Or better: the month of newness and beginnings, since most beginnings are new anyway. This newness is special. You can just tell.
So all of a sudden it’s September. And not just September but now.
It was kind of … dark-ish when I climbed out of bed at six am yesterday. And almost chilly while I was drawing the bath. It’s here. And then …
Last year when we named the moons? I also devised a system based on that exercise to help keep track of my writing and blog postings.
I’ve been completing the transition from Porch Swing Moon (aka Taos Moon) into the Moon of Beginnings, just in time for Rosh Hashana, and it’s started me thinking about my relationship with newness and starting points and marking time.
Of course, it’s pretty much new year’s all year round in these parts.
One of the things I so hugely appreciate about Judaism is the absurd number of times (four) throughout the year that we get to call New Year’s, including the birthday of the trees and the actual beginning of the new year (Gah! Wednesday night!).
And yeah, I do this in my business too.
Selma and I always celebrate towards the end of August, marking the birthday of this beautiful website (five years, darlings).
And then there is great rejoicing on the 7th of March, which marks the day we walked into City Hall in San Francisco and declared this thing we do to be a business. Except it was a sole proprietorship because apparently ducks aren’t allowed to be co-owners. Bastards.
Anyway. And then of course mid-June marks the anniversary of this whole blogging thing, something that turned out to be kind of a big deal for us. And January and Sylvester and the moving into a year with a new number at the end.
The point:
Time to reflect is pretty much always useful, and I figure, the more opportunities for noticing, remembering, merriment and drinking, the better.
Things I love about this time of new beginnings.
Layers! Wearing them.
Stripy socks.
Pirate boots.
Haircut.
Chestnut trees.
Long walks with Selma.
Notebooks everywhere!
Things I love about Rosh Hashana in particular.
Apples.
Pomegranates.
New clothes.
Crisp wind.
Standing by the water.
Releasing regret.
Standing.
Sitting.
Autumn.
Newness.
Making plans for the sukkah.
Everything smells good.
For more on Rosh Hashana — this post of mine from two years ago, and this hilarious bit from the Onion.
Things I love about this time of year in my business.
This is the time when I map out the upcoming pirate ship voyages for the next business year.
Seriously? 2011? What!?
So … another run of improvements to the Kitchen Table program and considering all the crazy experiments I’d like to try with the next year of my secret and wonderful Mindful Biggification group.
Setting the dates for Rallies and Shivanauttery and various other wild-rumpus-like things. Updating the events page … (soon!)
This time of creating and brewing with my tiny, sweet things is full of mystery and fun. And it definitely didn’t used to be like that, so I am enjoying this new way.
Oh. And the end of the slow season.
Like magic. Every year, and each time I am still not convinced it will happen again.
My style of “marketing” is pretty quiet. Quiet bordering on non-existent. What I do:
Hang out here, work on my stucknesses out loud so my people can observe and apply things themselves. Go to the Twitter bar to goof around and blow off steam. That’s it.
I don’t have an email list (other than the please tell me if something is coming one). I don’t do noozletters. Very rarely do I mention products. You pretty much have to take yourself to the shop or come to the Playground if you want to throw monies at us.*
* My coaching services page is completely hidden, because I’m booking private clients four months in advance, and that’s insane and wrong.
During the year our stuff just gets bought, without me reminding anyone that this is a possible thing to do. Come summer, though, not as much.
My people still sign up for programs, of course. But actual product sales slow. I suppose I could change that by actually telling people that we sell things. But meh.
Then — every September 1st — the need for Shivanautical epiphanies or a Procrastination Dissolve-o-Matic returns. This is helping me get better at trusting.
Rituals and doings for the new year.
Oh, I like the symbolic-marking-of-things so much. You know this.
My friend Sivan is doing a really beautiful one. It’s like this:
You go through your living space and make sure you only have things that belong to you.
So if there are books or things you’ve borrowed, you make a point of returning them.
