The World Needs Your Magic

Like clockwork, another year has come to an end and with the tick of a millisecond that flourishes like a magic wand of some mystical fairy godmother, a new year begins. 

That wand seemingly transforms all our desires and longings, dreams and visions, into tangible moments we feel could actually happen. They are within our grasp, with 365 days to see them become reality. Eventually the magical feeling starts to fade… the seconds tick by, the days fall into ‘the past’, and we are left with the reality of the magic feeling like it’s come undone at the ‘midnight’ expiration.

But the world needs your magic.

That phrase, ‘the world needs your magic’, paired with ‘my voice matters’ were the driving forces behind my discovery of my word of the year for 2026. A practice I’ve been engaging in for 13 years now, discovering a word of the year driven less by statistical goals and more by character and embodiment, has led me further than any ‘resolution’ check-list ever did. This practice shapes who I am, who I become, and who I want to be as I live daily in the world. It guides my choices; my ‘yes’s’ and my ‘no’s’, my ‘not yet’s’ and my clarity that keeps me coming home to who I am, this person that God made me to be.

If you’ve read in the past about my word of the year discovery, you’ll notice a pattern. When I’m not even thinking about it, the idea bubbles up. Often in the quiet moments of journaling in the morning, I feel the Spirit nudge me towards something. It’s rarely relevant to the current journaling; it’s always important. I write it along the top of my page, have a moment of pause where I go ‘humph… interesting…’ and then I continue along my way.

As I started to talk more about these phrases with my own Spiritual Director, and as I pondered them on my own, I knew the two of them had to come together somehow. It felt like it was a serendipitous meeting of magic and moment to create something new, to bring to life what has been bubbling under the surface for a while. In classic Aelea-fashion, and as a self-declared Swiftie, I had thought of maybe ‘speak now’ as a little phrase, but it wasn’t feeling quite aligned. Without a word yet to bring it all together, I started the process laid out in Aligned & Designed At Home. What I love about the Aligned & Designed process is how it guides you gently away from ‘goals’ for the year, and lovingly invites you into an exploration of who you want to become; what characteristics do you want to embody? How do you imagine yourself at the end of the year? What themes begin to appear during this time of dreaming? 

As I wrote of the themes appearing in stream of consciousness, edit free, letting it all spill out, the page began to reveal something special:

“The theme that appears is all that boldness and authenticity mixed with creative expression and doing. IT’S MAGIC → My own voice and art and how I show up in the world is unique and valuable and it matters that I show up. Show up doesn’t feel right… or maybe it does. Show up, visible, take up space, create, share, expression, expressive, confidence, clarity, wisdom.”

I returned back to my favourite phrase, “The world needs my magic” and expanded on it.

The world needs my:
Voice
Vision
Art
Creativity
Expression
Boldness
Kindness
Love
Wonder
Whimsy
Enchantment
Authenticity
Magic
If a place doesn’t honour that, it’s not the place for me.

I wrote that out and looked at the page.
It’s the magic of me in words that embody how I want to show up in the world.
Was magic the word? It still didn’t feel quite right.

I let it go for the night.

A looming headache arrived and I tucked the pages into my desk drawer to return to another day. Letting what was revealed steep in my soul for a little longer, on the morning of my 38th birthday, I took out the pages once more…

I took my pen and wrote ‘alchemy’ on the page.

Alchemy takes what you have and transforms it into gold.

It’s taking raw elements and ingredients and turning it into something meaningful.

All the things I listed, from my voice to my whimsy, my kindness to my authenticity, are all the things I have that feel ready to be transformed into the ‘speak now’ vision. To be bold, to take up space, and to be aware of being in places that value what I have to offer, where who I am is not just appreciated in little ways that keep me small, but deeply valued in ways that encourage me to shine more radiantly. When I take the elements, and add life to them through voice and action, it’s a process that seems like magic making gold. That is alchemy. It’s not ‘just’ the elements, it’s not ‘just’ my actions, it’s all of it coming together for this moment to create something new that’s never been made before.

This year is about alchemy.

It’s bringing to life the things previously dreamed of.
It’s living into my life as a whole, creative being.
It’s making magic out of the things that fuel me and letting that passion turn into gold right before my eyes.
It’s not holding back but pressing forward.
It’s using my voice even if it feels shaky from being held within.
It’s going where who I am is honoured, not staying places that make me wither.
It’s going where the gold I make is viewed as essence, not excess.

At the end of Aligned & Designed At Home, there’s an audio meditation that invites you to imagine yourself surrounded by golden glitter falling from the sky. You hold out your hands, and the glitter that falls is in your palms is all the beauty your word of the year has for you. It’s all the potential to be realized when you live in alignment with your word of the year. The glitter that doesn’t land in your palms are the things that aren’t aligned, and you’re encouraged to let it fall away, trusting that living into your word of the year is where you are meant to be.

I wrote this meditation. I love it for so many reasons.

One, being that it honours that life will offer you many things, as it always does. Small, seemingly insignificant decisions, and the big decisions that take time to ponder. All of it, when lived with alignment, can shape you more into the person you’d like to become. For me, I view this as imagining myself becoming who God designed me to be, before the world filled me with doubts and fears, with expectations and limitations, when I was free and living into the magic of the moment as it would unfold. Writing stories and poetry, embracing colour and joy, speaking out against injustice, listening to the nudges of the Spirit within along the way. And also, noticing where others speak and God shimmers— specific encouragement from others that was given that ignited a spark.

I have yet to make my bracelet with my word of the year on it.

Aligned & Designed At Home this year offers two options:

The first is the Full Aligned & Designed At Home Experience where it comes with a curated bead kit so you can create a bracelet with your word of the year on it. Wearing it is a reminder of what you have envisioned and guides you to live aligned.

The second is what we are calling a ‘Digital’ Aligned & Designed At Home Experience. No bracelet kit is included, but the ‘Create’ section encourages you to make something with your word of the year on it that is meaningful to you as a reminder— maybe a piece of pottery with your word on it, a bracelet with your own beads, a word written and framed to place on your desk, a painting, a collage. It doesn’t matter what exactly it is that you make, what matters is allowing the process of creation to align your heart and body with your desires for the year, and to see your word of the year as a visible reminder to guide you in the year.

While I am sure that I will make a beaded bracelet because beaded bracelets are a part of my aesthetic, I may find something else during my adventures that embodies Alchemy. Maybe a charm to hang from a necklace, a piece of art that catches my eye, or maybe I’ll create a mixed-media piece of art. Perhaps I’ll discover another creative endeavour where alchemy comes alive and it becomes my reminder. What it is doesn’t matter as much as the process of discovery, creation, and remembrance. 

I’ve already seen Alchemy.

I have already seen Alchemy weaving a golden thread through my life after only a couple of weeks with this word. Mostly in remembering that magic is in the eye of the beholder, that the raw ingredients of courage and kindness already exist within, that I can do hard and brave and beautiful things, and that visions are meant to be seen. I’m excited for the year ahead. Full of hard work and beauty, of putting myself out there (hello, Substack) and going all in on new adventures. It’s a year of jumping off cliffs and trusting that the magic of the divine will catch me along the way. It’s feeling the rush of the jump and the tender catch of the clouds, the sparkle of fireflies guiding the way, and the hum of a song carried through the air that stirs my soul to where it goes next.

It sounds fantastical.
And It is.
It’s letting wonder and whimsy take the lead with hard work and all that’s been brewing within be the driving force behind it all.
It’s going to be a year of speaking up, leaning into magic, and alchemizing it into gold every step of the way.