Making December Magic! (Part 5)
The Grand Finale: Visualize. Materialize. Celebrate!
Dear beloved readers,
This is it! We are in the final days of the calendar year. Welcome to part 5 (of 5) of the Making December Magic series. If you’ve been following this series, we have:
(Bonus: talked about the magic of diligence) and
For the grand finale, we have three final, essential, fun steps:
Visualize.
Materialize.
Celebrate!
Visualize
Now that you’ve reflected on your hopes, dreams, aspirations, and intentions for 2024, it is time to create a visual representation. I usually make a vision board collage with magazines cuttings, but you can do this any way you feel visually inspired. I do encourage you to work with images, though, since we have been working a lot with words (it can be images of words though, too!).
Find a creative way to encapsulate your vision and dreams for the year to come. You can use any artistic medium that you enjoy - the important part is to do something kinesthetic, artistic, creative and fun. This also becomes an encapsulation of this process for you to refer back to and remind you of your intentions and dreams.
Place your artistic product in a prominent or special place where you will be reminded of your dreams frequently. I usually place mine on my altar.
Materialize
Don’t just wish- do something that lets your dreams know you are taking them seriously. By materialize I mean do something- anything- in the realm of concrete, tangible, material action that is a step towards your goals and aspirations.
Take a step.
Make the appointment.
Sign up for the class.
Download the meditation app. (And better yet, use it).
Start to update the resume.
Take small actions that let your dreams know you are serious about them, that you are willing to do your part, too. Engage in the magic of diligence. Start now.
In the wise words of Octavia Butler: so be it, see to it!
A fun bonus step, which I learned from Sarah Faith Gottesteiner of The Moon Studio, is to take your 2024 planner and somewhat randomly add things to it based on your dreams. For example, open it to a random date and write, “How’s that book proposal going?” “Take dance class.” At a minium, these are reminders for you to check in with your hopes and dreams. At best, they could be premonitions of what is to come!
Celebrate!
My mom always loved a party. She once told me, “Steph, you have to take every opportunity in life to celebrate. At my age there are too many funerals. If there’s a reason to have a party, have one.” At the time, this annoyed me, but she was right.
You don’t need to have a party (though you certainly can if you’re up for that!). Have a solo dance party in your kitchen. Go out for a meal with a bestie and share your accomplishments and joys of the year. Do something joyful to mark this moment.
Maybe you have already been celebrating a lot throughout the festive season, but the invitation here is to take time to celebrate and honor the past year: the wins big and small, your accomplishments, the things you made it through, whether victorious or battered or maybe both. Celebrate the beauty of your dreams, and believe they are possible, for they are possible. Celebrate that you have the chance to see the turning of another year, that you have the chance to dream again. Celebrate that you are alive on this precious rock floating through space with so much magic and mystery. Celebrate YOU!
And with that, dear reader, we close the Making December Magic series, which has been an utter joy for me to share with you. Over the years, this process has been utterly life-shaping for me, and I hope it has been nourishing and inspiring for you. Please let me know how it goes. I’d love to hear what kind of magic you make and change you shape in the year to come.
I celebrate sharing this process with you!
May all your wishes, hopes, and dreams for the coming year come through, with a lot of diligence and a lot of magic and support.
May this process be site of learning, unlearning, growth, healing, and joy.
May our wildest dreams come true.
May the beauty of our hearts’ deepest longings contribute to a world grounded in collective care, liberation, justice, peace, beauty, and love,
With gratitude for the chance to see the turning of another year, and to live even more fully into our dreams, to become ever more fully ourselves.May this December magic permeate our lives throughout the year.
Til next year!
Stephanie
P.S. if you enjoyed this series, will you please share it with a friend? Sharing is caring! And it’s even more fun to make magic with friends :)