New Year's Resolution

Rituals, spells, prayer, meditation and magical acts.
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Nahumatarah
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New Year's Resolution

Post by Nahumatarah »

As new year dawn's upon us, do you make resolutions for the coming year? If so are there formal rituals involved? According to historians the tradition of new years resolutions has spiritual origins in pagan cultures making promises to the gods, so I'm mainly interested in oaths, promises or resolutions pertaining to the spiritual, rather than something like "I will not drink for a month". Of course such promises could be spiritual in intent, so I'm not excluding the more common ideas from this discussion.

Personally my new year celebrations in the past years have been pretty minimal. This year I have decided to stay home alone, watch some films, drink some non-alchoholic rosewine, and when the midnight hour approaches I will renown vows I had made for the past year including a promise to continue striving towards the path of ascension, and also the more mundane promise of sobriety I made last year, coupled with prayers and sacrifices.
"The time has come to turn your heart into a temple of fire."

- Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī
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Astraya
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Re: New Year's Resolution

Post by Astraya »

We just made New Years tarot readings with fra Fatuus and Nefastos. This has been a tradition for me several years.
Happy New Year, everyone :)
“There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion”
― Carl Gustav Jung
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Nahumatarah
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Re: New Year's Resolution

Post by Nahumatarah »

Astraya wrote: Fri Dec 31, 2021 6:18 pm We just made New Years tarot readings with fra Fatuus and Nefastos. This has been a tradition for me several years.
Happy New Year, everyone :)
Thats a nice tradition. I haven't touched my tarot deck in ages. Maybe tonight would make a good time to rekindle that practice as well.

Happy new year to you all!
"The time has come to turn your heart into a temple of fire."

- Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī
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Nefastos
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Re: New Year's Resolution

Post by Nefastos »

Happy new year, sodalês!

I like the use of tarot cards, since the process of interpretation is so deep and multilayered. I still wait eagerly when we will have the full system of SoA tarot with all the necessary nuances. It is in the making, but will take time.

I have never made new year promises ritualistically, because of the exoteric nature of our calendar: the factual year cycle operates through solstices and equinoxes of the Sun (& by Moon cycles), and the idea of year changing between artifical months of December and January has not seemed so relevant. I have sometimes made some non-ritualistic promises though, because the exoteric year cycle is also a practical help for time consideration. They are more like post it notes for me: "Remember to put more/less emphasis on X this year!"

This year though, and as far as I remember this is the first time, it really seems like some vital part of astral atmosphere has been changed with the new year.
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
Kavi
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Re: New Year's Resolution

Post by Kavi »

News and social media has been filled (but not saturated) with complaints of students spending their time in isolation and experiencing decreased mental health.

I feel I belong to this category too with decreased productivity.
Yet I have spent enormously my energy in bad philosophy. Crash and burn.

There is this seemingly shallow trend of "dark academia" aesthetic.
I feel like it's real thing for me in "lhp" -way - when there is no guide or help coming from outside I felt overwhelmed need to master broad and detailed concepts that were not taught outside my chamber.

I feel this time has passed now and my resolution is to drop reading almost entirely. I'm done.
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Polyhymnia
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Re: New Year's Resolution

Post by Polyhymnia »

The only resolution I have for the upcoming year is to take care of myself. It seems selfish, but I really felt as though I aged tremendously over the course of the last year, taking care of everything and everyone around me while trying to keep myself mentally, physically, academically, and spiritually afloat. My resolution comes out of necessity, not necessarily a conscious want. In fact, it is quite trying for me to put myself first (or second or third), but frater Nefastos has done wonders in helping me realize the healthy mechanism of positive pride this year, and alongside the cultivation of this positive pride organically comes the want to prioritize my health and happiness. Not at the expense of others, of course, but I will also not be prioritizing the happiness of others at the expense of myself.
"Limited love asks for possession of the beloved, but the unlimited asks only for itself." -Kahlil Gibran
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Smaragd
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Re: New Year's Resolution

Post by Smaragd »

Polyhymnia wrote: Sun Jan 02, 2022 11:42 pm but frater Nefastos has done wonders in helping me realize the healthy mechanism of positive pride this year, and alongside the cultivation of this positive pride organically comes the want to prioritize my health and happiness. Not at the expense of others, of course, but I will also not be prioritizing the happiness of others at the expense of myself.
I think I wrote a topic starter or two on a subject really close to this just before Christmas holdays, but didn't have the time to go through it one more time before posting. Nice synchronicity. Good luck working with the resolution!
"Would to God that all the Lord's people were Prophets”, Numbers 11:29 as echoed by William Blake
gunslinger
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Re: New Year's Resolution

Post by gunslinger »

I am not used to making any resolutions for a year, but this year I made a decision to make one. I want to be better person. Last year was a year of study for me. I did study religions, philosophy and most importantly myself and my motives. I realized that many of my motives are selfish and don't serve anyone else but me. This year I want to build my empathy and understanding of love and turn that understanding to practice. I also found many weaknesses in my daily life that take my farther away from my path to truth. I am going to fight harder against those weaknesses and try to prepare myself better. Maybe this year will be another year of study after all...
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