Happy New Year!
What a year 2021 has been, but let’s just take a minute to process.
With social media pouring in with everyone’s year-end recap, it’s also easy to get caught up in what’s trendy and suppress how you may be really feeling.
While it’s super important to celebrate our wins, it’s equally important to acknowledge some of our losses in order to set intentions as we enter a new cycle. As we enter a New Moon phase, it is a time to turn inward and reflect and focus on new beginnings.
“But this sounds exactly like New Year Resolutions, what’s the difference?”
I know what you’re thinking, the dreadful “New Year Resolutions” ordeal; but this is different and really is what you make of it. Following the Moon’s natural cycle is a great way to tap into self-accountability, but most importantly holding yourself to it. Setting intentions is about forward-moving energy - the focus is on the things you want to actively initiate and experience. While resolutions, on the other hand, focus on past actions - things that you need to resolve in your life.
You can follow the Moon’s natural cycle by starting at the New Moon by setting intentions and then use a Full Moon ritual to let go of what’s holding you back, finishing with the next set of intentions at the next New Moon. (We’ll dive deeper into this in another blog post).
Ancient cultures believed that the New Moon is a comforting space to be reborn and cultivate new energy to manifest great things in your life. The New Moon is all about planting seeds to manifest changes in your life, being specific about those changes and knowing that every intention requires action and energy on your part to make it happen.
As you set intentions and focus on how you will align yourself to manifest these intentions, it’s super helpful to create intimate and powerful rituals to guide you along the way. Rituals are personal and can look different for each person, but below are a few examples that can help you get started:
Smoke cleanse (smudge) your sacred space with the incense of your choice
Cleanse your energy by burning herbs
Take a spiritual bath with salts, herbs, essential oils
Sit with a candle and meditate, focusing on your breath
Cleanse your crystals and set up a grid
Rearrange and bring new elements to your altar
Set your New Moon intentions by writing out everything you wish to attract, in detail.
Recite a prayer, chant a mantra, sing a song
Welcome new challenges, plant seeds, set new goals for yourself and trust the process. Release your fears, let go of all that is no longer serving you, have faith that you are held and most importantly have fun stepping into the better version of yourself.
With gratitude,
The Ubuntu Community Collective