And if other people have borrowed things from you, it’s the time when you get them back.**
** Having a ritual for this makes it easier, because then you can say, “Hey, I’m doing my new year ritual of making sure that my space is full of me-ness, and collecting everything I have lent out.”
You examine what is yours. Literally.
If there are clothes that don’t fit, dishes that you don’t like, things you never use, these move out of your space.
If there are things you want in your space and there isn’t money for them yet, you write these down. You fill your life with things and qualities you want in it. It’s brilliant.
I’m trying to come up with some other things as well.
And who knows, maybe some of them will stick.
I usually have a word for the year. Or a theme.
But what about a color? Or a daily practice that doesn’t have to continue forever, but that will hold me for a month …
For my birthday in March, I had Hiro do a series of special birthday sessions for me, and one of the wacky and great things she had me do was stand in the future (a year from that day) and walk my year backwards.
Literally. In my office. And also in my mind. Walking the patterns of the year, stepping stone by stepping stone. It was awesome.
And the things we saw for January and June were so completely unlikely and impossible to imagine, I knew they couldn’t happen. But imagining them: amazing.
The June thing totally came to pass. Still blowing my mind. We’ll see about January.
But the thing that’s so powerful about spending time with what you want in your year is that it builds clarity, awareness, noticing and the ability to recognize what you want (and work through your stuff about wanting it).
Good stuff. Worth doing.
Anyway. There is no point to this post.
Just thinking about pulling out the fuzzy socks. And reflecting on another year.
And thinking about time and how we mark it and boundaries and distinctions and doing things to say this is where I am now.
And hoping to invent a fun new something or other to bring into the new year while we’re at it.
Comment zen for today…
So. Not everyone likes to mix business stuff and cultural/spiritual stuff and mindfulness stuff. For me, it kind of all goes together. If this isn’t your way, do it another way.
We’re all trying things. And we let people have their own experience and their own way.
Also, you know what would be nice? Could we possibly brainstorm some good rituals of beginnings? Or — if “rituals” weird you out — just some Symbolic Things To Do that encourage mindfulness or elicit a smile or both?
And of course chag sameach and a shana tova u’metuka to you if you are celebrating the new year this week too.
May it be a happy, healthy, sweet, supportive year, full of the best kind of surprises.
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Aha! So this is the post from you that I’ve been bizarrely and obsessively checking for all weekend! (really. it’s been embarrassing. I was afraid your tech support would decide I was a bot and block me)
But here the post is, and… wow, it did inspire me in all kinds of ritual circus parade directions, and… OMG, I’m so excited!
It also inspired some less circus-related thoughts. So here’s my brainstorming contribution.
I seem to always mark new beginnings by *buying* something. Pencils. Folders. Boxes. Supplies. A how-to book. It could be further ritualized by putting said supplies in a pretty bag or box like a gift.
I also tend to clean, rearrange, nest. That could be done more more mindfully, like I do at Christmas – maybe creating a temporary decorated special place related to a new project? Maybe decorating a chair, somehow?
And there could *totally* be costumes. Like dressing up for holidays, but… for beginnings. Beginnings need a color, don’t you think?
(Don’t mind me, I’m now ODing on creative inspiration. Must go write notes)
Once again, your post is perfectly timed. I am two days away from a new beginning, a temporary job in another city.
I will live in a place that I haven’t yet seen and have packed very few little me-things for that place, like a certain candle holder, my favourite mug, and I bought a beautiful pillow that says “Glück” on it in my favourite little shop in our area. By taking these things along I will be able to mark a new place as mine.
And @Tori, if beginnings have a colour mine would be the colour of a dress I bought yesterday, a lovely deep purple kind of tone that has a nice autumn tinge about it somehow.
I like the positive side of reflection you describe. It’s often these couple weeks leading up to my birthday that get bogged down in thoughts of I’m only here?/this is all I’ve accomplished? It’s actually not quite so bad now that I’m past 35. That was the magic number for ages… for some reason I thought that’s when I’d have my life sorted out. Not so much. Oh well.
