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We are embarking, this very day, on the year 2003. What place is ceremony going to have in your life this year? Is it a chore - a "must do" thing, or have you made the choice to celebrate who and what you are as an individual? When you think of ceremony, do you think of things like weddings, funerals, birthdays, the 4th of July BBQ and the yearly holiday get togethers?
All of these things have something in common - they mark specific points in the timeline of our lives. We are honoring the importance of specific "happenings", showing them respect. What would you choose to honor when welcoming the coming New Year into your life? What will you be celebrating?
Many of us are looking for the New Year to be in some, usually unspecified way, "better" than the year before. The intent and energy that we put into our celebrations empowers our lives - we want to use this empowerment to our best advantage. In celebrating the New Year, we want to look at several things.
1. What energies are carrying over from the previous year?
How do we determine what these "energies" are? Sometimes we know without asking - they come from issues or situations in our lives. Sometimes it is not as clear. In both cases, I would advise making use of the tools that Universe has given us - any one of several divination systems can be of help here: astrology, numerology or Tarot come to immediate mind.
One we have determined what energy is going to be in our lives, how do we use that knowledge to our advantage? Let's start with the energies carrying over from the previous year. These may come under the category of energies that we want to release, or they may come under the category of energies that we want to nurture.
Different forms of ceremony are called for here. With the energies that we wish to release, we need to take the time to understand why they are there - how they got there, and what we can learn from them. If we are releasing something that we haven't learned from, it will be back!
The best time for releasing something is during a full moon. The manner of celebration is up to each individual. One way of releasing energy is to take a piece of thread, or string, and tie knots in it. With each knot that is tied, mentally place some energy that you wish to release. Another technique is to make a list of the energies that you wish to release on a small piece of paper. In both instances, a very simple ceremony would be to light a candle and meditate on the energies that you are releasing. At the end of your meditation, burn the string or the paper, mentally letting go of the energies from your life.
The best time to nurture energy is the New Moon. The basis for the ceremony is again meditation. You can use candles to good advantage here, with perhaps a white candle for focus, and different colored candles to represent how you wish to nurture the energy in your life (i.e. blue for communications of all kinds, green for financial/material abundance, pink for unconditional love and connection with Universe). You may choose to add flowers, music, poetry, incense or anything else that will set the atmosphere that you want. You may wish to add objects to your alter or prayer space that represent the energies that you are nurturing. Writing them out will help to strengthen them in your mind, and burning them at the end of the ceremony will act to release their intent to Universe.
Now we want to look at what energies the New Year will be bringing in for us. Use any form of divination, and then take a good look at what the overall energies are. They will impact all facets of your life for the next year. A good way to celebrate these energies is to look at how they can be used to best advantage. Even energies that appear negative on the surface can be used to positive effect, if we slow our lives down and take the time to honor them.
One form of honoring these energies would be to light a candle and meditate on them. Ask to be guided to placing them in a positive manner in your life. Do not fear them. Ask to be lead to understand them and to be given the ability to work with them. Thank Universe for placing them in your life. The timing for this is the new moon.
These are all ways that we can celebrate what a new year brings to us. If we come to understand the forces that are working in our lives, we can work with them in achieving our goals, and in living a life of harmony, a life spent walking the middle path.
During the coming year I plan to look at the energies of each individual month, and talk about what we can do to live in harmony with the cycles of the year and the cycles in our lives.
Thank you for visiting my Creation Of Ceremony pages. May your day be Blessed.
Bonnie Cehovet
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