We are days away from the end of 2021. It is snowing where i am, the house is quiet except for the continuous flow of my playlist, Music Therapy: That’s what it is called and what it means to me. It’s been a stalwart for me this year.

As the first New Moon of 2022 is so early into January, i wanted to share with you some of the resources that i have found immeasurable for planning for the year that is coming. One of the guideposts for this ritual is also taking time to reflect on the year that was.

A part of me wants to say good riddance to 2021, but i wouldn’t be doing it a good service. There were parts that were gifts, surely. They balanced out the hard and unexpected. To read a bit more about my 2021, go to my last journal post.

Each year, i put together a Reflections of the Year guidebook. If you haven’t already, go to this LINK and print a copy. Or better yet, take what you want from it and put your thoughts and dreams in a journal of your own. If you would rather ask some simple questions, here is a good place to start:

1) What have you learned
a) What are you letting go of
b) What are you bringing into the new year
2) What are you new adventure are you welcoming

My Guides
While my practice is a private one, it is not without guides and inspiration from others. I am a big fan of Lindsay Mack. She is a Tarot guide and each year, her Solstice Blessings Tarot Spread is part of my ritual. In it, we ask the cards: 1) What is my card for the Solstice 2) What am I welcoming in at this new cycle? 3) What am I shedding and releasing? 4) A supportive Anchor Card that I can call upon for the upcoming cycle ahead. I have enrolled in her Threshold course so she can companion me even more into this new year. Sarah Faith Gottesdiener is also a mentor and has similar resources.

I start my plan for the next year by early December. I have been honing in on my New Year ritual for so long it has become part of my Craft. Besides my journal practice, i now have a collection of card decks that help anchor me. This new one, Live Your Values Deck, is a perfect compliment to my own Self-Compassion Intention cards, my Tarot Deck and Goddess Oracle cards. Each has a sacred place at the altar.

One tool i love to share with the people i support is the Wheel of Life exercise. Kimothy Joy’s free version has been updated for 2022. A similar resource is Ikagai, a Japanese tool that is similar. It breaks down our life’s purpose into 4 pillars: passion, vocation, profession and mission. It asks you to consider these 4 questions: What do you LOVE, What are you GOOD at, What does the world NEED, how can you get PAID. Another great website that shares more about this tool is here. Resources like this act to help us see where we need more balance, focus or energy, and where there is abundance.

Since i have read so much this year, it’s fitting that i am surrounded by some books to help me with my Year-end ritual. Marlee Grace’s new book, Getting to Center, is very helpful – she breaks down the path to get to our own Inner Centre. With chapters on vulnerability, hope, easy, saying bye, and rejuvenation, she covers a lot of ground. Another book is Amber Rae’s Choose Worry Over Wonder. Both books have words that were on my shortlist for Word of the Year. So, they have been companioning me these last few weeks.

Instead of goals that start the year, i follow the tradition of picking Core Desired Words for the Year. They are more about honouring a theme or feeling for the year, rather than tasks or commitments. Last year, my main theme was the Rise up, share my resources and myself with my community. It also means to embody confidence. The other theme was Pleasure: How to access Joy and Play. You can read about some of my previous years HERE and HERE. You can also look at some of my own guides – Susannah Conway’s annual gift is still such a great resource after all this years – i have been doing it since 2015. I pick one key word and then 4 to hold it, one for each season of the year.

2022 is held by The Lovers in Tarot (card 6 of the deck, 2+0+2+2=6). It is the best time to welcome back love, for ourselves, each other, and Mother Earth. It is time to reparent our Self with the tenderness and love we have been needing. It is time to let go of what no longer serves us, and create space for new beginnings and dreams that do.

I have been thinking about this word for years. For a long time, i didn’t want anything to do with it as i attached it to femininity and being nice as a woman. And now, as it calls to me again, i think it fits with where i’m at. I am diving into a personal spiral of reclaiming feminine energy, Goddess guides, and having grace allows me to source this side of me.

Now i see the word in a new light, and i see it everywhere. In Madison Morrigan’s recent newsletter, she also speaks of her journey with Grace:

“Notice.
Allow everything to belong.
Forgive it.
Forgive it again.
It belongs.
Allow.
–Grace.”

Grace helped her be more compassionate to herself when her boundaries had fallen. She had more capacity to be tender, playful and angry when necessary (if not inconvenient). When we choose to have sovereignty for what we give our attention, knowing there will be consequences, we can choose to do it with grace.

While Grace is the main theme, I am also feeling a call to Community. This past year has shown me how much I missed having access to a clear village. So, I think the four anchor words are going to help me establish what is needed for a more defined community – whether it is with colleagues, dance or a Goddess circle. The four words that will support me as i strive for it are Ease (Winter), Centred (Spring) Awe (Summer), and Ritual (Fall). I felt called to the words Centred and Awe, and then i knew that i needed to trust more in Ease. It was when i started to play with the words that i noticed they too spelt my main word, just as this past year’s word RISE.

I think this is the part of grace i am seeking – to be confident with my decisions, even when they counter others. Grace means having integrity and humility. It means being graceful with my values, not necessarily being graceful like a ballerina.

Though, i have always wanted to be a ballerina as well.