A Year in Reading: Arianna Rebolini

To reflect on this past year, in terms of reading but also in terms of surviving, I have to start in the middle. I had a (long overdue) nervous breakdown in June, took a work leave in July, decided in August that that leave would be permanent, and over the course of those three months, through slow and subtle shifts, my life became something entirely distinct from what it was when the year began. I owe much of that transformation to by . There was a time, earlier this year even, when I’d have needed to couch this fact in self-deprecating jokes—and yes, fine, maybe this caveat is just another version of a self-deprecating joke—but I’m standing firm when I say this book about aligning with the moon’s phases gave me the push to change my life and the support to help me survivebecame my bible; I opened it every day. I took notes. I downloaded multiple (!) moon calendar apps. I journaled; I meditated; I built an altar and did spells. I made goals; I started reaching them. It was magic but also a system. I needed both.