Welcoming in Your Personal New Year Bliadhna mhath ur

Every year we all have a personal new year when the sun once again returns to the exact date that corresponds with our rising sign.  Following the rhythms of your own year has been a practice I have followed for a long time and it seems to work much like biorhythms.  Most of my celebration of my personal new year resembles the usual approach to January 1st.  I prepare a summary of the year and then set my goals for the following year paying attention to the year number, the ruling tarot card and information from my solar return.

I've come to view this day as sacred to Jana, the Grandmother of Time, most ancient of deities. whom, the Romans knew as Anna Perenna, the goddess of two faces who looked both forward to the future and backward to the past.  Anna Perenna, Alpha and Omega, was ultimately replaced by the Roman god Janus, god of gateways, also depicted as looking forward and backward, as where most Goddesses.  Annae Perena, the personification of the succession of the years, was most often represented as an old woman.  The exact orgins of the name of this Goddess are, as with most things. in dispute.  To some historians her name is amnis perennis ("eternal stream").  They claim she was a river nymph; her name was derived from annis ("year") making her a moon-goddess of the running year.  If that imagery works for you then use it.  For others she was originally an Etruscan goddess of time, fate, and health. Her dual name reflected the passing and arriving years. Perenna stands for the old year, in which we can see the root of the word perennial, ever-continuing, and Anna, the new year, where we see the term annual.

If you'd rather you can use Janus instead of Anna Perenna or Jana.  His symbolism involves looking both forward and backward and the Romans pressed him into service as one of the representations of the new year.

 

A Ritual to Welcome your personal New Year

You will need three candles. 
A man or woman candle to represent yourself if you can find one (or any colored candle that you feel represents you)
A silver candle
A gold candle
Paper
Pen

Place the candles on the altar and light the silver candle.  Cast your circle

You are standing on a threshold of your personal New Year.

Focus on the silver candle

What is lies behind you? Are there thing that you choose to have remain in your past?  Old habits or relationships or reaction patterns that no longer serve you?

1. Identify something negative of the past year you wish to release:

2. Write it on a slip of paper, one for each negative thing.

3. Take turns burning it by holding the paper with tongs, lighting it and letting it burn over the bowl of sand, speaking aloud or silently your desire to "release" this negativity into the past, to make room for the new. If possible, mix the ashes into the dirt or sand.

You are standing on the threshold. Feel the joining of all life, past and present, with you in this small crack in time.

How do you want to bid farewell to the old year?

As the old year dies, what emerges from its ashes?

What things that you wish to keep with you into this new year?  Projects begun but not finished, relationships to be cherished?

You are standing on a threshold.
 How do you want to welcome the New Year?

4. Now think about what new quality (or thing) you would like to bring into your life this next year and write it on a slip of paper.

5. State this desire out loud, then fold the paper up and bury it in the bowl of sand (or outside if the ground is not frozen), like planting a seed to grow through the year.

6. Symbolically fertilize the 'seeds' with words like "I fertilize this seed with love, I add wisdom, creativity."

7. To finish, think of something to give in gratitude this next year, some of your "time, talent or treasure" that you can share (volunteer for the homeless, donate, be more peaceful, etc.). State this gift out loud as a commitment for this year.

What kind of person do you want to be in this New Year?

Things to do at the new year.

New Year Collage

Prepare a collage for the new year as a symbolic representation of what you hope to accomplish, to have, to do, and to experience. Display the works of art in a central location for a few days or a week, then move your collage to a personal space where you can see it regularly. You will be surprised how this works to bring these things into your life, quickly and in surprising ways.

Found this great information in an article by Joyce Mason

Habit Helpers to punch up those New Years Resolutions

Morning Glory is the AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) of the flower kingdom. It helps break bad habits. Consider it as a cornerstone for any New Year's Resolution Blend that tackles changes in eating, drinking or drug habits, and reprogramming to more healthy rituals.

Chestnut Bud tackles "not getting it": for when you repeat undesirable behavior patterns without learning from the experience or when you are attached to self-limiting habits.

 Cayenne breaks habit patterns by firing up the will. It beats inertia when you can't get up for the challenge or hard work ahead. If you're just not a jock, Cayenne can rekindle your pilot light and turn up the flame to get you on the gym circuit or treadmill.

Sagebrush helps release old habits and self-images that are no longer valid or appropriate.

Walnut short-circuits years of neurological input that leads to lower-brain, knee jerk reactions. It helps reroute your thinking to a higher plane that results in healthy rituals.