Another year is coming to a close, the second of the pandemic years. We are all learning to adapt to the massive changes these last two years have thrust upon us because of this worldwide health crisis - on top of all the daily challenges we all face. As we approach and enter in to the new year we can do things to help shift us out of any doldrums or phases of negativity and lift our energies higher, reaching towards the light. Before we know it the wheel of the year will be turning another notch and we, in the northern hemisphere, will be embracing the first callings of spring; the sun getting higher in the sky and the plants, flowers and creatures will begin to stir from their slumbers. For those in the Southern hemisphere, your will be drawing closer to shorter days and longer nights - a time to reflect on what has been and how you can take the positive light in to the darker months. For all of us around the world, challenges are increasing, whether it be climate change, war, poverty, family dispute - large and small they affect our day to day well-being. If you can, take each day as it comes, dance with the light, laugh at yourself and very importantly love yourself. Heal yourself from within so that you can be there and help those around you and share those energies.

For myself and my family we are facing difficult times, but I live with great hope that all will turn out well. There is no point in worrying about the past or the future when it comes to personal situations - one has already happened and the other is beyond our control in most cases - so the best we can do for ourselves and our loved ones is live in the now, in the moment and do our very bests to reject the negative and embrace the positive.

I want to wish you all the very best of times and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2022. I am not fully recovered, but I do hope to be back in January to continue with readings and spells - I'm so sorry I wasn't able to help some of you over the last couple of months - but all my online courses are available and Debi is at the end of the email line if you need to make contact.

Here are some New Year's Eve and New Years Day Rituals

• On New Year’s Eve, clear out all your old clutter, dust away any cobwebs and sweep last year’s luck out of the front door. Put all rubbish outside before midnight.
• Burn the old calendar as midnight strikes or at sunrise on New Year’s Day. Wind it nine times with red wool, throw it into the flames and say: ‘Old year burn, old troubles do not return’.
• In the morning or when you leave the party, dance around the nearest tree or bush twelve times clockwise (anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere), naming a month and a wish for each circuit. You will then have happiness, luck and prosperity all the coming year.
• Clocks should be wound or batteries replaced at midnight on New Year’s Eve so that there will be good fortune all the year.
• On New Year’s morning drink a glass of water from a bubbling tap (traditionally a spring), eat a small piece of your favourite food and bury three coins so you will have enough food, drink and money throughout the year.
• On New Year’s Eve morning, choose a small rounded rock from close to your home as a dwelling for your house guardian and keep near the hearth or the centre of your home. Smudge it weekly or sprinkle round it with water, asking for blessings. When there are changes in the home, however small, light a candle near the guardian’s special place and tell them in advance and luck will remain with you through the year and all changes go well.
• You should not lend anything, especially money, on New Year’s Day or you will be lending all year.

A First Footing ritual to bring good New Year luck, health and prosperity into your home.

You will need:

• A copper, silver and gold-coloured coin.
• Wrapped sweets, dried fruits and nuts.
• Dried basil, juniper berries, sage or thyme.
• Coal or wood.
• A large bowl of water.
• A drawstring bag.
• Small crystals or glass nuggets.
• A purple candle
• A white candle

Timing

• Before midnight.

The Spell

• Five minutes before midnight send the person chosen as First Footer outside the front door with the items in the bag except the candles and the crystals.
• At three or four minutes before midnight one person lights a purple candle and from it as midnight strikes, lights a white candle from it to represent transferring all the good luck from the previous year. Extinguish the purple candle to represent leaving behind what did not work out in 2016.
• At midnight all shout, Come in, New Year. New Year, you are welcome, rattling pans or ringing bells.
• The First Footer enters, shuts the door and goes out of the back door (if there is one) or out of the front door again, saying: Out you go, Old Year. Your time is past.
• The First Footer comes back in, slams the door, walks upstairs to the top of the house and down again, shouting Happy New Year.
• She/he deposits the bag on the hearth or in front of the burning white candle.
• All toast the New Year and drop crystals into the bowl of water, making New Year wishes.
• Do not throw any of the party garbage out, sweep, vacuum or wash clothes until January 2 or you will put out the New Year Luck you have welcomed in.

A RITUAL FOR NEW YEAR'S EVE

New Year wishes

Whether you are celebrating with family and friends at New Year or alone as I have the last few years and enjoyed it thoroughly, try the following ritual as close to midnight as possible.

If you go away or to a big party you can do this any time in the first days of the year.

You can also share the ritual with family and friends if present.

You will need:

• A small dark blue or purple candle in a holder on a heatproof tray and a larger white candle also in a holder
• A pot of soil
• A small dish of dark coloured pieces of wool
• Ten or fifteen minutes before midnight, start tying knots in the separate pieces of wool and as you do so for each knot name something that did not work out in 2007 or an event that made you sad or angry.
• After you have tied each knot, hold it carefully in the dark candle flame till it singes and then drop it in the pot of earth either to burn or remain there.
• Continue until you have named and got rid of as many knots as you wish.
• Now put the pot of wool and earth outside your back or main door to be buried or thrown away on January 2.
• Put a pinch of salt into the dark flame and say, ’I lay it all to rest with blessings’.

You may not want to forgive people who have really hurt you, nor should you, but you can release your own negativity towards them that is holding you back as a blessing.

• Just before midnight, light the white candle from the dark one saying,

Old year turn
Old year burn.
Bad luck, do not return.

• At the last stroke of midnight, blow out the dark candle. You can throw it away on January 2
• Make wishes into the white candle as New Year begins and leave it to burn until you go to bed. Continue to burn the New Year candle in the days after New Year until it will light no more.

Good luck and love customs for the New Year

On January 1 you can follow one or two of the age old customs to ensure you have the right opportunities to make the future you want.

• The first water drawn from a well on New Year’s morning was said to bring great fortune and happiness. A modern version of this custom is to turn on the cold tap in the sink as soon as daylight breaks or before you leave the party whichever is earlier. Run the tap fast so that the water bubbles. Use a new glass if possible to drink a glass of water straight down and without speaking. This will bring you good luck and also ensure your words are wise and that others listen.
• In the morning or when you leave the New Year party, dance around the nearest tree or post twelve times clockwise, naming a month for each circuit. You will have happiness, luck and prosperity all the coming year.
•  If you want to see your true love and have not found him or her, after midnight, light a small white candle from the New Year white candle and hold it up to a mirror in a dark room so you and the candle are reflected in the glass.
• Say, ‘I call my love to me, willingly that we may be together in joy eternally. So shall it be.’
• Blow out the candle and stare into the mirror and an image of or knowledge of who your love is and where you will find him or her will come into your mind or appear in the Afterglow.