End-of-year spell casting
“Words cast spells that’s why it’s called spelling. Words are energy, so choose them wisely.”
👥 Serves: 1 person, 11-25 people, 2-10 people
🎚 Difficulty: Easy
⏳ Total time: 61-120 minutes
🥣 Ingredients: A4 sheets of paper (1 per participant), pens/markers, Tarot cards (optional)
🤓 Wholebeing Domains: Accomplishments, Awareness, Positive Emotion, Ritualising
💪 Wholebeing Skills: Aligning with the cycles, Celebration, Contentment, Goal-setting, Gratitude, Intention-setting, Legacy, Planning, Reflection, Ritualising
End-of-year spell casting
📝 Description
A reflective practice to bring closure to your year and open the new one.
This recipe guides you through reflecting on the past year and writing a transition spell for yourself and your community, to help transition you from the old year to the new year. The end of the year can be a magical and powerful time to take forward new intentions. In that spirit, spells are a set of words to generate magic for yourself – to call in what you are longing for, what needs to be healed and to help you release what you no longer want.
The following activity has been adapted from Irresistible (formerly known as Healing Justice podcast) which is a virtual practice space at the intersection of collective healing & social change. The practice is led by adrienne maree brown, who is the author of Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds and the co-editor of Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction from Social Justice Movements. She is the co-host of the How to Survive the End of the World and Octavia’s Parables podcasts.
This practice can be done with a friend (or group of friends), with your family or community. For ease, you can also choose to follow the audio guidance by adrienne maree brown. The “Year compass” recipe is also an alternative if you want to give yourself half a day or so for some deep reflection on your past year and thorough planning for the new year.
👣 Steps
Step 1 – Prior preparation (15’)
Set up the space nicely so that it feels calm, cosy, and welcoming. You may want to light a candle, put some relaxing music, or prepare a fruity infusion. Have a journal or blank A4 sheet of paper ready, and various pens and markers.
Step 2 – Check-in (10’)
Once your participants arrive, welcome them and lead a quick check-in, perhaps asking them how they are at that moment, or what expectations they might have for this activity.
Now explain that you will give them three different rounds of writing prompts, before moving on to write their spell.
Step 3 – End of year free writing prompts (10’)
- What situations, experiences, etc. felt too heavy for me to carry this year?
- What situations, experiences, etc. helped me learn about myself, about social justice movements, about how I want to be?
- What lessons do I wish to carry forward?
Step 4 – Reflecting on the present (10’)
- How do I feel like I am in my power and in my dignity in this present moment?
- Where do I feel like I want to grow my power or dignity at this moment?
Step 5 – Looking forward to the new year (10’)
- What does liberation mean to me?
- What can I practise next year to increase my liberation and the liberation of my people?
Step 6 – Writing your spell (10’-15’)
Explain that each person is now going to generate and write their spell. You can also share an example of a spell.
You will now go back over what you’ve written in order to highlight, underline, or circle the phrases that really stand out to you. Once you have the key concepts, you are going to arrange them under 3 stanzas:
- 1st stanza: What you’re letting go of and what lessons you’re carrying forward.
- 2nd stanza: The power you’re standing in and what you want to lean into more.
- 3rd stanza: With your eyes on liberation, what you are going to practise.
Step 7 – Closing (5’-10’)
Regather the participants and take 5–10 minutes to open a quick sharing circle for anyone who might want to say a couple of words about the practice, or to share parts of their spell.