Tips for Bringing in the New Year as a Witch

The New Year is right around the corner and what better time for magic and witchcraft during this liminal time of year! Put on your pointy hats, grab your broom, and prepare for some fun tips for working with the New Year energies!

1. Tarot for Reflection and the Year Ahead

One of the first things I do for preparing for the New Year is to sit down with my tarot deck(s) and pull some cards. I usually like to do a simple spread reflecting on the past year with cards positions indicating what I learned and struggled with and positions about what to leave behind and take with me into the new year. I usually will pull out either my tarot journal or my Book of Shadows to write down the cards I pulled and a little notes on my reflections.

You can easily Google several spreads for reflection and use the one that you like the best. Here is one from Labyrinthos that you might like. You could also use your Year Ahead tarot spread (more below) from the past year to review back as well.

After I do an end of the year reflection, I always do a Year Ahead spread. Sometimes referred to as a Year in Review, this spread consists of pulling thirteen total cards, one for each month of the next year and then a final overview card. Many people like to organize the spread in a circle with the 13th card in the center. Others will sometimes just lay the cards out in rows. Whichever works for you. This spread is a good one to get an idea of what is coming up for you in the months to come.

The Wild Unknown's Year Ahead Spread

If pulling a card for each month doesn't work as well for you, you could always try this 12-card spread from Biddy Tarot that combines aspects of review and the year ahead based on areas of your life: HERE.

2. Intention and Goal Setting Ritual

Another great thing to do to prepare for the New Year is to sit down and set some goals and intentions. The act of sitting down and writing down goals and intentions can help manifest them more into your life, but to take things a step further you can turn it into a ritual. If you are familiar with setting New Moon intentions, this process will be similar, but I like to focus on year long intentions and goals.

Have a vessel handy for burning slips of paper for this simple ritual. Cauldrons work great for this.

Sit down and reflect on areas of your life you want to focus on for the new year. These can be spiritual and magical related, or they can just be for your everyday life. Write down all the goals you want to achieve in the next year onto a slip of paper or several slips of paper.

I often look for a common theme of my goals at this point and see if I can write a phrase or single word to sum up my overall intention for the next year. I will write this word in my Bullet Journal as a focus and even create a sigil that I will empower further to enhance that intention. You can write or draw that on the back of your slip(s) of paper.

When ready, burn the slip(s) of paper in your cauldron or other vessel. You can say a few words asking the Universe or deities or spirits of your choice to help manifest these goals into reality for the coming year.

You may want to keep a list of your goals in your Book of Shadows or planner to keep track of your progress over the year as well.

3. Cleansing and Releasing Ritual

Over the year we can pick up a lot of unwanted crap energetically. The New Year is a good time to perform a cleansing ritual to release the things that no longer serve us or that are getting in the way of our desires. This can involve several simple rituals or only one.

First, try taking a cleansing bath or shower as a ritual. If you can take a bath, use some bath salts like the Enchanted Botanicals Dark Moon Detox Bath Salts. If you can't take a bath, enchant your body wash or soap in the shower with a chant while you get clean to wash away any lingering energy that does not serve you for the new year. Imagine it washing down the drain.

Photo by Mutzii on Unsplash

Second, you can do a burning bowl ritual similar to the goal setting ritual above but with a focus on releasing and cleansing. Write down the things you need to let go of before entering the new year. What things have been holding you back? Write them down and then burn the paper. Say something if you are called to about releasing and cleansing these things from your life to make room for the new.

Third, you can do a full house cleansing ritual. Gather your favorite cleansing herbs and go room to room physically cleaning and then energetically cleansing the space by burning the herbs. If you can burn, try a clearing spray instead. Another great tool is using a floor sweep mix like this one from Enchanted Botanicals.

 Final Thoughts

New Year festivities are almost in full swing. How do you plan on celebrating or making this time of year magickal for you and your practice?