Today is Kakizome Day; kakizome means "first writing". Today people all over Japan will take time to use a brush and sumi ink to write out a favorite quote or phrase - the first calligraphy of the new year. Kakizome is a way to express your positive wishes for the New Year.
5. Wassail my apple tree!
1. Christmas retreat:
I'm celebrating the last of the 12 Days of Christmas, and we are visiting with family. I've finished setting goals for all my priorities, but I will continue to start each day with a time of reflection on themes and values to support the new year.Today I am honoring my testimony of Truth and Discernment.
Truth is a continual revelation, a constantly unfolding series of insights about how my mind works, how the world works, how other people view the world, and my role in all of that. The Light of Truth is what guides me, one step at a time, down my path
.It's a little unsettling that my foundation is always unfolding before me, like a foggy pathway, but also liberating because it means I don't need to have all the answers right now. I have faith that New Light will be given to me, because that has been my experience.
Today I'll collect some more information:
- I will start with practical wisdom-- do some research, reflect, and weigh the possibilities.
- Next I will seek a leading of the spirit with an open mind and heart - listen for insight and intuitions - my felt sense - and then patiently labor to understand.
- Finally, I will seek clearness by inviting thoughtful questioning (not advise) from some people I trust.
2. Discernment reading:
The author says in the introduction, "Writing is a healing and creative journey back to the mystery and power of our words as an instrument of creation that came latent within us at birth. It is a path with a heart."
Journaling and blogging is one way I discern my path, so I thought this would be a good study this month. I skimmed through Chapter 1, because it is an introduction to journalling, which I don't need. I've developed my own balance between the messy outpouring, the lists, and the visioning of my notebook, and my public ordering of those thoughts on my blog.
The Exploration at the end of Chapter 1 seemed like an ideal place to start the New Year, so it follows here:
Take a few minutes to close your eyes and breathe and grow quiet and watchful. Then write freely whatever thoughts, feelings or memories come along.
Where are you now?
- How are you feeling about yourself right now? What things about yourself do you feel good about? What things about yourself do you feel unhappy about right now? In what ways do you feel yourself changing or wanting to change?
- How does your past feel to you? How much weight from the past do you feel you carry with you? Does your past feel light or heavy? Where is the weight of the past coming from? What are you angry about? What regrets do you have? What would you like to let go of?
- What do you value in your life now? In what kinds of things do you find meaning, value, purpose? What matters? Who matters?
- What are your dreams, goals, needs? In what direction do you need to go with your life?
- What are your spiritual beliefs now? Can you articulate them? Have they changed over the years? What specific things in your life feel "spiritual"?
3. Year of Being Rooted:
As soon as I am able in the New Year, I discern a theme for the year: 2019 was my "Year of Virtue", 2020 was my "Year of Gestation". 2021 was my "Year of Discovery", and last year was the "Year of Awareness". I generally choose something poetic that embraces the overall trend of my goals and resolutions for the year.
2023 is my Year of Being Rooted.
Last spring my daughter and I took a grafting workshop, and grafted five new baby apple trees with scions from our old apple tree. Four of them survived the first year, and now one is planted in our backyard, so we will someday again be able to harvest the delicious apples we enjoyed for 30 years.
Rooting a new tree from the old one is a symbol of this year: I want to find tangible ways to make connections to my land; to my family, friends, and community; to my ancestors and lineage; to be rooted in my body and mind, and to a Divine presence.
Tomorrow I'll list out some Root Practice ideas.
4. Practice calligraphy:
In Japan, calligraphy is part of the curriculum in all schools. On Kakizome Day, students begin the year by practicing their calligraphy skills - calligraphy is the normal handwriting in Japan, and your handwriting is thought to reveal your personality.Writing is a priority for me: I express myself with my words and use words in my artwork. It's my tradition to start a written project of some kind on Kakizome Day - sometimes calligraphy, but not always. Later today I will experiment with stamping the words for my sunflower charm.
5. Wassail my apple tree:
The wassail bowl is an old Gaelic tradition still observed in Scotland and Great Britain. The word wassail comes from the Old English wes hál, meaning to be whole, and it was a toast made at medieval feasts to welcome the guests. People would carry a bowl of hot cider or ale outdoors on New Year’s Eve to share with neighbors, and groups of wassailers would go door-to-door singing to get their bowls filled.
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| Old apple tree in 2021 |
I really loved my old apple tree, but it was aging, and last year we made the decision that it had to go. As I said, we rooted cuttings and now one is in Olympia with my sister, one is with my daughter, and one is with my best friend.
And one is planted in our back yard; and so sometime tonight I will probably slip out to toast its life, pour some cider on its roots, and give it a "Hurra".
"Here’s to thee, old apple-tree,
Whence thou mayst bud, and whence thou mayst blow,
And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!
Hats-full! Caps-full!
Bushel, bushel sacks-full!
And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!
Hats-full! Caps-full!
Bushel, bushel sacks-full!
And my pockets full, too! Hurra!”
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