Little New Year

Kitchen God I drew a few years ago.

Today is called Little New Year - it falls one week before Chinese New Year. Little New Year is also known as the Kitchen God Festival because this is the day that the Kitchen God, Tsao-wang, and his wife, Wang Bo-jia, leave to report to heaven. A picture of these two gods, printed or drawn on rice paper, hangs in a niche just above the stove in a Chinese home. 

This holiday always falls on the waning Third Quarter moon of January or February. Today's waning third quarter moon energy is yin - quiet, internal, heart-driven, intentional Being-ness. At this phase we can ease off a bit on actively pursuing goals, slow down, go within, and attend to inner work, renewal, and self-care.

Agenda today:

1. Renewal plan
2. Evaluation House

3. Monthly journal brainstorm

4. Kitchen God Good-bye Ceremony

5. Living room blessing

1. Renewal plan:

I try to renew all four dimensions of my life (body, mind, heart, and spirit), as Stephen Covey taught: I spend about an hour each day on a combination of physical, mental, and spiritual regeneration activities, plus work to improve my social skills and relationships. Today's waning half moon is my opportunity to review how I'm doing, and make note of new ideas for the month ahead.

From my Journal: I've been starting the day with a stretching routine that has helped my flexibility, and I'm walking bit more that I was last month. My goal is to walk at least around the block every day. I'm reading some great books, and loving my ancestor research, and still loving my outdoor morning grounding meditation. Overall, my renewal plan is working for me, but I want to add in some practical social skills work: Listening awareness, patience habits, loving kindness practices.

2. Evaluation House:

Today I get to reflect back on the first 3/4 of the Bitter Moon lunar cycle that I'm passing through. My theme has been Stillness. 

I reviewed the intentions I set at the new moon and drew a house with 2 rooms: 

• A room for celebration of all I have accomplished already this month.
• A room for discerning what to do with the unfinished parts (Some of these I will finish in the next couple days, some I will save for next month, and some I will release because they have become irrelevant or didn't go as planned.)

3. Monthly journal brainstorm:

At the new moon (next week) I will transition from one focus to another, and a whole new field of opportunity. This week I'll take time to write down my goals, dreams, and exciting ideas for the next 30-days. This exercise has three parts:

Part 1 - collect information. Brainstorm goals, dreams, and exciting ideas for the next month without judgement - include at least a few crazy, improbable notions.

Part 2 - reflect. Have a little chat with myself on paper about the next month of my life, and what my best month would look like, moving me in the direction of my most important reasons for living.

Part 3 - weigh the possibilities. Take a break for a few minutes. Get a fresh cup of coffee or go outside to look at the sky, then come back and read what I wrote. Write a very brief synopsis of the next month of my life.

4. Kitchen God Good-bye Ceremony: 

Each Chinese New Year I put up a new portrait of the kitchen god and his wife, and they hang all year in my kitchen. 

Tsao-wang and Wang Bo-jia watch the daily life of the household and keep a written record of everything that goes on - whether the family is tidy or messy, honest or sneaky, thrifty or wasteful. It’s a little like having Santa watching all year, to see if you’ve been good or bad!

These god images are a visual reminder to me to have integrity in my home life. 

Today I will send them off to heaven to make their report, which requires a special ceremony to honor the two. 

Thoughts about this: I practice this ceremony with kids so that they will have a visceral understanding of another culture. I make it clear that it's symbolic: We are setting the intention to be the best persons we can be in this new year.
  

My ceremony:

Kitchen God on his way to heaven.

1. I light candles and incense near the Kitchen God’s picture. 

2. I picture in my head all the good things that have happened in our kitchen over the year - all the family dinners, tea with friends (not so much lately), kid art projects, and mindful meals I have prepared.

3. If I'm celebrating with kids, we offer the gods fresh fruits and sticky cakes, and put honey on their lips. (This is to give them sweet thoughts so they will say more about our good deeds and less about our bad deeds!)

4. I then take down the picture, make a fire outside, and burn it. The gods fly skyward with the smoke, and I say a silent prayer of thanks for the compassionate spirit of love acting in my life.

After Little New Year, we leave the niche empty for seven days. During this week, the family feels free to be self-indulgent in the kitchen. We can cook many sweets and deep-fried goodies, because the Kitchen God isn’t watching!

5. Living room blessing:

Last week I started my annual round of house cleaning and blessing in the kitchen, and this week I've moved into our living room. My own understanding of a house blessing is that the act of cleaning itself is a blessing on the house, and that sitting in a newly cleaned room is a good way to remember that we are each blessed, always and forever.

But I love a good ritual! My custom is to bless each room this month, first by cleaning it, then with a ritual, and then by remembering the blessings of life.

I've done the physical cleaning of the floor, furniture, mold, and windows, and I've tidied the shelves. But my house also holds emotional "dirt" that needs clearing, lingering psychic odors of angry words and melancholy thoughts, and the bad vibes of political debate heard on the tv.

For a simple house cleansing ritual, I use a twofold approach: Salt water and sage smoke.

Sea salt is an ingredient used in Christian holy water, and also in water used by Pagans for cleansing and blessing. I keep a small bottle of water with dissolved sea salt for this purpose. Sprinkling salt water is known as asperging. Salt water covers the elements of earth and water.  

 

Sage smoke is tied to the element of fire and air, and will scatter away negative vibes to the winds. I use the Old World culinary sage that my ancestor shamans may have used, and which I grow in my garden. I dry it in the fall and wrap it together with sewing thread.

1. Set the intention to clear out bad energy and invite in blessings.

2. Light a candle, and from that ignite the sage. Once it catches, blow it out so that it smolders.

3. Walk around the room and waft the smoke into every corner. As you walk, think about the intentions you set.

4. Pour a little salt water into a small bowl, dip your fingers in and lightly sprinkle it as you walk around the room a second time.

After the ritual, I'll sit quietly with the lit candle, and savor the blessing of a clean living room.