Happy 2019! I hope you all are having a wonderful January and start to this fresh, new year. I always feel a big shift in energy starting at Yule and leading right up to the New Year on the calendar. It’s the perfect time for me to set new intentions and get the magical juices flowing.
While we are somewhat past this exceptionally magical time, I thought I’d share some of the ways I dip into this flow of shifting energy in hopes that it helps bring a little more joy and magic to your own life.
I adore starting Yule off with a seasonal ritual as the sun rises. This year I celebrated with my mother who has joined me in OBOD by taking the bardic course this year. We had a family breakfast featuring homemade star bread and cider made earlier this fall after ritual. Even when you don’t “see” the sun rise, you still feel the excitement of the Mabon returning.
We spend so much time around the holidays with people. Parties at work and get-togethers with friends seem to take up every evening in the month of December. For Winter Solstice, I very purposefully block off a significant amount of time for just myself. I need some time alone to thank the silence and darkness of the year for all the lessons it has taught me and the space it has created in my life. As much as I love being with people, the older I get the more protective I am of the time I spend on my own.
A warm cup of tea in a room to myself gives me the space I need to communicate with the Spirit of Yule. I can let go of all the things that didn’t work in the past year making space for all the new joys and heartaches to come in the next year. Sometimes this happens as a conversation aloud or just notes in my journal. I’ve even done dance as my communication tool with great success.
After these moments I can do divination work for the upcoming year. So many of us use this day to pull a card for each month of the upcoming year or do some other spread that helps us gain the insight we need to confidently head into the next year. I use a tarot deck to pull one card for each month. Then I write the future cast into my planner for the upcoming year. I’ll revisit each card at the beginning of every month as well.
The insight of divination sets a great foundation for thinking about the core desired feelings I want to use my intentions and goals of the new year. 2019 is all about letting life FLOW again. I like to be prepared and ready for all the things plotted out in front of me. Life isn’t much fun, though, when you are worried about what is coming instead of living in the joy of the moment. So, I’m going to let the moments flow around me more. Less time for worry and more time for letting things settle in.
In the hustle of family time and other holiday celebrations I spend time getting my planner ready and ruminating on the things I hope to create in my life for the next year. It’s all about planning and no action. That “seed time” of waiting for germination is important; it shouldn’t be rushed. This germination period is also the perfect time to fertilize my dreams with a lot of self love. More time to myself, all the best tea, music to soothe the soul, yoga, and daily reminders that I DO actually love myself.
I’m looking forward to bringing in some beautiful new things to my life in 2019. less pushing and hustle and more delight and flow will be a big part of that magic for me. It’s the little things that we do daily that create the best build up of the magic that creates lasting change. May all the joy and delight be yours as you also begin to bring all the best into this new year.
Esoteric Moment 
Congratulations to your mother on taking the OBOD bardic course. I’m thinking of doing that myself. One thing that attracted me to OBOD when I started looking into Druidry is that OBOD does not require people to give up other religious commitments as a condition of membership. You’ve shared in the past that you grew up in a Catholic family. May I ask if your mother is still practicing Catholicism?
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She is not a practicing Catholic any longer. Even though she worked on her master’s of Pastoral Care with a Jesuit university, there were many things that meant continuing with the Church was no longer possible. But that’s her story, so I won’t go into it too much 🙂
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That sounds like someone I met at the OBOD gathering in PA last May (MAGUS 2018), at an ad hoc discussion about Christianity and Druidry. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to talk to her more after the discussion (a lot was going on). If that was your mother, now I’m even more disappointed I didn’t get to talk to her.
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Nope, def wasn’t her. She hasn’t been to a gathering yet. 🙂 Some other time maybe. I’m hoping to get her on my youtube channel this year to do some videos on plants, but we’ll see how things work out!
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I love that you have taken your journey with such care and depth of learning. It can be challenging but in that challenge your understanding ( and my own ) has the opportunity to guide, become what is meant for you and one day a seed nurturing even more.
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