The ritual of me-ifying the stuff in my space is very appealing. I know when I switched to the room I have now and was able to fill it with only my stuff (well, aside from furniture), it made a huge difference to my outlook.
The past few years, I have picked themes for the year, but I do that in January.
How about putting something you love in your field of view that isn’t usually there? I moved my fluorite collection to my desk so I could dust, but I’ve left it here for a couple weeks. I’ll move it back eventually, but for now, I can see how the sunlight shines through the pieces. Even if I’m not focused on it, I’m aware of it in my peripheral vision, and it improves my mood. Perhaps a monthly rotation of items special to you somewhere prominent.
.-= claire´s last post … Sketchbook- page 45 =-.
For those of us following a UK-centric Paganism, the autumnal equinox is A Big Deal.
According to the Venerable Bede, the Saxons held September to be a holy month.
In my Wiccan Tradition, Mabon is held on the equinox, at the point where day and night are poised on that delicate point of equality. We fill our tables with the foods we want in our lives, celebrate the abundance of the harvest season, and call to us all the happy, healthy things we look forward to having in our lives – and your Habits Detective class on 21st September comes up slap bang in the midst of our celebration of the shift in the season.
One of the basic laws of magic is that you can’t welcome something into a space that’s already packed with junk. You’ve got to clear it out. It usually takes many, many years before you get good at identifying what’s actually there, never mind if it’s necessary. Still, it’s all good practice!
I’m told we’ve had a Saturn T-square over the past few months, from Feb onwards, and we’re at the end of it now. I don’t understand astrology, but people who do have told me that it means that Saturn, Uranus and Pluto (aka Conservative And Responsible, Big Hippie Rebel, and the Emotional Excavator) have been brewing up big mojo that’s been pushing everyone to do hard, deep work – and if that’s meant putting us through the mill to do it, then that’s what it’s taken. Everyone I know has had a tough time.
Thinking about it in terms of the Wheel of the Year, we’ve had a really extensive scouring of the storehouse, and now it’s time to make sure it’s in good shape for the stock to be brought in. Repair the roof, check the lock, make sure all those grain pots are in good nick and mouse-proof.
And then… gather in the grain, the nuts and seeds, the dried fruits, the root veg in their boxes of soil, all ready to overwinter and meet spring again.
Oh Havi please PLEASE tell me that your upcoming Pirate Ship voyages will take you & Selma to Europe, please?!!!
For me, coming back from summer vacation always feels like a new beginning, probably because I was conditioned by school for over a decade.
As to rituals, I had to think of the Space Clearing ceremony (à la Karen Kingston) we did when I moved into my boyfriend’s apartment. To make it OUR home and not just his. It was beautiful, the space really felt transformed afterwards, and it took me only a few weeks to feel absolutely “at home” here.
this was so what I needed to read this week – I feel a new surge of energy and am buzzing with ideas for creating a pattern for my year with rituals and celebrations and colours and tasks. Off to brainstormand capture ideas.
I work in education and this time of year is always a flurry of new beginnings, and it definitely rubs off on me.
@Malwina – excellent suggestion re: space clearing. I did one when I moved into my house over a year ago, think it’s time for another to blow off the cobwebs.
I too keep checking the horizon for signs of the Jolly Selma coming to Europe.
.-= MrsA2B´s last post … After the rain… =-.
Yep, now definitely seems like a good time to celebrate new beginnings. I’ve been feasting in my morning ritual of incense, free writing, and Shiva Nata, along with my dance drills. I don’t know if anything huge has happened yet, but I feel it coming down the pike. Also, after thoroughly going through your Blogging Therapy series, I’m starting to think of my blog as a soft squishy woobie of some kind. Comforting.
Now, maybe this has to do with the fact that I’m the queen of clutter, but am I the only person who shudders at the idea of “clearing out space”? Goodness help me, I just don’t keep house very well. I don’t think I’m filthy, it’s just that my tools and items that I use on a regular basis are all just laying around. There are things I can get rid of – it would definitely be nice to “welcome” in further positive changes – it just sounds like such a damn chore. Then again, maybe putting in the work is the point of it all. *shrugs shoulders*
.-= Kaleena´s last post … Maps =-.
