Once upon a time, several days before the brand-new year, a woman began a journey of several thousand miles across the country. Her destination was to experience a special New Year’s retreat. She was on a quest to create a vision for how to live her most powerful year yet. And to her surprise and delight, she was immediately invited by the hostess to move to a first-class seat. She settled into her luxurious window seat, enjoying every comfort in food and entertainment offered. Out of her window, her view was flooded in bright sunlight. She was transfixed by the color and awesomeness of the canyons far below. What a wonderful omen about the new year.
Once she arrived at the retreat, she met her fellow seekers in the spectacular setting of a private inn. It was near a great ocean situated in a gorgeous, natural setting. The participants all sat in a huge circle in a large room. Their first activity was to introduce themselves. Each of them had been invited to bring an item that had a special meaning. One by one, each stood up and showed what they had brought to share before placing it on an altar. The woman had brought a goddess statue bust. It was a dark, teal green set on a circular wooden base. She explained that it had been in the center of the mantlepiece from her childhood home. It was the image of the divine feminine that had watched over her ever since she was a year old. She positioned it on the altar.
During the first few days, participants danced, sang, drew mandalas on black paper with colored chalk, wrote in journals, socialized, and took quiet walks in nature. She delighted in exploring the property. A woman, a healer from another hemisphere, invited her to come and sit in the fairy garden. There under a tree were little figurines, small rocks, and flowers. It was an enchanted space. The healer delighted in telling the woman about the plant and stone spirits. All of this was in preparation for the labyrinth ritual that would take place on New Year’s Eve.
Before midnight on New Year’s Eve, the seekers approached the special hedge-enclosed lawn. Within was an exquisite labyrinth made of shells and stones. Each seeker was carrying a candle. The keeper of the sacred space lit each person’s candle as they crossed the entrance into the labyrinth. Carrying the lit candle, the woman made her way to the center, opening her heart to the possibilities the new year would bring. When she arrived at the sacred center at the stroke of midnight, she realized she was standing at the threshold of the new year. She heard a voice asking her,” What do you hope the new year will bring?”
The woman immediately was in touch with the deepest desire in her heart. She longed to be a silent healer. She wanted to heal herself and to heal those she knew were suffering. She was in search of imaginal images that could be used as healing tools.
Next, the seekers gathered with their lit candles in the large meeting room. They made a procession to the altar on which they had placed their objects. The woman was astonished to find that a beautiful blank book, with her name on it, was underneath her statue. It was midnight blue with silver lettering.
Two years later, the woman was visited by a dream after she fell asleep early on New Year’s Eve. Her goddess figure came alive and spoke to her from what looked like her original place on the mantlepiece.
It has been two years. Where is your book?
The woman answered the goddess, Oh, my book! I’ve forgotten all about it!
But where is it? The Goddess asked.
The woman rose from her bed confused and feeling guilty about having mislaid the lovely gift. Where had she left the book?
Look under your mattress, the Goddess said.
And there, at the foot of the bed and under the mattress was the beautiful midnight blue leather book with her name in silver letters.
Oh, dear, the woman cried, But I haven’t done anything with it!
Yes, you have. You have lived two years of your life. Look inside the book.
This is cross-posted from Jane Knox’s blog The Ageless Goddess.
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