New Year New You or Winter Hibernation
I recorded a quick reel last week but this episode/post has been percolating in my notes throughout the holidays as I watched the rearing of two fairly distinct camps. You can listen here (with a wee bit more riffing) or read below.
This division always tends to happen around January one as we exist in a society of so many extremes. Your feed may be flooded with “New Year New You” vibes as well as dissenters who focus on the fact that it’s winter (at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere) and advise you to shut out all of that noise and just rest, preferably in your PJ’s with a warm bowl of soup (also an often privileged perspective though that’s a convo for another day). The truth is, it doesn’t need to be one or the other. While I personally align more with things like the Human Design New Year, first New Moon, + Lunar New Year (2/10 in 2024) - still all in winter, as well as the Spring Equinox for big shifts into gear, my Solar Return and my own cycles + tempos, than the imposed date of January 1, I cannot help but ride the collective wave of fresh start feels making themselves known. Not as pressure but opportunity.
We begin the new year every year, with an invitation from the archetype of Capricorn (feminine Earth); and while I am honoring my bodies greater need for rest, retreat, and incubation, I can also utilize this energy to my advantage in ways that feel resonant and aligned. We can absolutely find our sweet spot within for each of us. The cosmos, the seasons, and our own internal rhythms (which should be prioritized above all else as well as following our own personal Strategy + Authority) give us many opportunities for resets and leveling up, and I personally like to take advantage of all of them in some way.
vibes
Saturn is the planet at play when the calendar rolls forward. We begin the year in Capricorn (the sign of climbing mountains, making plans and crafting success) and then move into Aquarius (where we look to the future). Saturn is always an invitation to show up to the work. However, this also means remembering that work does not mean struggle. Work, even hard work, can feel really good and even EASEFUL. We don’t need to completely reinvent ourselves today (unless you want to) so let’s absolutely take that pressure off. We can, however, absolutley make some changes and utilize the energy to set us up for success in the bigger vision, the feeling of the vision, while also cozying in to the winter vibes.
As I stated here, work (and Saturn) are not all outward action either. This is one way we can really honor the dark season AND make some moves. I definitely fall into the camp that the life we build is about 80%+ energetics, but that also requires work, probably the most work. Most folks are focused on external action steps and what we want to create outside of ourselves rather than the internal shifts that need to happen vibrationally to align with our desired future, rather than protecting and intentionally crafting their own mindset, rather than clearing trapped emotions, or staying in their own sovereignty and cleaning up their energetic side of the street, rather than consciously crafting their reality. Because we are in fact, always crafting it.
Some places you may want to bring attention and intention… are you open to receiving? Do you have the capacity for what you’re calling in? What limiting beliefs might you be running? The vibration you are broadcasting and therefore attracting through your thoughts, beliefs + emotional default settings does not shift without your attention, intention and some elbow grease. Winter is a time of composting. Subconscious rewiring. One way you can look at it is what BTS (behind the scenes) work needs doing to set ourselves up for the Spring Equinox. What needs release. What might buttress your foundation. Get clear on your business blueprint in astrology and Human Design. More intentionally lean in to your North Node. Commit to more deeply innerstanding your natal chart and human design. Your charts and bodygraph (as well as your unique cosmic weather) are a roadmap for releasing what’s not yours, clearing what’s blocking your progress, transmuting shadows, coming into wholeness, resonating with your true self + path, amplifying your magnetism, really being you and co-creating your desires - spend some time in this darkest part of the year shining a light so you can more authentically embody that. Clear some low vibrational energy. Winter can be a great time to cozy up with books or courses, where can you deepen your knowledge in line with your Vision. Love up on your nervous system. Visualize visualize visualize. Feel your vision in every fiber of your being. Be intentional with social media rather than mindlessly scrolling or take a break all together. Raise your frequency. Create a new habit where you check your email + social once a day, or at least half the time you were doing it before. Saturn loves a boundary and some discipline. Shore up your boundaries. We can put some structures in place in our businesses so we can make space for more time freedom. We can intentionally move grief through our bodies. We can meditate on our offerings, our career, our contribution, how we want to be of service. We can ask for guidance from our Spirit team and begin a more consistent conversation. We can work on our mindset. Source your power within. Strengthen your intuition and your connection to your own center. Commit to daily EFT/tapping. Go through all of your stuff and ask yourself if it brings you joy, if it’s still you, letting it go if you get a no. Muscle test it, if you don’t immediately get a hit. We can do this in all areas of our life, committed to greater alignment and lightness of being in 2024, shedding things and with them, old selves.
It’s important to remember that small cumulative actions typically make up the biggest shifts in our lives. There is that kind of all or nothing vibe in both camps out there. Be a lazy bear in a cave or hit the ground at full speed with your desired future self. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can absolutely make small (or big aligned) changes now. And we can allow for things to continue to shift and change as we move into the Equinox.
