I love New Years Eve & New Years Day. Expectations and pressure to celebrate aside there is something special in the air as we transition from one year into the next. The chance to wipe the slate clean and start again. The closing of one door and the opening of another. A new year brings new hope & opportunities. New energies to play and live under. I live in a pretty amazing location in Melbourne that over looks the CBD in a tri-level town house with roof access. For the last 4 years I have spent NYE on my roof in delight watching the mammoth fire-work display. Some years with 50+ people around me, others years, like last year I spent alone in quiet reflection doing my own sacred ritual and meditation.
As a culture and society we are all really craving more ritual, to celebrate & honour the journey of life and the phases that we move through. I think part of the reason why I do love NYE and NYD so much is that it really does give us all permission to stop and celebrate the year, in whatever way we choose. Perhaps that is partying up a storm with loved ones or having a nana night in.
It is extremely powerful to stop and reflect, to acknowledge all that has happened over the year. To let yourself feel gratitude for what has been and to then start to set some intentions for the next year of your life. (note: get rid of the idea of having to set “resolutions”, they never work, focus on INTENTION, much more potent!!) Life moves so fast so if we don’t stop to reflect and re-focus often we can loose sight of what is important, or worse, get bogged down in groundhog day boredom and disillusion. Sacred Rituals are way to break through that blah energy and bring a light hearted joy and focus into your life. The rituals don’t have to be anything fancy, they just have to feel good – to you!
There is a number of sacred rituals that have started to form in my own life over the last few years that I do to celebrate the end of a year with loving intent and to welcome in the next year. I felt guided to share them with you all, feel free to use any of them and add them to your ritual process.
– I clean and cleanse my home & living space by giving it a good smudging with white sage and blast it with reiki and sacred symbols. If you don’t know how to do a house clearing here is a blog I wrote earlier in the year . This energetically releases the year that has been and creates a beautiful open neutral space for the new year.
– I hand write a list of everything from the year that I want to release and let go of. The list usually has a mix of bad habits, situations, old feelings & emotions, limiting beliefs or patterns, people & relationships, fear, physical ailments, or whatever else I really want to surrender. I then BURN the list, using the element of fire to transform what I am letting go of.
– I then hand write a list of everything I am GRATEFUL for about the year. The amazing, the accomplishments & achievements, the experiences, the people, the challenges moved through, the growth, lessons learnt, etc etc. After writing the list I then sit in meditation and really FEEL the energy of gratitude in my heart. I then imagine that gratitude as an energy that beams out and sends a wave of high vibrational love throughout the entire universe.
– I complete Susannah Conway’s free annual year book “Unravelling” (you can grab it from her website here). Its such a gorgeous process that provides space and asks all the right questions to get you really reflecting on all that 2014 has been, and allows you to start setting some strong intentions of what you are wanting 2015 to call in. As part of the workbook Susannah asks you to choose one word to encapsulate what energy the year will be. For 2014 I choose EMBODIMENT (which has taken me on an amazing journey, more on that later!) and for 2015 my word is going to be BRILLIANCE.
– I do an oracle card spread for the year. I grab a couple of decks and mix them all together and then
** Pull one card that represents the energy of the entire year.
** I pull a Goddess Card to find out what Goddess will be with me all year
** I pull one card from an Angel Card deck to see what Angel is with me.
** I then pull 12 more cards to represent each month of the year (eg. 1 for January, 1 for Feb, etc)
I take a photo of the spread with my phone and then jot down the cards in my journal so I can reflect on them later. FUN
– To finish it all of I then do a Chakradance Practice. Chakradance is sacred moving-meditation practice that aligns mind, heart and soul together. The guys at chakradance have just released a new “at home practice” album that is just stunning called “Dawn & Dusk”. It’s been created to be used as a daily healing practice, or as a stand alone when you feel drawn to work with it. The first album (Dawn) is a fresh compilation of 7 dynamic, guided, moving meditations, to charge up your chakras for the day ahead. The second (Dusk) has no guide-vocals, but is simply a compilation of 7 relaxing and healing tracks of chakra-resonant music interwoven with the healing sounds of chakra-attuned crystal bowls, to calm and balance your chakras at the end of the day. It’s delicious, such divine music I am in love with it, so can’t wait to have a boogie with it tonight! Just a reminder to all Space In Betweeners that you get a 10% discount off at the chakradance shop when you put my name SARA in the promotional code box.
Aside from choosing my word for the year I don’t make any resolutions and actually don’t really set any major intentions for the new year just yet. What?!! I hear you ask, why not?? I actually prefer to use the month of January in its entirety to reflect and really feel into the new year before setting my intentions. Over the month of Jan I also make a new Soul Vision Board for the year. Then I set my clear goals in alignment with the Chinese New Year in February.
Do you have any special rituals you do over New Years Eve and New Years Day? Have you chosen a word for next year? I would love to hear from you in the comments below.
x Sara