Depth Year: What is it & My rules for 2024

This isn’t the standard content for my blog! I normally write about tarot, spellcraft, mythology, and more. And! A big part of my own spirituality and witchcraft is in response to my relationship with the earth. Consumerism has led to devastation of our planet, and it is a radical, spiritual act to interrogate our relationship to consumerism.

Which is why, when I decided to do a depth year, I decided to share the experience.

Put simply, a Depth Year is a year of very low spending in an effort to use what you already have and go deep in the commitments you’ve already made. A Depth Year is different from a low-buy year because the low-buy is only a part of it. The focus of the Depth Year is on clearing away the distractions and nervous system meltdowns that come with consumerism.

It is so hard for me to handle the consumerism that runs rampant this time of year. As I’m writing this, I’m constantly bombarded with ads for things to purchase for Christmas, but this season has moved well beyond gift giving. I haven’t really admitted this publicly, but I do have a bit of an impulse issue. Or a “well I’m going to buy it eventually anyway, might as well buy it now” issue. Black Friday has expanded to include the entire months of November and December.

From a business perspective I understand this: you want to clear out as much inventory as possible. In a lot of businesses, the margins are really small and so they need to turn profit at the end of the year. “Black Friday” comes from the old trend that this is when businesses got out of the “red” of debt and into the “black” - profit.

I’ve been thinking about my relationship with stuff lately. I know that there are several points where I could improve my own habits and make my spending habits align more with my actual values around consumption. I tend to have a bit of a librarian’s spirit - meaning I am a collector of books. I like to add books to my collection to flesh it out so that I have a sense of history and genre as I go through my books. For example, if I’m out with friends at a bookstore and there’s a beautiful copy of The Turn of the Screw, but I don’t own a copy of the Turn of the Screw, I’ll buy it to add to my horror collection. Books are my biggest weakness whenever I go to an occult shop, and I’ll buy books to use as references or as “oh yes I’ve been meaning to explore this topic” or “oh I was doing this kind of spellwork the other day.”

But then I end up with a literal shelf full of TBR and I need to pause to take time and read through them!

So THAT is what I mean by Depth Year. It is deepening my relationship with my tarot decks, actually reading through my TBR, and getting into a more balanced relationship with stuff.

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Everyone’s Depth Year is different and it should be. We all have different relationships with stuff, with consumerism, and we all have different goals for the year. My primary reasons are threefold: 1. I want to really focus on getting out of debt; 2. I have some pretty big financial goals and want to get my spending and saving more in control; 3. I want to actually do the things I’ve been meaning to do, like read through my TBR and get better at sewing.

Once you have your reasons for doing a Depth Year, you need to figure out what your boundaries are and how you will enforce them. Where are you most likely to slip up? What contributes to your spending issues? What are some of your biggest impulses and why?

I was really inspired by Kelly-Ann Maddox’s YouTube Video from 2022 about how she was planning on doing a depth year. One of the ideas that she added that I thought was brilliant was a quarterly “check in.” This way, you can add things - whether they are courses, or a makeup idea, or something to a running list and review those things at the end of the quarter. Then, if you are still interested and/or if you have determined they are a need, you can make some decisions about what to purchase.

Here are my rules for 2024:

No new books

Honestly, if I manage to stick to this one I will be in really good shape! I am a book fiend, and like I already talked about, I tend to buy books because they would round out my collection. This also means that I have a lot of books that I’m really interested already sitting on my shelves that I haven’t read. I would love to get to a point where when I look at my bookshelves, I have read 75-90% of them. I have a fascinating collection of books on the occult, and it’s time I got through them. Books are also my most expensive impulse buys, so cutting these out would mean I free up a lot of money.

No New Decks or Other Spiritual Tools

I’m not as much of a deck collector as some other tarot readers I know, but I will admit that I am tempted to buy new decks way more frequently than I can get to know decks. I think honestly a big part of this is that I love art.

No New Courses

I really do love learning, and so I am often looking at new courses I can take to broaden my horizons. This is good, actually! But the issue that I have is that I don’t have the time to follow through on all of them. There are a couple of courses that I’ve purchased that I want to really work my way through - One of them is Astrology for Writers: How To Make Your Writing Work For You by Jeanna Kadlec. This course is no longer available for purchase, otherwise I would definitely have a link to it. I’m so excited to dive deep into my natal chart to figure out how to set up my best writing routines. The other course I want to engage with is By Jove! by Diana Rose Harper, which is all about cultivating a relationship with Jupiter. I will also be continuing to dive back into all of the courses that I’ve taken with my mentor Kari Tauring, as well as revisiting the Story Magic Academy by Rachael Stephen.

I think that is PLENTY to have on my learning plate for 2024, and honestly - if I can finish allllll of that, I might treat myself to a course for Q4 or early 2025.

No New Notebooks or Stationery Except on a Replacement Basis

This one will also be very hard for me! I am fully a Notebook Person, but I have my systems for the next year. I want to go deep into Traveler’s Notebook system, where you can have several smaller notebooks all stored in one leather cover. I have my weekly and monthly/quarterly calendars for the TN system, and I have a Magic of I Astrological Planner on order for tracking around some special projects. I also have bullet journals set up for my herbal studies as well as my recipe creation. Beyond those things, I shouldn’t need any new notebooks. If I want to start another notebook I have a couple of gorgeous A5 notebooks waiting to be used. The nice thing about the TN system is that I will likely finish several inserts over the course of the year - which means that I’ll be able to get that dopamine hit that comes from starting a new notebook.

As far as other stationery goes, I already have enough fountain pens, and inks, and stamps, and stickers. I also have lots of printable stickers that I can print out for myself when I run out.

No New Clothes Except Quarterly

There are a couple of reasons for this. I’m not completely cutting out clothes because I have a feeling I’ll be culling a lot of my wardrobe, and will therefore need to replace things. My style has shifted a lot over the years, and so has my body. I also wear a lot of clothes that are genuinely worn out and I can stand to mend or toss. If I’m not able or not willing to mend something, I need to simply let it go.

There is one exception to my quarterly-clothes rule: I can buy fabric and patterns to make my own clothes.

For the last couple of years I have really wanted to get better at sewing again. I used to sew 16 hours a week for work in the costume shop in college, and I miss having those skills. I also have noticed that some of the pieces of clothing I want aren’t available in my size in stores, or they fit strangely because they aren’t tailor-made. Sometimes I’ll find a piece of clothing I really want but it is really expensive - and it’s not that complicated to make. So if I have the energy and the desire to make something, I will allow myself to buy the fabric and pattern - but only if I plan on beginning to make it that weekend.

Makeup on a Replacement-Only Basis

Honestly this one won’t be very hard for me - I already pretty much live this way. I don’t wear a lot of makeup day to day, but honestly I would like to wear more.

So those are the rules that I have for myself for 2024! I have started a “light” version of a depth year now, but will be starting in earnest in January - that will help with the quarterly reviews and make everything more clear and clean.

Are you interested in doing a Depth Year? Have you done one before? Sound off in the comments! I would love to hear from you!