2023 Twelfth Night Resolutions Divination

 <insert photo of Twelfth Night altar>

While my liturgical year ended and began two months ago, the rest of the world* turned the page two days ago.  And so, the Twelfth Night of my Yule celebration conveniently coincides with New Year's Eve.

As the five or ten of you who read along regularly know, I like to have a party that evening to celebrate.  It can be a bit much for this introvert, but I do it because I genuinely love hosting and making food and serving beverages to those that I care about.  Yuletide, and really all our holidays, began as group and family activities, and while I have done these things solo, it doesn't really put the cap on the season the same way.  

Our whole Yuletide season prefaces with the Krampus walk on the first Sunday in December. One grove member has a Wassail party soon thereafter to really kick things off, and then I bookend it on the other side, and then usually Yule and Winter Solstice rites in between. 

During my Twelve Nights of Yule** I draw a rune for each night in another forecast for the coming year.  So I present, this year's Twelfth Night divination!***  I usually do this with an eye towards resolutions, so if you have a hard time or want to use the runic energy to keep whatever you want to do, here you go!

January -- Hagalaz

Well, this on the face of it may seem like not a great way to start the year, but think of it.  Hagalaz is sudden, unavoidable change.  It is change that is necessary for new growth to come, the mandatory clearing away of everything that is in the way of progress. In this time of year for resolutions, this is a pretty good rune indeed.  In fact for some, a wholesale re-set is exactly what they are looking for.  Even if you aren't going to be agent of the destruction, you will at least be ready for it with this warning.

February -- Eihwaz

Whether the upheaval is of our own design, or imposed from without, we need to regroup and reconnect.  Eihwaz reaches down below to ground, and extends upwards to anchor to our pole star, our true north, and the line connecting the two is as strong as the yew tree (which is the meaning of the rune).  

March -- Gebo

"A gift for a gift" is a common line in our druid rites, speaking to the reciprocal rights and obligations that strengthen our connections with each other, and with spirit.  It's starting to warm up (here, anyway) so go ahead and make plans to reconnect with others. If you had a resolution, maybe your resolve is waning, so use this energy to connect with someone else who can support you, but remember the reciprocity!  Support them too!

April -- Nauðiz

Lighting a fire with two sticks is hard work. So is creating new habits, breaking old ones, or whatever.  But the work is worth it when you have that fire started.  For the ancients, fire was necessary for survival, and this work is also necessary.  Take heart in that, it is  worth it.

May -- Wunjo

Joy is the usual translation but the poem speaks more to the satisfaction and comfort of all needs met rather than elation.  Perhaps we learn that we can live without what we gave up? Or that we are living better with what we gained?  Either way, the changes made should be bearing fruit, and we can see how far we may have come.

June -- Isa

Ice in June?  Sure! Ice is healing and even welcome change can leave some bruising that ice can soothe.  Frozen water doesn't move, so Isa means to stop, to pause, but not a break.  If there's more to do for what you resolved, you can take a breather. Frozen water doesn't move forward, but it doesn't move backward either.  

July -- Uruz

The aurochs were big and strong and stubborn. This one feels like after the pause in June it's time to forge ahead and not. give. up.  I like to think of it this way. If an aurochs didn't want to move, nothing could make it; if an aurochs wanted to move, nothing could stop it. Be the aurochs that wants to move.

August -- Ingwaz

Ing the Anglo-Saxon "version" of Freyr, and a deity I associate with fellowship, peace, prosperity, and fertility.  This energy is of being in a good place and all sorts of other possibilities opening up.  Especially when you get to...

September -- Fehu

Wealth in the ancient world was sometimes in the form of cows, so Fehu is about that type of wealth. Of course, the energies here may not mean money per se, but could be a wealth of anything.  And then we get to...

October -- Berkano

The birch tree is another rune full of fertility energy and new possibilities. So many auspicious runes in a row!  Birch branches were also useful in saunas and purification rites; I sometimes think of Berkano as a softer Hagalaz.  Whatever is left to get rid of from January can fall away now.

November -- Ehwaz

The horse is movement forward.  It's time for you to take the reins, as you've successfully achieved what you set out to do in January. Of course, that doesn't mean you're done, as new habits or whatever need to constantly be reinforced, (just like old habits were) but again, you have the reins. You have the control.

December -- Thurisaz

Another cycle is ending, and a new one beginning. I often find that once I get rid of one thing, that then something else come to the front. (Usually this happens when I'm editing some writing.)  It's time in December to think of the next thing to resolve to change. Thurisaz is the thorn, and those can be tricky.  I often interpret the energy of thurisaz as an obstacle or challenge, but not impossible or insurmountable.  Whatever it is that we choose to tackle in 2024, we know we can do it.

Happy New Year!

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*except for the Chinese, Korean, Balinese, Iranian, Telegu, Kannada, Sinhalese, Tamil, Marwari, Gujarati, Jews, Muslims, and aboriginal Australians.....

**COMING SOON to a bookstore near you....rough draft is done!

*** I plan to add these in to my 'moontly' forecasts, to see how they correspond and work together.