New Year's Eve

Tonight is New Year's Eve - a big night for many people. W and I are traveling north to see family for the New year's weekend, as has been our tradition for a few years now.

Agenda today:

1. Christmas retreat

2. Kwanzaa principles

3. Celebration reading

4. Celebration and synergy goals for 2023

5. Prayer candle ceremony

6. Resolutions

7. Make noise!

1. Christmas retreat:

I am again celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas with a mini-retreat for myself, and using the Soyal Way of Being as a guide for my days; that is, I'm keeping Mother Earth in my thoughts as I move quietly and respectfully about my days, in order to establish the right mood for the coming year, and reach a unity of everything in the universe. 

I'm also doing some reading and writing every day, focusing on my priorities and what I'm called to do (or not do) next in my life. My plan is to contemplate, honor, and practice a different one of my life priorities on each of the 12 days, and set some goals and resolutions for 2023, based on guidance from God.

Today I'm honoring celebration. I'm fascinated with seasonal celebrations and customs from around the world, and with creating my own simple ways to mark the wonder of passing moments: Food, art and craft, ceremony and prayer, study and social action. I find that celebration connects me to the cycles of nature; brings me clarity on my inner cycles and seasons; reminds me to lighten up and be spontaneous; puts me in community with my friends; and strengthens my connection to the universal Spirit and to a life of virtue and integrity:

How can I remember to celebrate each day as a sacred gift, with attention on Love, Truth, and Creation? How do my celebrations become an expression of my life and my inner cycles and seasons? 

What is my personal sacred calendar? How do I become indigenous to the place I live, and connect deeply with the unique cycles of the seasons? 

How can I celebrate the seasons and transitions of life with simplicity, creativity, and integrity? How can I express my love of folk customs, crafts, ceremony, and foods and without practicing appropriation?  

How can I remember to lighten up and be spontaneous? How can I share my celebrations better with family and friends?

2. Kwanzaa principles:
The sixth day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to the principle of Kuumba (koo-OOM-bah), which is creativity. I can use my creative energies to build a beautiful and vibrant home and community.

3. Celebration reading:

I'm reading again from "Root and Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect to Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self," by Becca Piastrelli (2021). Today I went back to her introduction.

Becca says, "Our bodies are still seduced by the rhythms of the land. Our hearts quietly plea for the village to support us through life's rites of passage. Our spirits dance at the thought of circling around the hearth fires and telling our stories. Everything within us longs to know our place in the world."

The theme of this book is that we long for connection to the land, to our ancestors, and our community, and we can undo the "spell of loneliness" by reconnecting to the old way of doing things. This quote speaks to my condition:

"We have forgotten our indigeneity ... Most of us are descended from lands that we do not live on and are no longer in contact with. Many of us feel a lack of culture or heritage that our ancestors once knew and leaned on to mark the turning of the years and to get through hard times." 

Becca reminds us to look to our own "tattered threads" of culture and remember where we come from, rather than borrowing from other traditions. 

4. Celebration goals for 2023:

My theme for today is celebration. Goals for celebration might be to connect to the cycles of the seasons, share my traditions, bond to my community, strengthen my spiritual understanding, or to explore and develop my playful and imaginative qualities.

My ideas for celebration goals so far:

1. Celebrate the seasons and the circle, and hone my celebrations to a personal sacral calendar. Define and develop personal symbolism, crafts, ceremonies, and traditions that honor my heritage and my Quaker beliefs.
2. Practice daily, weekly, and monthly cycles of reverence for the Earth and Creation.
3. Root myself in this land and community, so that my service has stability and power.
4. Plan and organize shared celebrations with my family and friends. Connect to my lineage and my community with ritual and service, and build synergy to tend the earth. 
5. Practice daily Earth-Quaker devotions, and share ministry about my Earth-Quaker path, in worship and with writing.

5. Prayer candle ceremony:

I'm enjoying a daily prayer candle ceremony throughout my extended Christmas retreat, using small candles and candle ends, and will choose a new candle to add each day.

Today I light a red candle for celebration, and ask the Spirits to bring the rain of loving care down upon the whole world.

6. Resolutions:

Ah, January resolutions! As usual, I'm ready at the New Year to upgrade my health habits, take control of my moods, and have more discipline in general. I know I'd better start with small steps that I can easily maintain, and stick to just a few specific, well-defined intentions.

My resolutions for 2023 are:

1. Move: I intend to set new and creative movement goals each week, and build my momentum for an active life, because I need to reverse these sedentary habits before they damage my health, and so that I can keep up with my grandchildren for years to come.
2. Practice patience: I intend to study equanimity and loving kindness skills, and practice them diligently, because learning how to tolerate my uncomfortable feelings will allow me to transcend the anxiety, impatience, and indignation that sabotages my witness to the world.
3. Sanctuary: I intend to care for my land with discipline and ritual, and create a home that is a peaceful and well-ordered sanctuary for those I love, because maintaining my land in good order is the honorable and sustainable thing to do, and is one way that I show reverence for the Earth and for God.

7. Make noise: 

Noise-making is considered an effective way to drive off the spirits of the old year and awaken the sleeping new year. We will gather horns, bells, pots, pans, and whistles, throw open the door at midnight, count down the final seconds of the old year, then let loose with whoops and cheers, bangs and toots, to welcome in the New Year!