New Year Intentions & Manifestations
The new year upon us, and a lot of us are ready to say “bon voyage” to this dumpster fire of a year without even a glance in the rear view mirror. Instead, we are looking to focus on the future and hoping for a new world come January.
With the upcoming new year, a lot of people are dusting off their scissors and preparing to set their new year resolutions. Personally I’m not a fan of resolutions. Not only do they bring up a lot of negative emotions for me, mostly from a lifetime of being told new year’s resolutions need to include weight loss and financial goals but I also feel like they miss the point entirely. Instead, I look to focus on intentions rather resolutions.
Intentions vs Resolutions
So what is the difference? At the core of it, resolutions have a measurable or concrete outcome where intentions or at the root energy behind the goal. Resolutions are rigid and limited by our imagination, whereas intentions are fluid and know no bounds.
Instead of setting a resolution to get a million dollars, set intentions to build an abundance mindset or let go of limiting beliefs around money. If you want to buy a house, focus on the energy you want to see in your home and the memories you will be building in it.
New Year Intention Setting Rituals
Every year I do an intention setting ritual and build vision board to focus myself on the energy I want to attract into my life. This year along with my intentions to attract new energy, I will also be setting intentions for what I want to release.
To help you on your new year manifestation journey, here are some simple ways you can set your intentions.
12 Grapes for 12 Intentions
Grapes are a symbol of prosperity and good fortune. Every year for as long as I can remember we have had red grapes for our New Years celebrations. For as long as I can remember we have been counting out 12 grapes to eat at the count of midnight. Each of the 12 grapes represents an intention we set for the oncoming year. As we eat each of the grapes we silently speak our intentions and wish for prosperity.
Burn Your Intentions
Writing your intentions and burning them can be an incredibly cathartic experience as we are in a way sending off our intentions into the universe with the smoke and ash. A popular way to set intentions or release any unwanted energy is to write them on bay leaves and burn each one in a fire pit. If you don't have bay leaves or a fire pit then a piece of paper and a candle will work as an easy substitute. Please always practice fire safety when doing any magical work with fire. I do not want Smokey Bear coming after me.
Vision Board
An oldie but a goodie! A vision board can be a powerful tool to visualize your intentions and act as a reminder. Depending on how much energy and time I have available, I will either work on a physical vision board or a digital.
There have even been times where I will put a Pinterest board together instead of doing a full collage. My approach when making vision boards is to use images that inspire me and bring me joy rather than bring me dread just looking at it.
If you are clear on your intention you can even add word associations. This is vision board that I put together when I first started working on my spiritual business.
Tarot Card of the Year
Do a card pull from your major arcana cards. You can take out the major arcana cards out of your deck and do a blind intentional pull to select a card of the year to represent where you are on your cosmic Fool’s Journey.
The Fool’s Journey is a metaphor to represent the energy you will either encounter or come to embody on your journey. A tarot card of the year can help act as both an anchor or a guiding light for the year ahead.
Whenever I pull the card again in my daily pulls it reminds me that I am either on the right track with my intentions or I need to realign myself to my intention and purpose.
Hope these were helpful and you are able to include on are several into your new year intentions. The best part about these simple rituals is that they can be layered on top of each other or modified into your own ritual. My advice is to take what serves you and leave the rest.