This was originally posted on January 3, 2017 I am writing this blog on New Year’s Day, so Happy New Year! Today I say these words as both a statement of hope and as invocation. Happy New Year: may it… Read More ›
New Year
Welcome to the New Year by Natalie Weaver
Welcome to the New Year. One year ago, on New Year’s eve, I buried my father’s ashes. It was an incredible experience to orchestrate the funeral and burial of the man who begat me. He was nowhere near a Hallmark greeting card… Read More ›
“Renewal?” 2019 by Sara Wright
Just that one word dreamed the night of January 1st. Last evening all my Bear Circle animals gathered in front of the 8 flickering candles (intentions I had set for this coming year) – most were about the loving the… Read More ›
Hope for the New Year by Katie M. Deaver
I have never been one to set major resolutions at the beginning of the new year, but this year feels different somehow. I can’t say that I am sad to see the end of 2017. This year has felt like… Read More ›
A Gift Offered in Faith and Love by Elise M. Edwards
“The day begins with the sun and ends with the moon and stars; what you do in between is your gift to the world.” – Reyna Craig The new year has begun, and many of us take this marking of… Read More ›
New Year and Sustainable Resolution by Sara Frykenberg
At the end of 2016, my foot hurt—my body telling me: it is painful to move forward as you have been. You have to walk differently. Yow have to walk with more support, and sometimes, carrying less weight.
Becoming by Deanne Quarrie
The Year 2015 is coming to a close. It is a time of endings and a time of beginnings. That is the wonderful thing about our cycles. We all have the opportunity to end and begin – over and over…. Read More ›
Rosh Hashanah and the Goddess by Joyce Zonana
When I was growing up in the 1950s in my Egyptian Jewish immigrant home, each of the High Holidays was imbued with sacredness, thanks largely to my mother’s commitment to a creating a harmonious and memorable gathering of family and… Read More ›
Strength by Kate Brunner
The turning of a new year of some kind is and was often considered a portal time; perfect for rites of divination. In honor of the dawning of 2015, I spent the first few days of this month doing New… Read More ›
The Burden of Change by Natalie Kertes Weaver
As we embark on a New Year, I find myself customarily cautious. The New Year, of course, is hugely emblematic of hopeful beginnings, revised behaviors, fresh outlooks, and personal commitments. Yet, because renewal is so difficult to achieve, I find… Read More ›
Awakening to Life: Hildegard’s Cure for Seasonal Depression by Mary Sharratt
In midwinter 2002, I moved from the sun-drenched San Francisco Bay Area to Lancashire, in northern England, further north than I had ever lived. In bleak December, it was as though someone had switched off the lights. The sun barely… Read More ›
It’s a New Year…What’s your Social Justice Resolution/Revolution? by Marie Cartier
This year I want to resolve to help more and worry less. This is the number one thing I worry about most right now: Children and hunger. Right now in the United States approximately 20-30% of children go to bed… Read More ›
Two Reflections for the New Year: 5774 By Ivy Helman
In June, my friend, Shifra, and I became Co-Chairs of the Ritual Committee at our shul. During the past few weeks, we have occasionally turned to one another and said, “I can’t wait for the High Holy Days to be… Read More ›
WHEN THE OLYMPICS CELEBRATED THE STRENGTH OF GIRLS AND THE RENEWAL OF LIFE by Carol P. Christ
The first “Olympics” were races of girls of various age-groups around a 500 foot stadium in ancient Olympia. The races of girls were held every four years on the new moon of the month of Parthenios (September/October). They were dedicated to… Read More ›