Bless the New Year with Joy at the Eclipse Full Moon—Includes Winter Solstice Cake Oracle

This lunation, occurring on the last day of the year, can help sweep away low-vibration attitudes and situations, generating a force field of joy to bless the New Year.

Joy is usually associated with the winter holidays, as it is with other happy events, circumstances, and perhaps spontaneous epiphanies. Most of us have less mirth than we would like in our lives, especially if past or present circumstances have brought us down. A look at the current news doesn’t do much to cheer us up, with its reports of global warming, the children of Gaza and Afghanistan, innocent prisoners of the war on terror, not to mention the meltdown of the economic system. Although sadness, grief and dutifulness are all natural conditions at some time, it’s too easy to let such feelings become habitual attitudes.

Capricorn Sun is about purposeful effort, and the Sabian degree for this eclipse, describing a clown and the healing power of humor, reminds us that joy is a state of mind, a well-spring in the soul that we can choose to retrieve, independent of circumstance. As Dane Rudhyar says in his commentary, “Laughter deconditions….” In her book, The Manipulated Mind, Denise Winn shares evidence that the ability to laugh in the face of oppression is in fact a key to resist brainwashing and even to survival in concentration camps. Laughter is a synonym of joy, a magical vibration that starts in the emotions and works itself into other areas. Cultivating good cheer can spontaneously unleash a higher way of living: lifting us out of depression and self-pity, accelerating the body’s natural healing abilities, turning on the law of attraction for happy circumstances, success and fun. My husband, psychologist-musician Fernando Ruiz, says violin music clears out bad vibrations. In a similar fashion, in the face of joy difficulties can fade away like fog in the morning sun.

Eclipses help us let go of whatever is needed to move along on the next phase of our growth, Cancer is about emotions. As we move into a year marked by a potentially explosive cardinal cross, we can use the lunation that takes place on its doorstep, connecting to the highest and the best it will offer by taking on the shield of joy.

The following ceremony and New Year’s Cake Oracle are designed to synchronize us with that opportunity, as well as enriching your New Year’s celebration large or small.

Ingredients

• A red candle
• A piece of red or white paper for each participant
• A fire proof bowl or platter (unless you have a fireplace)
• White flowers
• An incense related to the Great Mother, like rose, cinnamon or vanilla, or dried pine needles to throw on burning coals
• A Joy Oracle cake, prepared with:

A round, white cake (traditional fare at Winter Solstice), pie or other baked treat
A birthday candle for each participant
A 2 x [long enough to go around candle]-inch slip of paper for each candle
Masking or scotch tape

Prepare your Joy Oracle Cake before the ceremony, by writing a joy-producing activity on each slip of paper (e.g., laughter yoga, dancing, swimming, meditation, eating out, walking at dawn, visiting the redwoods, and so on). These slips with messages can be prepared by one person or more. Then you tape one each around the base of each candle and arrange them symmetrically around the cake.

Joyful New Year’s Ceremony

1) Light your red candle, saying something like,

This flame reminds us that we are not alone, but accompanied by the light and power of Omnipresent Good, that is guiding us and assisting us to let go of conditions, belongings, relationships and attitudes that limit the expression of joy.

2) Light your incense or throw the pine needles on burning coals as you say:

This is an offering for the Divine Mother and the Angels of Release and Joy, whose assistance I request to complete this cycle and enter into a new, more joyful phase of existence.

3) Each participant takes a few minutes to review those attitudes and situations in her or his life that seem antagonistic to joy.

4) The participants take turns burning their papers, declaring,

I’m ready to rediscover joy, I’m ready to release any attitude or situation that inhibits joy. Thank you, Divine Mother-Father, for lifting these unnecessary burdens from me and my life as easily as this paper disintegrates into the air.

5) Repeat the following words for about seven minutes.

I am a spiritual being, made in the image and likeness of joy. The joy that I am arises from within me, fills my mind and life and naturally attracts joyful situations and results in my affairs and world.

6) The participants hug one another, feeling as though a sun burns in their hearts, and connects with the sun in the heart of the one they’re hugging.

7) You can hold hands in a circle and visualize millions of angels encircling the planet while repeating the following affirmation to shield the world in joy:

The joy we feel in our hearts connects us to the joy in all hearts and souls everywhere, and we encircle the entire planet with victorious joy now.

8) Light the candles and slice the cake so that each participant gets a candle with her or his piece. The message each receives suggests a special way to keep the flame of joy alive during the months ahead.

9) Follow up by repeating the affirmations in steps 5 and 7 for five minutes a day each during the next two weeks.

As one year comes to close and another begins, the Divine Mother has arranged a special gift in this lunation, with a symbolic card included to remind us that happiness is not something we wait for or mourn over, it’s a choice we can make. By getting off our metaphorical chairs and actively stepping to Luna’s tune, we can dance into the year ahead as co-creators of a new, more joyful experience, rather than passively sitting by to see what happens to and around us. The Angel of Joy is dancing now, too, and will lead you to keep the flame of mirth alive—with inspiration, imagination and related treasures that will appear in your path, which is already filled with a Most Joyful Presence.

Crystal Pomeroy

Crystal Pallas Pomeroy, Maya’s daughter and astrological protégé, offers in-depth astrological consultations from her home in Mexico, in person or via Skype. She is a noted author as well as a regular radio and television commentator on esoteric topics, and leads a spiritual and healing ministry in Mexico City. Crystal offers workshops on astrology, the sacred feminine, indigenous spirituality, and the goddess in beautiful locations throughout Mexico. Her book Angels & Goddesses (Llewellyn, Spring 2022) is available now. Reach Crystal by email here.