This might also be introducing a better habit for our health. Getting clear on our health astrology and design. Integrate afternoon naps. Slow down and focus more intentionally with our time. Get our eyes in the sun first thing in the morning, instead of beginning the day on a screen. Heal our microbiome. Tend to our vitality with deep nourishment and clearings - energetically, mentally, emotionally so that we have the energy, space + clarity come Spring to make some bigger moves.
follow through
One of the things I heard going around was that folks could not stick to their “resolutions” because they were doing it in winter which was counterintuitive. We can always make changes. If you’re having trouble with your follow through it’s likely because of one of these:
the goals you’re setting are coming from your fixing mind rather than your excitement to create something new in your life. You’re not standing in the vision, you’re in the energy of what you don’t want.
like upwards of 60% of the population you have an open heart/ego center and therefore need some support around accountability (no shame, it’s just energy)
the intentions and action steps you’re setting feel too far away from where you are now (ie; they don’t really feel possible, and/or are too hard to keep your word and every time you “fail” you reinforce a belief that “it”/you will never change).
you’ve broken your word to yourself so much that there is no trust there and you need to build it back in small manageable steps.
keeping our word
Keeping our word to others, but especially to ourselves, is oh so big. If this is something you struggle with, it can be really helpful to start very small and grow into bigger intentions and actions as you build your trust muscle and prove yourself to, well, yourself. Maybe don’t go from not working out at all, to working out an hour/day five days a week. Find the steps between the big vision + where you are now. Look to your Design to see if maybe you need some accountability support, or whether you know the definition of your Heart/Ego center or not, if you feel you could use some support, or it would even just make it more enjoyable, you could put together a little walking group or join one (keeping with the exercise example). You could also find a friend and you can hold each other accountable, as well as celebrate your wins together. What is most important is that you take manageable attainable steps so that you follow through.
Why would Source show up for someone who won’t show up for themselves. Much like our intuition, this can be a muscle that we need to strengthen through consistent exercise over time.
fixing mind vs. manifesting mind
Let’s go a bit deeper with this one because it’s a biggie as well. Most of us try to co-create from the space of “I don’t want this, what I want is this” rather than a place of true excitement and possibility. I do not recommend ignoring reality. I absolutely believe in looking at the truth head on (and dealing with it) but manifesting from the place of trying to fix it, is trying to co-create in a space of scarcity, of lack, of still standing in the vision of what we don’t actually desire and grasping at something different, often times with an energy of desperation.
I am not at all staying it’s easy, but it’s what is required. We are not going to create change from a place of trying to “fix it”. We want to orient our attention to what we desire, and amplify the ways in which we already have pieces of that, the smallest particle even, in our lives already. We want to marinate in the vision, in the energy of, as Abraham Hicks says, “wouldn’t it be nice if…” or “it would just be so fun if…”, or “I would just love it if…”. And then we want to show up “as if” we already live in that reality in the ways we can every single day. There is no grasp-y attached vibe in the energy of play. There is little space for contraction, fear, doubt, worry… We are not moving or taking action from a low vibration but we are anchored in our Vision (and marinating in gratitude), in the design of our future self, in total possibility, ease and pleasure. It is relaxed, not forced. It is present, but oriented forward.
wrapping up
The reality is many of us set intentions every single month at the new moon. (Moon + Magnetism series available to members only). Something I really love to do at my solar return is get an idea of what I want to steward for my upcoming year (birthday to birthday), and I typically choose a word or few that resonate as touchstones or anchors for my year that are in alignment for my personal cosmic weather, so that I am in flow with the energy naturally occurring for me. All year I’m coming back to what serves that aligned overarching theme. Maybe this serves you at the Gregorian new year. Maybe you check in and set some goals and intentions at the beginning of every season. Or you craft a longer vision for the year at the the Spring Equinox. Or when your monthly profections cycle around to your first house. Maybe you reinvent yourself on a random Wednesday. The point is, and what I most want to leave you with, is DO YOU. You get to choose. Whatever and whenever that is. Be in your own season and if that aligns with a need for more hibernation now do that. If you’re feeling like you wanna hit the ground running in some way do that. We all have our OWN unique rhythms. And want to be checking in and refining our vision often, always. We get to step into new versions of ourself every single day, if we choose. I’m in a balsamic moon phase for the next few years. An internal winter. I honor that but it doesn’t mean I don’t work or move forward. Most of us will benefit from somewhere in between. Let yourself be inspired to move through the world in the way that feels most fitting in your being in this moment. And the next. And don’t forget to celebrate and honor how far you’ve come.
One thing I don’t personally recommend is setting New Years intentions (pen to paper always because that’s where the magics at) before the Lunar New Year which fall this year (2024) on the 11th. Again, take what works for you and leave the rest. But I love utilizing the time leading up to the the Lunar and Human Design New Year to focus more on the purge as the moon wanes. The 12th is also a really supportive day this year to do some future self journaling, wish making, intention setting, make commitments to yourself, craft some actions steps, as there is sweet planetary support with Mars in Capricorn trine Jupiter in Taurus.
You can refer to this post on how we archetypally roll in to the New Year each year through the gates. This year they fall as follows:
Sun in Gate 38 January 1st - 5th
Sun in Gate 54 January 6th - 11th
Sun in Gate 61 January 12th - 17th
Sun in Gate 60 January 18th - 22nd
Human Design New Year January 23rd when Sun moves into Gate 41
You can find some support in this post on new year vibes as well as finding your annual profection (go much deeper here) + hopefully you can join me in my gift to you for the new year - Your Cosmic Weather 2024: Plan Accordingly. Until then, I hope you have a blessed, easeful, joyful, magical 2024 and when things feel tough I wish you the support, perspective + grit to move through because 2024 is bringing it and being human is often messy. If you’d like some 1:1 help navigating you can find me here + loads of DIY discovery and underpinning within The Collective to integrate, embody + align with your truth, which is limitless.
PS… I see you all over in the Southern Hemisphere. I hope this one serves you too!
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