecting to other people through my writing since I started considering myself a writer. I’m happy this platform has allowed me to self-publish and continue to hone my voice and craft. Reading essays and finding inspiration with other writers has been such a joy. Here’s to another year of creating and discovering together :)
Feel free to skip to the end for an affirmation and reflection moving into 2025!
5 Most Popular Pieces
I had been wanting to create this list since I started my Substack and never got around to it. That is, until 4:30am the day after my total hysterectomy. I never expected it to take off the way it did and I was pleased to see how many people were drawn to it! It’s funny what a major gender-affirming surgery will motivate you to do.
I read my posts out-loud to myself, and this one made me sob. I think one of the hardest things about being a trans adult is seeing the struggles of trans youth and recognizing how much more difficult it is for them, and will continue to be. I’m glad this post connected to so many people.
I would put this in my 5 personal favorites if it wasn’t already in this list. I learned a lot about myself through writing this piece, and it helped me work through some intense feelings I was going through as I was traveling abroad this year. Regardless of how many books you read on polyamory, living and experiencing polyamory is something entirely unique and individual. This helped me understand my own lifestyle in affirming ways!
It was really liberating to realize that I have moved on from the desire to write about my trauma. At least, the motivation for my writing isn’t as trauma-related as it used to be. It also felt good to share a meditation technique that has helped me navigate reading about other people’s trauma. Writing can truly be a means to haunt the reader, whether we intend to or not.
Going sober this year was not something I would have predicted, but I’m so happy I did! This piece goes into what sobriety means to me and how it has changed my relationship to substances as a whole. It’s empowering to know that sobriety can take on whatever form you need it to for yourself. My sobriety has helped me feel more grounded in the world.
5 Personal Favorites
I read this piece out-loud for a few people, it’s one I really enjoy sharing. I’ll have to go back and do a voiceover for it at some point. I love when I have moments with my ancestors that I can translate into stories.
After visiting New York more than once this year, I can say I understand why it has captured the hearts and minds of so many writers. There’s something special about feeling love and connection in such a large and incomprehensible place.
This really chronicles one of the largest lessons I’m taking out of 2024 regarding my safety as a trans person in the world. While there are many things that are tangibly threatening to trans people, it can be hard to balance those threats with the things I imagine happening to me. The more I face my fears, the more I find new ways to trust.
This is one of those pieces I go back to and visit frequently. I really like my stream-of-consciousness writing because it helps timestamp things I’m processing and see where my head was at in a particular moment. I find a lot of wisdom and intuition in these pieces.
Sometimes I can clearly see where I’m at in a particular season of my life. I really felt that this Spring with this piece and the poem that preceded it, Pisces New Moon. I like going back to these images and I look forward to when my subconscious opens new landscapes for me to explore.
An Affirmation Going into 2025
The path ahead may be dark, but my lantern is lit. I see my next step. I know my way forward.
I attached this affirmation to soaps I made as Yule gifts this year. It is inspired by the Hermit card from the Tarot Major Arcana. 2025 is a Hermit year because 2+2+5 = 9 and the Hermit is number 9 in the Majors. It often depicts a figure holding a lantern in the dark and refers to processes of coming back to one’s center.
The Hermit is one of those cards I have felt defensive towards when I pull it, because I worry it’s telling me I’m not spending enough time alone. My fears around that message say more about my relationship to this card (and myself) than anything the card may actually be telling me. Historically, I have not always been good at being alone or feeling out when I need to take personal space. The remnants of those patterns appear when I see this card, although it could always be an affirmation that I am in fact doing the work of the Hermit.
Lindsay Mack in The Threshold 2025 talks about the Hermit as an invitation to find one’s calling. It is about coming back to the self to better be in service to the collective. It isn’t necessarily about being alone, but being aligned with your unique path. I really resonate with that message, especially given that the Hermit is ruled by Virgo and my Virgo Venus is the ruler of my astrological chart. Being of service to those I love is my love language, being in service to the collective is my passion.
2025 will bring us all in alignment with our paths, even if the road ahead is unclear and unmapped. Sometimes, we aren’t meant to see very far ahead of ourselves, just what is visible by the light of a lantern. The cycles of the Earth give us time to prepare for what is to come. Regardless of the traditions you follow, this time of year invites rest, reflection, and dreams. The darkest days connect us back to our resources. What are you using to light your lantern?
The internet is full of fatal predictions about where we are heading. Now is the time to dare to dream differently. I do not let others dictate what I imagine in my future. I imagine the world I want to live and love in, and then I live and love as if I’m already there. The path ahead may be dark, but I can see what’s right in front of me. The steps I take tomorrow will be there when I arrive.
Congratulations on 1 year, Aris! It's a big accomplishment - here's to many more... 💙🥳❤️