New Beginnings

A Ritual to Foster Completion Before Beginning Anew

Ritual connects us to our intuition. Ritual celebrates movement, however small. Ritual invites collaboration with the unseen. Ritual is accessible to all.

Let’s get to the first ritual, which is one I use to invite a sense of completion.

Recently, I needed to wrap up a writing project that had been hanging over my head for too long. The first step in moving on from the project was to recognize and release my patriarchally-ingrained drive for perfection (Here’s my recent Instagram post on Completion vs. Perfection).

Next, I asked myself what needed to happen for this project to feel complete. I wrote down three things. With the list in hand, I ticked off those items.

Full disclosure: This part of the step took two days … but knowing I was finally moving towards completion heartened me for the tasks at hand.

After reaching a place of completion, I gathered blossoms from my lilac bushes and brought them inside. There, I lit a candle and created a representational threshold by lining up a few eye pillows on the floor in front of me—because I had these handy. You might use books (especially ones with relevance to your new project) or make a line out of yarn or pens.

I then created a trail of fragrant spring blooms to guide me from one side of the threshold to the other (if blooms aren’t available, you could improvise with special stones or create a sign with an arrow saying, “New beginnings, this way”).

Photo by Juja Han on Unsplash

Once I found myself standing at the threshold, I thanked my now-complete project (but this could be a role or a relationship) for all it taught me. Aloud, I said, “You are now complete. I release you to the world.”

I went through the motions of closing an invisible door on that project. Then I said, “I welcome this new beginning, I welcome my _____ project.”

If you don’t yet know what’s next, simply say, “I welcome what’s next.” By closing doors, you create space for “what’s next” to reveal itself.

Then, hands open, I stepped across the threshold I’d created.

I left the lilacs on the floor for the remainder of the day to honor the new beginning. Not necessary if you have small children or pets. When you do pick up the blooms, it can be satisfying to ceremoniously release them back into the natural world.

Is there a project in your life hovering at the edge of completion? I invite you to engage with ritual to help you move towards a sense of completion and invite in new beginnings.

May you write and live with presence.

Heidi