Mm, socks. People ask me what I want for my birthday or for Christmas or whatnot, and I tell them I want nice socks, and nobody ever believes me. Also, I’m stuck wearing goofy ankle-high athletic socks because I occasionally get really nice socks and then Holly steals them.
By the way, if you are ever a patron of Sock Dreams, my beloved friend Jessica is now working at their front desk some days. So if you go in and there is a dark-haired young woman with a brilliant smile and a predilection for huge stompy boots, please tell her that Chris said hello. ♥
Hiro’s exercise reminds me of a thing I’ve been doing for the last few years, which is a Letter From Next Year. It’s basically just what it sounds –
(I am going to interrupt myself here to say “guys doing construction next door, it is 7:30 AM, what the hell is with the giant beepy truck outside?”)
– I write myself a letter from the perspective of me, a year from now, and try to work out what I want the next year to have been/be like. I don’t know what Hiro’s thing is exactly, but my Letter From Next Year sounds pretty similar! 🙂
Anyway. Happy New Year, and as many blessings as you need to make it wonderful. ♥
.-= Chris Anthony´s last post … What if you could do it for free =-.
I always write down what I want to release in the new time, what’s ready to be let go and not held onto anymore. Then I burn it and offer up a wee prayer to St. Bridget to just take care of it for me.
And then I write down a hope for the new time, a little direction/motivation for everything/one that seems to be invested in the newness. And I burn that too.
And then I remind myself not to be too judgey and controlling and let the new time rip!
I’m in the new time too right now! So much planning! YAY!
.-= Bridget´s last post … Be Your Own Beloved- The video =-.
I love this time of year.
Some things that speak of beginnngs and spark mindfulness for me:
–Lighting a new candle, and gazing at the flame.
–Being outdoors, in some beautiful natural setting, and taking in my surroundings.
–Gazing at the stars on a clear night.
–Making a wish. Speaking it aloud, or in a whisper.
.-= Kathleen Avins´s last post … Feeling the good kind of tired… =-.
Oh, the fabulousness. I’ve been wanting a new year without even knowing it, so I think the autumnal equinox is PERFECT. I missed the Naming the Moons post last year, so very glad to have it brought to my attention. And so many intriguing ideas in this post and comments. Rituals. Marking seasons. A new year only 2 weeks away. I feel better already. Thanks, all!
.-= Cindy Morefield´s last post … Savannah- 2 for 2 =-.
Oh I love all these ideas. Brilliant brilliant.
@Bridget – right, burning. Burn burn burn. Yes.
@Chris – that’s sweet. Going to do it. Thank you.
@claire – yes, regular rearranging. And I’m picturing the fluorite collection in the light. Lovely.
Kisses.
I am crazily addicted to rituals. I have a ritual for everything. Let’s see… rituals of beginnings. Sharpening gobs of pencils, especially ones with unusual colors and thicknesses. Starting a new journal (the newest one is salmon colored, yummy). Going to my favorite tea store and finding a new one to brew, then blowing the steam and breathing in the scent while waiting for it to cool.
.-= Liz´s last post … Communication that blocks compassion- denial of responsibility =-.
I love the idea of filling the house with me-ness! Yesterday my sweetie and I were feeling all blah and icky about the drudgery of “cleaning the house” and I said that we should call up Metaphor Mouse to help us reframe it… but we couldn’t think of a good metaphor. But his new years ritual of newness and meness and usness just might be the trick!
On the topic of rituals…
@Karen I am pagan too and I love the shift of the Equinox and the giving of thanks and the calling in of abundance 🙂
@Chris I love love this idea of writing a letter from Next Year!!
