We’re in the gap: Solstice and Christmas are past; a New Year is shining right ahead of us.  Start it in an empowering way.

Choose rituals you enjoy to complete the passing year and welcome the new one. Make time for it.

It’s been a big year for women: started with the largest-ever peaceful citizen’s march, by and for women. Rising of the Priestess archetype and Temples being born. Ended with #MeToo and on-going revelations of sexual misconduct.

It’s been a doozy: a big transition as a collective. We’re in a time of revisioning…

Seems as a culture we’re stripping down, removing structures and seeing the breakdown of systems that we thought were real and solid, inviolate. Some of it not soon enough, like patriarchal conditioning and socially sanctioned abuse of women, has sparked a massive shift in consciousness.

Other parts are heartbreaking: the continued assault on the environment and our seeming inability to come to consensus is being reflected in wildfires, hurricanes, melting polar caps and such.

And it’s not just this global stuff, there’s the personal impact that reflects into our lives, too.

So it’s a potent time to pause and reflect on what’s gone well and what not. It feels right to make a reckoning of it all. Of thinking about the year just passed and peering into the one ahead.

I’ve been in the depths, with it. Doing my annual review, which initially I perceived with quantum disappointment and my expectations not being met. (More on that, next article.)

In The Magdalene Path there’s quite a bit about visioning and setting intentions (articles on the blog, too.)  New Year’s Intentions seem to magically guide our course towards our remembered ideals, dreams and visions.

They focus on the “what” rather than the “how”, since how things work out is often a mystery.

Compelling Questions At The Turn of The Year

To focus our intentions most powerfully, we need to get to a place of clarity and peace with what is. These are a few questions I’ve been exploring:

  • What was amazing, worked best or pleased you most in 2017?
  • What unexpected challenges did you meet last year?
  • What did you learn/discover/remember about yourself this year?

Now take a breath, sigh, bless and release it. Let all that go—good, bad and in-between—knowing you did the best you could, with what you had to work with.

And you have a fresh start ahead, if you take it. Now breathe into these:

  • What do you desire more of in 2018?
  • What would you release or do differently this coming year?
  • What’s one step you can take towards this happening?

Over the next few days, give yourself the time and space you need to set yourself up for a great year. See what is looking to be loved and appreciated in you. What old pattern is dying to be released? What structures and support you need to make the life you envision really happen?

Perhaps you’re craving more time by yourself, better soul-care, creative expression or more intimate connection with your beloved. Make time for what really matters.

Pencil it in your calendar. You’re worth it.

Quietly sip hot tea or mulled wine as you cozy up with a good book, your journal or sketchbook. Walk or snowshoe the barren fields. Listen and honor your impulse, during this quiet and snowy time.

And if you need support to work through it (we can’t very well become ourselves on our own) I’ve got a variety or in-person and virtual experiences: art therapy, spa and coaching sessions, that might be just what you need, when you’re ready.

Dream into next year… and be kind in the dismantling. 

I’m looking forward to being part of it,

Join me?

 

 

 

P.S.  I’d appreciate you emailing me  some answers to those questions. Thanks, love.