9 simple rituals for the end of the year

Happy Sunday, Soothers. Guess what: I bought a house! My little nature witch cottage has been brought to life and with any luck I am drinking a warm mug of tea on the porch overlooking the creek right now as you read this. I have so much to say on this entire process and trust I will record many a podcast on the home buying process, to make it as transparent as possible. But for now I am trying to relish and be present in the culmination of a dream about 3 years in the making. And surely I am having some shift shock, in moving from 17 years living in Washington, D.C. in modern (ish) apartment buildings, to owning a home that's nearly 300 years old in a town of 100 people in rural Virginia.

While I get my feet more firmly planted on the ground, I may take some time off the Soother here and there this month. Not totally sure yet. But I thought either way, to mark this winding down of the year, I would share some rituals.

I love me a ritual! Life is a ritual. Rituals are intention. They bring focused attention/intention to a desire or to a cultivation, and I've just never been able to get enough of them. And December is a great time of the year to do rituals for many reasons, including that the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and the longest night, takes place this month. So here are some of my favorite rituals, some I've created, and some I've sourced from other places, to carry you through December.

1. Make a simmer pot. I love to do this to help freshen up the energy in my home for the holidays. Get a big pot/dutch oven, fill it 2/3rds with water, and put in all the holiday-ish things you can think of: orange slices, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cranberries, nutmegs, pine needles, whatever feels good and right to you. Bring it to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer and let it simmer all day in your house, the steam and fragrance wafting throughout your spaces to nourish the energy.

2. Take a self-retreat. I wrote a guide a year or two ago (along with a worksheet) for you to plan out some intentional time for self-reflection at the end of the year. Read it here.

3. Go on a "threshold walk." Wednesday, December 21 in the Northern Hemisphere will be one of the best times to do any sort of ritual that calls to you, because it's the Winter Solstice. I shared a while back on how to do a "threshold walk" ritual that you could do on the solstice that you can read here: "On the solstice, if you can create the time, consider going on a threshold-nature walk, a practice I recently learned about. You simply choose a spot in nature to walk in contemplatively for a bit, asking yourself, what shall your intention for the coming year be? As you walk, look around where you are, and search for something that can be a threshold. It can be a gate, a fork in the path, a small stream to cross, etc. If you can find nothing, you can build your own threshold out of sticks or earth. Hold a moment before the threshold, contemplating the insight you have decided upon and holding it tenderly in your heart. Then, with intention, cross the threshold. After you cross the threshold, set the intention to then mindfully look for “mirrors” in nature; these simply mean items or things that catch your eye, from a pile of rocks to a cluster of berries on a tree. Pause before the “mirror” that has caught your eye, and ask, “What is this reflecting back to me?” With that in mind, walk home to a nurturing meal or cup of tea and some warm blankets, knowing you have passed the threshold into something new."

4. Create a winter altar (or a summer altar depending on where you are in the world!). Go forage a bit in your local neighborhood. Look for pinecones, nuts, twigs, leaves, rocks that call to you. Bring them home and arrange them on a shelf in your home, perhaps along with some twinkle lights, a candle or two, and enjoy.

5. Give back to winter nature. It may seem like everything and every animal is asleep in this time of year but that's just not true. Scatter some birdseed in your yard, create a nature mandala on your back porch, say a land blessing. Go give a gift to a local tree (fruit, crystals, or even a strand of your hair, along with well wishes and gratitude work well).

6. Try a candle ritual on the solstice. I got this from Sunset.com and I love the idea: "Being the shortest day means the solstice is also the longest night of the year, and one of the original traditions was rooted in candlelight—both for the needed light, and to celebrate the return of the sun in the coming months. Using a tabletop (or your altar!), cover it in unlit candles, either in a circle or a varied pattern, depending on your preference. Then, place a candle that symbolizes the sun (ideally in yellow or gold) in the center and positioned above the rest of the candles. Light the sun candle first, and then the rest of your candles, and you can recite a ritual while doing it, too."

7. Make your home a manifestation portal for the coming year. Google the Bagua Map, a foundational tool of Feng Shui, and pick one of the 9 life areas of the map that you'd like to improve in the coming year. Lay the map over your floor plan (or just your bedroom) and find the corresponding area. Tidy it up and do some reading on how to shift that area to call in what you desire in 2023.

8. Connect with ancestors and those we've lost this year. This is a good one to do with loved ones but you can definitely do it on your own, too. You’ll need a candle and lighter, and a list of things that have been lost in the past year (names of those who have passed away; jobs; hopes; etc). Choose an order your group will go in (like alphabetical or by age). Have each person, when it’s their turn, explain the following: Name the loss(es) they have experienced in the past year, and how it has affected them. Then, pause, and the individual whose turn it is lights their candle and says something along the lines of, “This flame honors those and that which has been lost, and it also symbolizes the way in which I will honor those losses in the coming year.” Then the individual shares their plans for honoring that which has been lost in the coming year. It could be as simple as regular visits to a loved one’s grave; a charitable donation; or a new way of being you would like to cultivate. After each person has gone, break for conversation, tea, laughter, reflection; whatever comes up. Keep each candle going until your event is over then safely put it out. Light it every time you want to acknowledge and remember the losses and the future hope and honoring you will bring to them.

9. Finally, you are invited to join me for my annual intentional and intuitive goal-setting workshop in early January! 90 minutes of community, picking a word for 2023, journal prompts and instructions on how to set 6 authentic goals for the year ahead. Sliding scale tix and lifetime replay provided, see you there!

Here's to a beautiful, intentional, and nourishing month ahead, wherever you are in the world, wherever you are in your life.