Inviting In The New: Another Witch’s New Year Plans

I like the new year. I like new things, new spaces, and new shifts in my own awareness and action. The invitations to do something different, to make something better, and to expand who I am in my heart — and in the world.

At Samhain, I am grateful for the end of the turn of the wheel. I look over the months to see what has happened since the previous year, what has grown and died. I look at what has come to pass…and what has yet to emerge. I know the dying and the living. I remember them all.

And this time of year, I am grateful there is another chance to take the lessons and the memories of Samhain and do something about them. To restore my foundation.

This is a period of rumination and deliberation. A time of quiet and rest. A time of finally sitting down and listening to myself.

Being still.

The Silence Before the New Year

I miss snow days.

Growing up in the Midwest, there were times of the year when the winds would start to howl in the middle of the night and you could hear rain/snow clinking on the windows.

And you knew the roads would be covered the next day, shuttering you into the house.

I miss going out to your car to find it was surrounded by snow and there was no way to get it back out again. Or perhaps you could shovel your car out, but not in time to make it to work.

You couldn’t go anywhere, unless it was in walking distance. And internet wasn’t around, so you had to either spend time with your family or be alone.

I chose to be alone a lot.

And I feel comfortable there. I need that space.

It is the space where I can hear myself.

There is space for something new. In this moment between recognized beginnings and endings is potential. But I can only uncover it when I am alone with my thoughts. I can only invite in the new when it is my voice alone that is speaking up.

New Year, New Intention

So I’ve set aside time this year to do what I usually do in the spaces between the points of my calendar and responsibilities and promises.

Cleanse – The house is getting a scrub down this week. Top to bottom, back of closet to front. All of the things that are taking up space are being removed, repurposed, or put to use again.
Offer – I give offerings to the godds around the house, and offerings to those who might yet join the space. Some offerings are food, some are flowers, and some are songs that are just as easily remembered as they are forgotten…until they are needed again.
Goodbyes – I need to release to make room. I need to let go to take hold. I say goodbyes to old spells, to old practices, to magick I’ve held, to plans that have been birthed, etc. I thank and release. I thank and release. I thank and release.
Open – I also work with Feri practices (a la Victor and Cora Anderson), so this is a time when I start making kala, removing the obstacles that I know and the obstacles I can feel in the way I hesitate when saying what I really want. Again and again. Know, transform, drink, alchemize.
Intention – While I tend to make new intentions on each new moon, I also try to find an intention for the new calendar year. Sometimes this comes from reviewing the pledge I made at Imbolc/Brigid the previous year, and sometimes I just know this is the year of __________. I state it clearly and concisely. I am. I am. I am.
Give it form – I write it down. I make a sigil of it. I create an altar. I create a vision board. I do the thing that will sing this new intention into my physical being and my energetic knowing. Keep it close to my mind and heart as the days pass in the new year. It looks different every year.