@Bridget- my sweetie and I do something similar at Yule. After the burning to let go we put all of our wishes on slips of paper in a box and we tie it with a ribbon like a gift. Then it sits out in the window through the longest night to catch the rays of the rising/returning sun. We leave it in a safe place for the rest of the year and then we open it again in December and see how many wishes came true, what we don’t need anymore -for the burning, and what we want to keep wishing for.
.-= Tina´s last post … In the works =-.
I like the idea of celebrating beginnings more than just once a year. I *adored* going to school, so this time of year always has that resonance of beginning for me. I love the idea of going through the house and clearing out those things that are not yours, even extended to those things that do not speak to you anymore for whatever reason and need to be moved along. I’ve been doing this unconsciously for a few weeks now.
I recently took a morning and sat outside with a fresh notebook and did some ritual listmaking. Things that I want to get cleared up and out by the end of the year. Some seeds of ideas I want to work on in the future. Just free association and thinking and brainstorming and getting it all out on paper. It helps clear my head and organize my thoughts and lays it all out there so I can prioritize and make plans.
.-= Lori Paximadis´s last post … Friday Really =-.
That me-ness idea is perfect as this week I’m packing to head back to University.
I’m now going to check everything I pack is full of me-ness and that walking backwards through your year is an amaizng idea- [just had my birthday so maybe I can sneak it in as a late birthday-early september idea].
As I pack I generally give everything nearby a good dust and kind of “thanks for serving me this year” comment. If i can’t think of a specific job it did for me, it can be given away. 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing these! I love new beginnings [and i love autumn, which is in September here.]
Total Win.
.-= Rose´s last post … Soaring- one wing-beat at a time =-.
Equinox plus Rosh Hashana! I love it.
So very interesting that lately I’ve been thinking and doing things on the “returning objects to other people” spectrum. (Need to write a love letter to you and Selma because I blame the Playground and Rally for this, in the very very best way!) I think more September Moon-ing needs to take place to mindfully give away more of the bags and boxes of unnecessary things I’ve been accumulating.
Maybe I need to do some more writing and reflecting around making this a deliberate ritual, with actual dedicated time and space and journaling and thinking and blessings. Ooh.
.-= Jesse´s last post … Friday Check-in- even when I’m not happy about it =-.
Rosh Hashanah here? Already? Wha?? Wait a minute…!
Yes, there’s a new (relative) coolness in the air here in hot Central Texas, too. Where did that come from?
I love the idea of a letter or a visit or something from this next year. To stand a year from now and scan the horizon back to this moment. Maybe that’s something about what Kol Nidre is about. I’ll try that.
Havi, for the new year, in an act of teshuvah-like blessing (instead of regret), I just want to say thank you. Your blog and your presence are some of the most beautiful, real, loving things I have ever found. I often feel shy and clumsy around you, including sometimes envious of the way you stand in your process and all, with such realness and such grace. It’s huge, to me. I wish I weren’t so shy about it.
I’m particularly shy about Selma, actually. (*extremely shy glance, maybe that was a wave or maybe that was just a twitch of my hand*) Havi, please wish her a happy and sweet new year too, from me.
.-= Karen Sharp´s last post … stalking at the crossroads =-.
Happy Newness, Havi! Spirituality and culcha goes with everything, as far as I’m concerned, so: more, please. Your tasteful reflections are always nehederet (yes, I had to google that), geshmak (that, too) and quite often herrlich (oh, yeah).
Which is to say, you’re wonderful –and what’s more, delightfully inclusive. So bring it on, bubala (that one, I knew.)! A leben ahf dein kepele. Never forget it.
For me, ritual can be as simple as a conscious habit. Something my husband does every morning is sprinkle a little water outside our front door. His mother did this, and her mother and so on…It indicates a fresh start every day and also welcomes goodness (in all its forms!) to come inside.
Hugs to all.
.-= Rupa´s last post … We Are Here =-.
It’s been cool enough the last few days that I’ve started wearing socks again (I can’t wear socks when it’s hot. My feet melt). Hand dyed, hand knit socks, as there is no other kind for me. And I bought a new pair of shoes, cute and made of wool, and good for showing off my socks. Yay!
