Welcoming the New...

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Where I live the last ten days of the year turn out to be a curious mixture of celebrations.

It starts with the Winter Solstice. The shortest day; the longest night ~ and as such the point of the return of the light. From that point on the days will be a little longer each day, even though it will usually take another two to three weeks before you can really see that difference...

The next celebration is Christmas. The celebration of the return of the Light; a totally different Light, more a Light that has the ability to bring clarity and inner guidance. A Light that in and of itself has nothing to do with the lengthening of the days, although some may say that it returned to lengthen our days on earth...

And then, a few days later it is New Year’s Eve. The time when we let go of the old and welcome in the new. And this is customarily done with a huge amount of fireworks. On one hand I truly don’t care for all the noise that goes with the fireworks; and yet I can appreciate the more shamanic perspective of making a lot of noise when something as important as leaving all that is old behind and welcoming in the new occurs.
The noise is said to scare away all that is bad, and call in all that is good ~ beneficial ~ into this space at this specific time: Midnight.

Then, six days later there is a little ‘after the facts’ celebration of the time when the three sages ~ guided by that star ~ came to visit and honor the newborn Christ-child. It is an acknowledgement that the new is here to stay. It is also the time that each next day is noticeably longer than the last.
It is at that time that our New Year’s resolutions solidify ~ so it becomes clear whether we are going to make them come true or whether they just sounded good, yet were made without true conviction.

So, from different era’s, from different perspectives, even different belief-systems there is an accumulation of celebrations that ~ when put together ~ only have one purpose: to welcome the New. The New Year. But also a new clarity, a new cycle, a new energy, new plans and resolutions. It puts us in a position to choose a new direction, a new way, while at the same time it provides us with a point in time in which we can leave the old behind.
It gives us the opportunity to start over, with new perspectives, new clarity, and new Light.

Happy New Year!
Happy New You!!
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