I call upon the Goddess
She who weaves the whole.
I call upon the elements 
Air, Fire, Water, and Earth.
I call upon my ancestors
the legacy of their years.
I call upon the creative pulse within
this fire of inspiration
I am privileged to carry and birth.
I call these together now to support,
recognize, honor, and witness
the completion of this year
and my work therein.
This week, I anointed my head, throat, heart and wrists with oil and settled down with representations of our work from 2018 for my annual ritual honoring the completion of the year. I burned incense, helped Tanner (4) waft palo santo around to all the stale corners of the house, and worked on the biz review section of the Shining Year workbook. I sang my new song of the year, celebrated myself for a year well spent, and thanked these creations for coming through me. After I acknowledged the work, I took a cleansing shower with a special salts mix from Sugar Muses and offered myself a body blessing of appreciation and gratitude. The words of blessing poured from me spontaneously in the shower and I wish I’d written it down for better recall, but perhaps it was meant as solely a personal experience. Today, I will walk the labyrinth as the final step in sealing the year. 
I am listening
I am opening
I am learning
I am free.
There is something really special, and sadly uncommon, about sitting together and basically reviewing how awesome we are, instead of just zooming into 2019. I found myself feeling really staggered and almost awed by the volume of things I created over 2018—in addition to all the physical products we created (6000 orders fulfilled, 90% of which are handmade!), I ran a six month priestess training, facilitated nine Red Tent retreats and a Pink Tent, produced a complete year’s worth of free content for the Everyday Magic classroom, wrote and published a new book of poetry, published the second edition of Womanrunes, revised and reprinted my Practical Priestessing workbook, had two chapters and a poem published in Inanna’s Ascent, produced a pdf ebook of “weekly wisdom” content, updated our coloring book, produced/updated eight pdf ritual kits, wrote at least four posts a week for Patreon, and continued to write for SageWoman and Feminism and Religion.
Holding a year-end recognition ceremony for myself helps me acknowledge and appreciate 
how very full and very rich and very deep and very complex a year can be. I’d also like to acknowledge that it can feel like tooting your own horn to list out all the accomplishments of a year, but truly, it is about taking a sacred pause…a few moments to exhale to to know—it is good—before making plans and embarking on projects for 2019.
“Beginnings and endings are so very sacred, to give honor to all that has transpired, every experience, every joy, every pain, is a doorway to the magical. Hold your entire year between your hands, every day, every thought, every breath. Now bless it with gratitude, love and humility. You have done more to transform this new year than a thousand resolutions.”
–K. Allen Kay
Resources for Reflection:
- The digital Desire Map book AND audio book are free from Danielle Laporte
- This is a 2018 wrap-up/2019 preparation resource from the incomparable Jen Louden called, “Your 2019 Guide for Following Through on Your Creative Desires, Getting Your Scary Sh*t Done & Showing Up for Your Life.”
- The Unravel Your Year 2019 workbook is free from Susannah Conway! I enjoy this workbook every year.
- Word of the Year interview/reflections on unraveling the year with Susannah Conway. Susannah’s find your word mini course is also available here.
- My own Living the Questions free email class for 2019
- Updated 2019 Calamoondala free class.
- Depth Year article and a reflection video from one of our members, Jessica Starr.
- Three part Guide to Darkest Nights from Maia Toll.
- Part 1: Finding Joy
- Part 2: Burn Your Past
- Part 3: Calling in Your Best New Year
Whatever 2018 has held for you, I highly recommend doing something to honor and
celebrate yourself and to mindfully and intentionally seal and close the year that has gone before. Even something extremely simple is great—such as perhaps just reading this completion circle blessing from Leonie Dawson aloud:
“We breathe and give thanks for all that has passed.
We open up to the beautiful possibilities blossoming before us.
We let go and breathe, releasing all that old and no longer serves us.
We radiate in light and joy…all is beautiful and all is well.”
Happy New Year! May you take the time to honor your own accomplishments, celebrate your work, and engage in deep, personal ceremony.