.-= Riin´s last post … Random- ’cause that’s how I roll =-.
Happy New Year from the girl who just moved into beautiful new space! And hired big strong Helper Mice to help move, and then small dainty Helper Mouse to help arrange and dust and make the bed and place the books on the bookshelf from tallest to smallest.
Definitely new beginnings here. Well deserved and earned ones (hmm, something there about thinking that good happiness must be earned…)
I really should have hired the Foot Rub Helper Mouse for the end of the day.
i teach in a jewish day school, and i teach jewish studies at that, and it never fails to amaze me how every year, i always always manage to “forget” about the holidays and any personal observance (beyond the regular bits). this year is no exception.
but this idea that rosh hashanah is about/can be about letting go of regrets? amazing. i’m a little stunned, actually; rosh hashanah has been about teshuva and making good/ making better/ making up, but just the simple idea of being given a time to let go of regrets and move into the new year free…good lord, that is so amazing. i am doing tashlich next week at the ocean, and i think i will write a regret on different pieces of paper and then watch them fly away into the breeze and the water…
Oh man it’s so literally a new year up in here you don’t even know. “Shana tova” from a gal born next week (15th!) who totally had a Jewish boyfriend once. That’s Israel for “sexy bitch,” right?
If not… man, I gotta talk to him about that. :\
Holler to all those virgos and libras out there. September birthdays rock it out.
Usually I mark the season’s beginning with my birthday. This year, though, I’m going to be working that night, so that might take some of the shine off.
So. I think I want to mark this season by celebrating the Very Hard Decision I made this spring to Be A Writer and let go of my “what ifs” by writing a story. A story in the genre in which I see myself writing, Even Though it’s going to suck, Even Though it will probably be unreadable. I’m getting better at being okay with non-perfection and attempts from myself. To myself. And being okay with those not being disappointing interactions even if they are not all the harbingers of success I hope they’ll be. 😛 Here I am, Announcing My Intention to write a story, the 15-25 page short story kind. What is with you and having me do things from out of my ass. Jeez.
oh man Havi FUZZY SOCKS. fuzzy socks. that is all.
.-= mish´s last post … tilling the good earth =-.
Ooh, I might declare my personal new year to be in August. Because starting in late August, it is a busy, busy time for me, in which I travel and teach and cook and do a trillion things I love but which always turn out to be a little bit tiring.
Good ritual of beginning for me: opening something new. New socks, new tea, new journal. Something!
September has always seemed more like a new year to me than January did – I suppose part of it comes from my mother being a teacher and from me spending most of my life in school, and then once I learned about Rosh Hashanah that really struck a chord with me, even though I’m not Jewish. And so I’ve finally started the blog I’ve been thinking about for months, and I’ve got a couple of other projects in mind that I’ll probably start moving forward on in the near future.
Have a wonderful new year, and thank you for being you.
.-= Jason Burnett´s last post … Welcome =-.
Havi!
I can’t believe I haven’t found you before! I am totally devouring your blog and loving it (and now not lurking, which is cool).
I love this business of naming the moons. I love this New Years in September because that is exactly when New Years is. For me I just took a year of rest (of a sort) and then a summer of more rest and I was kind of wondering if I’d ever be ready to work again, but sure enough the weather is colder, I’m a year older, and I want to do things again. It’s marvelous.
All the best to Selma and yourself for the New Year.
In appreciation of all the internet love you’re giving away for free,
Rhiannon
.-= Rhiannon Laurie´s last post … Bikram Yoga Every Day =-.
This post has been ruminating in my brain for a little while, particularly the part about cleaning out things from your space that don’t fit or aren’t yours. For me, the result was to write a post today on my style blog about clothes that don’t fit, both physically and metaphorically. (http://bit.ly/b9liuB)
.-= Heidi/Closet Coach´s last post … Getting rid of what doesn’t fit =-.