Choosing a Word of the Year — The Willow Path Tarot

A word of the year is a magic spell. It is a mood creator, a vibe check. It is a special wish for what could be that is within your power to make come true.

The word you choose is an aspiration. It is a reminder. It is a beacon when you are lost in the storms that sweep in every year at some point. It is your soul’s touchstone to your truest self.

Does that make you want to choose a word of the year?! Who doesn’t love a portal back from the brink and an authentic aura to adorn yourself with in the year ahead?

Today I’ll share with you how I choose a word of the year. You can do it too!

Before we get started, know that you can pick a word of the year any way you like. There’s no wrong way to do this. Perhaps a word came to you in a dream or just popped in there while you were reading the opening of this post. Maybe you want to use a dictionary and thesaurus and spend weeks pouring over definitions and making pro and con lists. Perhaps you want to open a random book off the shelf and point to a word inside with your eyes closed. You can do this any way you would like! Or not do it at all, of course. Up to you!

I created a page in The Willow Path 2025 Planner for choosing a word of the year. It’s a pretty simple design, so I’ve included a PDF of just that page which you can download for free by clicking here. Otherwise, any piece of paper will do just fine. Or if you’re feeling sustainable, make a note in your phone or create a document on your computer.

Here is the simple practice I use, which you can easily do in 20-30 minutes to choose your word of the year.

Step 1: Meditation

Settle into a comfortable but alert position and enter a meditative state. I like to do this by concentrating on my breath. I’ll count in for 4 seconds and then out for 5 seconds, repeating the quiet in and out breathing and counting until I feel calm and centered.

Once you’ve reached a relatively calm state, ask yourself any or all of the following questions in your mind. If you’ve forgotten these questions, it’s perfectly fine to open your eyes and read them again during your meditation time.

· How do I want to feel during 2025?

· What vibe do I want to create in my year ahead?

· What undercurrent do I want to follow throughout the year?

· How do I want to react to good and difficult time in 2025?

· What do I want to look back and see as the theme of my 2025?

· What do I want to practice being in the year ahead?

End your meditation with a moment of gratitude for yourself for doing this joyful and soothing practice for yourself. You deserve to have an amazing year ahead and doing this work to manifest the year you want is a special gift to yourself.

Step 2: Brainstorm

Now it’s time to think of words! I like to make a big long jumble of words. I will free associate, writing down anything at all that comes to mind. Then I will open an online thesaurus and look for synonyms. I love to see all the other words that mean similar things as the ones I thought of and look up definitions.

The brainstorming session can last however long you want it to take. Maybe you’ll receive a word instantly during your meditation and intuitively know it is the right word for your year ahead. Maybe you’ll want to go down synonym rabbit holes filling up a lot of space with words. That’s what happened to me!

It isn’t necessary to write words during your brainstorm time. You could draw pictures or doodles, use stickers, or some other artist medium to get your creativity activated. Maybe you want to talk aloud to yourself or just sit there and think. Perhaps a Pinterest board is more your style when it comes to brainstorming. Remember, there’s no wrong way to do this. Have fun!

Step 3: Categorizing

Next, look over your brainstorm session. Notice if there are any patterns or if you repeated any words or phrases. You may want to group words or images together that have similar meanings or accomplish the same thing for you.

If you find that you have a rather large bucket of words that all evoke the same feeling in you, this could be an indication that this is the category that holds your word of the year. You’re thinking about this area a lot!

This step of looking over your brainstorm can be really useful, especially if a word didn’t immediately come to the fore as your perfect word of the year. Notice what you’ve got so far and listen for any intuitive hits that your word is here somewhere.

Step 4: Meditation

This step isn’t necessary for everyone, but I needed it this year. After I brainstormed and categorized my words, I noticed that I had a couple of different areas in which I focused my words. I wanted to only pick one word and I wasn’t sure which one resonated the most with me. So, I did another meditation, taking myself to a calm, centered place. Then I asked myself which word was right for me. I used the questions from above, but inserted the words I was considering to check in with my intuition on which one felt the most right.

· I want to feel ________ during 2025.

· I will create a ___________ vibe in my year ahead.

· An undercurrent of __________ is what I follow throughout the year.

· I want to react to good and difficult time in 2025 with _____________.

· The theme of my 2025 is ____________.

· I will practice being _____________ in the year ahead.

I simply repeated the phrases in my head with a couple of different words in the blank spot and tuned into my intuition to see which phrases resonated the most with me.

Step 5: Choose Your Word!

Now choose! Write whatever work you picked down in your planner, or on a special piece of paper, or put it on the lock screen on your phone. Just put that word someplace you will see it often so you remember your practice for the year ahead.

If you’re having a difficult time choosing still, don’t sweat it. This isn’t a make or break moment in your life. This is supposed to be light and fun. Know that you can always choose a word now, and if it isn’t doing it for you after a couple of weeks or months, pick a different one! Maybe you would rather do a word of the month, or a word for the first half of the year and then a different one for the second half. There are no rules here, do what feels right to you and helps you feel the way that you want to feel right now at the beginning of 2025.

Here is what my word of the year page from the Willow Path 2025 Planner ended up looking like after I brainstormed on the top half and wrote my word special on the bottom part.

I had a hard time picking this year, and ya know, I just told myself that if the word doesn’t settle in and feel useful, I’ll change it up when I discover something that fits better for me. For now, I’m going with “content” because I want my year to be laid back and unworried.

Content means: a state of peaceful happiness and satisfaction. That sounds just right to me. I am tired of striving and worrying and never feeling like enough. I tend to make things hard for myself, and I really don’t want to do that this year. I’m letting go of anxieties and doubts that are self-imposed just to get me riled up. I don’t want to live in dissatisfaction.

Sure, there are plenty of things to worry about in the world and goals that I want to achieve, but if I can’t do anything about it in the moment, I’m gonna let that shit go and just chill. This feels like saying no to the capitalist machine. I don’t need to be constantly producing and achieving and becoming more, more, more.

I want to notice what I am and what I have. I want to feel into how enough everything is in my life. Don’t worry, I’m going to keep working on my writing and creating things and learning and evolving. But I’m not going to accumulate things or experiences like I’m not fulfilled without them. I’m content with what is. I’m happy the way things are, and that is the best place and time to be happy- in the now.

Let me know what word you choose, I’d love to hear it!