Finding peace on the threshold of a new year 🪩

The final Deep December mini-letter (#14). Plus, my 2024 mood board.

Hi! I’m Liz and I write seasonal letters for those of us who long to live a slow life in rhythm with nature. Thanks for stopping by! All posts are always free. Subscribe + join the Wild Soul Collective. We would love to have you here. ❍↟☽

Hello, friend.

I cannot believe that it’s time for the final letter of my Deep December series. But, here we are. Gathered together around my December table for one last holiday message. Candles lit. Christmas music playing. Lights twinkling. Coffee piping hot beside me. The dark morning slowly giving way to a blue-gray light outside my window.

Having written a farewell message to the waning year, it is now time to turn toward the new year, just a day and a half away. My soul is filled with the energy of the in-between right now, as this weekend serves as the threshold and gateway to the new year. Anticipation is building. Hope is rising.

But, it’s all very slow and gentle. There is no pressure. There are no expectations. Instead, even in the middle of the confetti and sparklers, this is the time for a quiet unfolding. I want to pause, take it all in, let the giddy laughter of excitement wash over me, clink my champagne glasses, and welcome in 2024. But, not as some magical moment of change. I toast in the new year as the next season of my life, the next page in my story, the next step on my journey of becoming who I have always been meant to be.

As I have done throughout the month, I prepared my oracle deck for the last message of this holiday series. The intention I set as I was shuffling and cutting the deck was simply a message for the new year. Something to ponder as we cross over into 2024. But, it was not a word of the year. Just a sense of focus for right here, right now, on the cusp of the new year.

Some years ago, I stopped choosing a word for the year, as it felt like too much time to encompass into one word. I felt pressure to stay the course and boxed in to one specific thing. For me, things shift and change too much throughout the year. I need to let the days and months unfold much more in real time. I need to feel into each shift and allow the seasons to come as they may, without tying me down to one word that seems to always not fit as the year unfolds.

I am most definitely not knocking choosing a word of the year as an anchor. It is a deeply beautiful practice, but it is not for me. Right now, at least. Perhaps I will return to the practice in years to come.

For this last message, as we move into the new year, I turned over the Peace Pipe card. Immediately, I knew that this was a whole different vibe than all of the other cards I’ve shared throughout December. I felt a literal shift, a movement outward from the energy of December and into something more.

A card of peace. It felt so fresh, light, freeing. So right. But, not just regular peace. A deeper communal peace.

Europeans and white cultures use the term peace pipe; but from what I have read, native and indigenous peoples prefer the term ceremonial pipe, as there are many different occasions for the use of pipes. Sharing a pipe during a ceremony is a way of making a commitment or covenant. The smoke that swirls and dances above the heads of those who are sharing the pipe represents each person’s spirit, or truth. Thereby, making the sharing of the pipe a way of sharing truth, kinship, prayer, and spirituality with one another. The smoke then rises into the heavens, as a way to send personal and communal prayers and communication to the divine, to spirit, to the creator.

For me, the ceremonial pipe is a symbol of healing, a recognition that there is no longer any need to carry the burdens of the past, and that the way forward is to be shared. And that is true peace.

What a message as we enter the new year. A message for our own souls, for our relationships, and for this broken, hurting world.

My new year ritual - this year.

Personally, I have already been pondering how I want to live and what I want to bring into 2024. All week I have been collecting words and documenting dreams and scribbling phrases in my journal. I’ve been perusing images that inspire me. And, yesterday, I literally spent the entire day creating a mood board for 2024. To be honest, I created quite a few different ones, no one feeling quite right until I decided to simply choose one image for each month.

So, here’s my mood board. I’ll not say anything more about, but just leave it here as a message to the universe.

In twenty twenty-four, I turn 50. My wife turns 40. And we celebrate 15 years of marriage. It is a big year. And we have tons of dreams of how we want to mark these special days. However, while these big, special days lie ahead, I recognize and cherish the fact that it is everything - the festivals, the moons, the holidays, and the sacred every-days that make up the story of my life. It is the rhythm of nature and the cycle of the seasons that will guide me through all of the days. And there will be magic and grief and love to be found in them all - from the biggest celebrations to the quietest, simplest hours.

I suppose what I want to bring into 2024 is actually, well, peace. I want to continue to create a slow, simple life; marking the days and weeks and months by following the rhythm of nature. I want to celebrate being alive, channeling my father’s spirit keeper of the south energy. I want to build a communal life, both here on Substack and in my everyday life, focusing on connection and relationships.

As for Substack, I do have some ideas and plans, but they are not set in stone yet. I always want to write and put out what touches my soul and how I am moving through the seasons. But, I do want to hear from you as well - what do you crave? what do you need? what do you find inspiring? Feel free to leave any thoughts or ideas in the comments, and if you don’t mind, take a couple of seconds to take these 2 polls. Thanks. 😚

One last thing

Before I say farewell to you in this final letter of 2023, I want to express my deepest gratitude. I cannot believe you have been here - whether this is your first letter or your 14th or your 63rd. Your presence is truly felt each time I sit down to send out a message to you. It means the world to me that you take time out of your precious day to spend a few minutes with me.

You have made this December a most magical, and deep, one for me.

I cannot wait to see what 2024 holds for each of us as we travel through the seasons, celebrating the magic of the big days and the every-days together.

Here’s to deep, lasting, communal peace for us all. Happy New Year, love.

xoxo. liz.

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