How you can find yours…
For the last five years or so, I’ve had the short-hand of focus for my annual goals through one word. I’m sure I picked it up on a Pinterest board somewhere and hold no ownership of this ritual. But I learned that it was a great way to provide a theme and overarching feeling for my year ahead. I use it as a quick re-focus on what I want to accomplish. I normally pick a word that is a verb, because I want action for my goals for the year.
Last year (2021) my word was Explore. It was the thing I missed from my former lifestyle, and wanted to expand those opportunities within our new lifestyle. I spent a lot of time exploring what was going to push me forward to this new life we had been thrown into because the COVID-19 pandemic made our travel life understandably hard. I explored what it meant to be stationary again. What I wanted to accomplish moving forward. