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Episode 90: Making New Years Magical
413 Plays1 year ago
Welcome back Witches! We hope you're ready for everything we're bringing to you in Season 3!! We're starting this season off strong with all the ways you can bring a little bit of magic into your New Years celebrations. So get in losers, and let's learn about Making New Years Magical.
We would be forever thankful if you left our podcast a 5-Star review. If you really loved the show and want more Get in Loser content, check out our Supercast & Buy Me a Coffee links below. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @GetinWitches, on TikTok @weredoingwitchcraft, or email us at weredoingwitchcraft@gmail.com. You can support our show through our links below.
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Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio- The Witch
References:
- Fonseca, Evelyn (2021). The Pagan Origin of New Year's Day. The Scribes Portion. https://www.thescribesportion.com/the-pagan-origin-of-new-years-day/
- Sirena Moon (n.d.). Beginner Witchcraft Spells and Rituals for the New Year. Magikal Post. https://blog.simplemysticmiracles.com/beginner-witchcraft-spells-and-rituals-for-a-new-year/
- Moore, Rose. New Year, New Witch: Advice from Basic Witches. (2018). Quirk. https://www.quirkbooks.com/new-year-new-witch-advice-from-basic-witches/
- Encyclopaedia Britannica Editors. New Year Festival. (2023). https://www.britannica.com/topic/New-Year-festival
- Kyteler, Emma. Pagan New Year Traditions: What Does a Witch Do on New Years? https://eclecticwitchcraft.com/pagan-new-year-traditions-what-does-a-witch-do-on-new-years/
- Kyteler, Emma. Choose These Crystals to Stick to Your New Year’s Resolutions. https://eclecticwitchcraft.com/choose-these-crystals-to-stick-to-your-new-years-resolutions/
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Transcript
Introduction to Witchcraft Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Do you feel drawn to learn more about witchcraft in the occult but feel lost on where to start? Then welcome to Get In Loser, we're doing witchcraft, a podcast all about what it means to be a witch and where to get started on your journey. Join us as we navigate through various witchy topics and share what we have learned about the craft. So get in witches as we reveal the ancient pagan roots and practices of the new year and how you can harness the power of the new year in your own craft.
Host Challenges and Locations
00:00:42
Speaker
I am already so irritated. Like, I hate when things don't work. I hate technology. I hate this. It's pretty lame. It is. If we were in the same place, we wouldn't have to deal with this. But no, no. The military sends us all over the world. So, no. But anyway.
00:01:06
Speaker
it seems to be working now so yay yay it's working yeah i don't know what are we talking about today we're talking about the new year's
00:01:19
Speaker
witchy new years and welcome back it's season three oh yeah season three episode one starting off like a shit show because my internet has decided it is not going to work today so we're trying our best guys yeah the world is working against us it really is but happy 2024 yes and uh happy new year's everyone welcome to season three and for us this is november 11th
00:01:51
Speaker
So not even Thanksgiving yet in America.
Researching New Year's History
00:01:54
Speaker
No, you're welcome. This is how hard we work. So kicking us off, I do want to say and give a little caveat before I get into the history. A lot of the history that I researched for this, I pulled from this website that I didn't realize was like a super Christian website until I was like pretty close to being done researching.
00:02:20
Speaker
but let me just say the website that I use because you know sometimes it can be very like biased or very like leaning towards like paganism is evil this website I was very surprised that it was more so like just giving information giving history and not so much of
00:02:40
Speaker
This is why it's a Christian holiday. It's actually talking about the pagan roots of something and I really appreciate that. I was honestly really surprised. Let's kick off with some history and background on New Year's and the pagan roots about this holiday.
Pagan Roots of New Year's
00:02:58
Speaker
While many witches today celebrate New Year's along the wheel of the year and
00:03:02
Speaker
this would make it falling right on or right after Samhain. Today we are going to be discussing New Year's Day based on the Gregorian calendar, so celebrated on January 1st. Like many of the other holidays we celebrate in Western society, New Year's Day has its history steeped in pagan rituals and traditions. And we've discussed this many times on the podcast, but just as a refresher,
00:03:23
Speaker
Many of the celebrations that our ancestors took part in were linked to agricultural and astronomical events, and this is a case with the
Cultural Variations in New Year's Celebrations
00:03:30
Speaker
New Year's as well. The earliest New Year's was celebrated over 4000 years ago in Babylon, and it took place during the first new moon following the vernal equinox.
00:03:39
Speaker
In Assyria, it fell in line with the New Moon nearest to the autumn equinox, making it mid-September. But historically, there seems to be a lot of variation to when New Year's was celebrated. So Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Persians
00:03:55
Speaker
started their year at the autumn equinox on September 21st. If you were Greek, you would have celebrated with the winter solstice on December 21st. The Roman Republican calendar marked the new year on March 1st, but in 153 BCE, the official date became January 1st, and this was then continued in the Julian calendar of 46 BCE.
00:04:18
Speaker
Christian Europeans during the medieval times celebrated New Year on March 25th, and it was part of the Feast of the Annunciation, and it was celebrated on December 25th by Anglo-Saxon England. The Roman Catholic Church adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1582 and made New Year's Day January 1st, which most of the European countries followed suit over time, but this wasn't like a fast change for it either. Like this happened over like 200 years
00:04:46
Speaker
people started slowly integrating it to be January
Adoption of Gregorian Calendar
00:04:50
Speaker
1st. And there was even, I didn't put all of this, but there was a point in time where like, I forget who came in, but someone came in and was in charge and they were like, New Year's is now on January 1st. And everyone was like, no, but they still like had to celebrate it there. Because that's when this ruler said that it had to be. And then when they weren't in charge anymore, they had changed it back to like a different date. And then it got changed, like it was this whole like back and forth and back and forth. And eventually it ended on January 1st.
00:05:15
Speaker
And then religions and cultures that use a lunar calendar still observe New Year's on various days throughout the year. And some of those include like the Jewish religion, Muslim religions, China, Southern India, Tibetans, Thailand, and Japan.
Babylonian Akitu Festival
00:05:30
Speaker
Yeah. And so going a little bit deeper into two of
00:05:35
Speaker
those ancient pagan civilizations, I guess. I found quite a bit of information on ancient Babylon in Rome, so a little bit more regarding ancient Babylon. They celebrated a festival during this time, and it was called Akitu. I hope I'm saying that right. I couldn't really find a pronunciation guide for that word, but we're supposed to say Akitu, and it was taken from the Sumerian word for barley.
00:06:02
Speaker
This festival lasted like 11 days and a different ritual was conducted on each day. And during this time, statues of gods were paraded throughout the streets and rites were put on to symbolize victory over the forces of chaos. And the rites were conducted to cleanse and recreate the world in preparation for spring.
00:06:21
Speaker
I also read that the ancient Babylonians used this time to return farm equipment that they borrowed from others. So it was like, it's the new year return that stuff you borrowed like whole situation, which I thought was hilarious. That's honestly really funny. And it reminds me of like something that I have borrowed from my neighbor that I have not like
00:06:44
Speaker
given back and she's going on holiday for like a month so I'm not going to see her until Christmas so maybe I should make it a New Year's thing and like give it back to her as a New Year's gift. I'm celebrating the New Year's like the Akitu.
00:06:56
Speaker
Right. Here's your things back. Here's your things back. Really taking it back to ancient pagan roots here. Yeah. So the principal god celebrated during Akitu was Marduk and he was the sky god and he was celebrated for his mythical victory over a sea goddess named Tiamat. And during Akitu the new king would be crowned or the current king's rule would be extended.
00:07:22
Speaker
And this would happen during one of the many rites and celebrations during those 11 days. And I thought this was really funny, also kind of interesting, but also terrible. They had a public ritual of humiliation for either the new king or the king that was going to be having the ruler or the rule extended. So they would be brought before the statue of Marduk, stripped, slapped, and dragged by the ears until they cried.
00:07:50
Speaker
if or when they cried, this was seen that Marduk was satisfied and extended the king's rule. Now I'm a huge baby. Yeah. But also like, in what civilization do you see like them treat a king that way, right? Like it would be like, you did what? No, off with your head. Right. To the dungeons. It would be like, oh, we could do that to a woman, but we're not doing it to the king. The king? Are you I? Yeah.
00:08:18
Speaker
I would just be like the longest reigning king in ancient Babylon because as soon as I would get stripped down, I would just start crying. Well, Marduk has blessed my rule. Well, he's happy with you. Yeah, that would be me. So moving on from ancient Babylon, let's talk a little bit more about ancient Rome.
Roman New Year Traditions
00:08:38
Speaker
The modern celebration of New Year's comes from the Roman celebration of the god Yannis, but it's felt like
00:08:43
Speaker
J-A-N-U-S, just time for listeners. Janice. Janice, but it's not Janice. It's Janice. I just looked it up on Google, if you don't believe me. This was originally celebrated at the start of a new season and on the vernal equinox. Originally, the ancient Roman calendar was 10 months or around 304 days, and each new year began in spring. Like ancient Babylon's,
00:09:10
Speaker
Ancient Romans also celebrated New Year's in spring. Over the years the calendar fell quote-unquote out of sync with the sun and Julius Caesar consulted with mathematicians and various astronomers to create a new calendar that was based on the sun and it's
00:09:26
Speaker
the closest thing that we have to the Gregorian calendar that we use today. So he made January 1st, New Year's Day in honor of Giannis. And honestly, so like whenever I was doing my research on this, I was like, we've already talked about this dude. And I went back and looked, we have briefly mentioned to him. So if he sounds familiar, that's why.
00:09:44
Speaker
We discuss Janus very, very briefly on the podcast in episode 15 of season 1, and this was the God and Goddesses episode. His full name was Janus Bifrons, and this means the God who looked both ways.
00:09:59
Speaker
He's tied to the concept of transitioning from one year to the next. He was also worshipped at the beginning of harvest season, at birth, marriages, and deaths. He was also seen as the god of gods for the Romans and he's the most important Roman god and he inaugurated the seasons and the first of each month is considered sacred to him. So there are a lot of pagan traditions surrounding New Year's,
00:10:22
Speaker
especially with ancient Romans. And some of these we still see today. So they offered sacrifices to Yanis to gain good fortune throughout the year. They decorated their home with laurel branches and spent the day partying. I mean, I don't know much about the laurel branches, but I mean, obviously the partying and stuff like we still see that today. They would exchange gifts and it was common for friends and family to give figs and honey.
00:10:45
Speaker
Cakes were also made of spelt salt and burned at altars and this was not just done on New Year's but also on the first of each month in honor to Giannis. And Kissing at New Year's, this derives from an ancient Roman practice rooted in pagan sex practice and superstition. And then the Watch Night services were also practiced
00:11:05
Speaker
on as a part of the new year celebration. So people would watch out for evil spirits who they believed would roam the earth during this time of year. And this led to the tradition of staying up until midnight to ring in the new year. Also something that I didn't realize was an ancient Roman way that they celebrated was eating pork and black eyed peas. This originates from Giannis and the ancient Romans, which I thought was pretty cool.
00:11:30
Speaker
You see that today still, people that have zero ties to paganism, even that is a very common meal for that time. It really is. I find it so common because I grew up eating that. I know a lot of people who grew up in the South also grew up eating that. I'm just like, that's crazy how much that has transitioned throughout the world.
00:11:52
Speaker
So his wife, Karna, who is a goddess of human organs, she was honored during a festival with a dish of fava beans and pork bacon. And this, again, was one of the ways that they would celebrate New Year's. And so the beans were used to symbolize rebirth, and the pork was the preferred sacrificial meat to the gods. And so that is why we eat beans and pork on New Year's. Interesting. So interesting.
00:12:20
Speaker
So real quickly though, I wanted to touch on medieval Europe as well.
Medieval Europe and Christian Influence
00:12:24
Speaker
So pagan celebrations were abolished by the Council of Tours in 567 AD and they were replaced with, of course, boring Christian celebrations like Christmas and the Feast of Annunciation on March 15th, not March 15th, on March 25th. Let me go ahead and get that date right because that was not even close.
00:12:44
Speaker
The Catholic Church wanted to Christianize January because, of course they did, so they created the feast of the circumcision. I should have looked this up a little bit more because I've never heard of this, but whenever I was typing this, I'm like, what the fuck? They're celebrating his circumcision? That is so weird. That is very weird. I believe you're so grossed out by this.
00:13:06
Speaker
Yes. So it says that this day venerated Christ's eighth day of life following the Jewish tradition. So I don't know if that's the typical day that children during this time were circumcised, but why would we celebrate that? That is so fucking weird. That is weird. It's very weird.
00:13:25
Speaker
In 1582, Pope Gregory VIII reestablished January 1st as New Year's Day, and Britain didn't adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752, and before then, Britain and the American colonies celebrated New Year's in March.
00:13:41
Speaker
which is really interesting. Yeah. I thought it was so crazy that, I mean, I assumed there might be like slight variations, but like the celebrations for New Year's, it's like anywhere from sometime in, I think September was the earliest one that we said, all the way through like March. Yeah.
00:14:00
Speaker
It's crazy to see how things and in different practices, how they're so different, but they're so similar throughout all of these ancient pagan religions and just ancient civilizations because it's not like, I mean, yeah, for maybe Europe, it's like, okay, it makes sense why certain civilizations would have somewhat similar beliefs.
00:14:26
Speaker
But then whenever you include ancient Babylon and Japan and all these different places, you're just like, I know it was pretty difficult to get from point A to point B, and you guys didn't speak the same language. How are some of these same celebrations happening, but just variations of it? It's weird.
00:14:48
Speaker
Well, and not only like the date, but historically, the New Year was celebrated with feasts, though it seems that customs also differed like just as much as the date did throughout history. So just a couple of examples, because again, we don't want to be here like all day talking about like all the differences, but like the Norse basically just threw a huge winter solstice feast and that was their New Year celebration. So they're like, here's the winter solstice. Here's a giant fucking party.
00:15:14
Speaker
Eat all this food. Happy New Year, everyone. And then ancient Egyptians and Greek societies would parade a baby around as a symbol of the new year, apparently. And I couldn't find a lot of information on this. I'm still a little confused, but I guess the baby became the symbol of new year. And so they would parade this baby up and down the street as part of their celebration.
00:15:39
Speaker
poor baby. I wonder if he's like, I just really want to eat. I'm starving. There's so many people around. I don't understand what's happening. Yeah. Apparently, babies are New Year symbols. If you have a baby, feel free to parade them around the streets, I guess.
00:15:59
Speaker
How can we make New Year's just a little more witchy or a little more pagan? Something you could do is just do a complete reset on your home and your space. This is the perfect time to set the tone for the rest of
Witchy Practices for New Year's Celebrations
00:16:11
Speaker
your year. So just clean your house top to bottom, incorporating a little magic as you go. You can do something like create a wash for your floors. You know Sam and I talk about this like consistently on the podcast any time we talk about cleansings, but just like open up all your doors and windows and let out the stagnant energy.
00:16:29
Speaker
refresh your protection bowls if you have them, salt your doorways, blow cinnamon in your door, smoke cleanse, whatever it is that you feel like is going to set that tone for the new year, just spend the day like going around and doing that. Make sure you also do this to the outside of your house too, like the outside of your house also needs to be cleaned and given attention. So like clean your entryways, your sidewalks, wipe down your patio furniture, wash your doors and windows, clean your gutters, and
00:16:56
Speaker
While cleaning seams mundane, it helps to clear that negative or that stagnant energy from your space. So doing this on New Year's really will help you like set that tone going forward.
00:17:07
Speaker
Instead of setting typical New Year's resolutions, like losing weight or learning a new skill, you can spend some time meditating, visualizing, and manifesting what you want to attract in the new year. That could be a change of career, higher pay, starting a business, literally anything, whatever it is that you're wanting to focus on for that new year. Just meditate, clear your mind of all the clutter, visualize what you're wanting to work on, and manifest that shit into your life.
00:17:35
Speaker
Then spend some time reflecting on your previous year. So just write down what you loved about it, what you disliked about it, and what you want to see moving forward in the new year. Set goals that are going to help you manifest what you want. You can create a new year's altar. So honor any deities that you work with by using correspondences for them.
00:17:55
Speaker
add items that represent your goals for the upcoming year, or just in general, add items that encompass your theme for the year. And an example would be adding crystals to help bring things into your year. If you're trying to attract love, you could use a garnet for love and passion. You could use onyx for strength, peridot for healing, tiger's eye for protection, et cetera. I am going to talk about crystals a little more in depth in a little bit, but those are just some examples.
00:18:24
Speaker
Um, and you can also use herbs for this too, like lavender for protection and calm, parsley for fertility, sage for protection and purification, et cetera. Like just look up the correspondences and use, you know, whatever it is that you're trying to get or what you're trying to manifest and put that on your altar. If you work with a deity, something to do to honor them for new years would be to leave them an offering and spend some time connecting with them. I was reading this one article and they were talking about like if
00:18:53
Speaker
in particular on New Year's, you're going to be consuming alcohol like yourself. It's suggested that your offering also includes an alcoholic beverage. It didn't say why though. So I don't know if it's like, like a bonding thing. I don't really know. But it was like, specifically, if you are drinking, you should then offer like your deity as well. So I found that interesting.
00:19:16
Speaker
Um, and this practice can also be used for like your spirit guides and your ancestors.
Divination and Crystals for New Year
00:19:21
Speaker
And then practice a little divination too. So whether it's like a tarot card reading, scrying, reading your tea leaves, et cetera, just spend a little time reading for your new year. And then I came across this blog. It's called the Eclectic Witchcraft Blog and it's written by a girl named Emma and I already forgot her last name because I have ADD brain. Emma Keitler, I think is how you say it.
00:19:45
Speaker
But she basically went through and she wrote each of the crystals out and like how they can help you in the new year. So some examples would be that amethyst will help you to find the wisdom to make the right choices in the coming year. It's also noted that it helps with breaking bad habits and it's been connected to sobriety for centuries.
00:20:07
Speaker
Agate gives you the strength and courage to do hard things that are required to make positive changes. It can also help stop your emotions from getting in the way of your successes. Obsidian is known to help boost self-control. If your resolution is to break a habit or even to form a new one, Obsidian can aid you along the way. Amazonite brings luck and calming energy, and it's great for those that might be moving or changing careers.
00:20:33
Speaker
Sunstone helps lift moods and is known as the crystal of leadership and determination. Bloodstone is known for boosting energy and endurance, which could be especially helpful for those with fitness goals for the new year. Tourmaline helps prevent time and energy vampires from sucking you dry and it deflects negative energies.
00:20:54
Speaker
Carnelian helps lift your spirits and your confidence to help you follow through with your plans. And it also brings luck. Citrine, use this if your goals and resolutions include money. And Pyrite is used for business and career success.
Incorporating Pagan Rituals
00:21:09
Speaker
So now that we've talked about a bit how you can include
00:21:14
Speaker
some different practices in your New Year celebrations, some of the correspondences, crystals, all that good stuff. Let's end the episode with a couple of rituals that we think would be really awesome to put on this New Year's.
00:21:30
Speaker
And especially if like you're listening to this and you've never had like a pagan or witchy new years before you don't know what to do or it seems kind of overwhelming with all of the different things. These are two very simple things that you can do to I guess make it more of a ritual practice for you.
00:21:48
Speaker
First thing super easy a ritual bath you can just simply take a bath while incorporating healing herbs like lavender rose and eucalyptus add some sea salt for energy cleansing and then just light a candle and relax in your bathroom and
00:22:05
Speaker
focus on letting any stress or negativity go from your body, especially as it relates to leaving things in 2023 and bringing only good things into 2024. As the water drains, imagine all that stress and negative energy releasing and leaving your life and something that you can say, especially if you're having trouble with wondering thoughts or you don't know exactly what to say or do in this situation, you can just simply repeat, I released the past year, so more to be.
00:22:33
Speaker
So another thing that you can do that's super easy for a New Year's ritual includes things like a white and a black candle of similar size, a fireproof dish or a cauldron, paper, pen, and a clear quartz, and sage or your smoke cleanser of choice. And basically what you're going to do is you're going to start by cleansing your space yourself and all your tools.
00:22:53
Speaker
Tear your sheet of paper in half and on one half, write down everything that you wish to let go. Let go of or to gain closure on. On the other half, write down everything that you want to attract in the new year. Then you're going to light your black candle and focus on the flame as you read through the list of things that you want to release. Concentrate on each one of them and then once you're done, you're going to burn that paper or you're going to not, I guess not burn it with the candle, but you're going to light it on fire with the candle and then put it in your cauldron and let it burn.
00:23:23
Speaker
You're not going to hold it in the candle while it's burning. So as it burns, visualize all those things releasing from you. Then you're going to take three deep cleansing breaths and you're going to smoke cleanse your space again because you want to create space between what you've just released and what you want to attract. So then once you have finished
00:23:45
Speaker
Cleansing again, you're going to take that second list and you're going to read through it while you're holding the quartz crystal in one of your hands. Focus on how you feel once each of these things are going to be manifested and visualize everything on this list coming to you within the year. Once you're ready, you then light the white candle to balance the black and symbolize all that you're bringing into being.
00:24:07
Speaker
place the paper under the crystal on your altar and then allow the candle to burn out completely. And that's it. It's super easy. Anyone can do it. Both of these are very beginner friendly. And they're just little easy ways that you can make your New Year's just a little bit more pagan or witchy.
00:24:23
Speaker
Yeah. And then if you are going to do one of these rituals, or if you have a ritual that you already do, or any sort of celebrations that you just already do, let us know. Tag us in any of your ritual practices or celebrations on Instagram. We'd love to see it. Yeah, we'd love to hear all about them.
00:24:59
Speaker
That's it for this episode of Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft. You can find our source material for this episode linked in the show notes. If you loved this episode, we would be forever thankful if you leave us a five-star review on wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you really love the show and want more Get In Loser content, check out our Supercast link provided in the show notes or search the Supercast website for Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft.
00:25:21
Speaker
There you can purchase a membership to our podcast and obtain exclusives like getting episodes early, shoutouts on the show, access to our Ask Me Anything forum, our monthly newsletter, a promo code for merchandise, and more. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at GiddinWitches or email us at we'redoingwitchcraft at gmail.com. Check us out next week for another Witch Witch episode where we learn more about Romani and Celtic witchcraft.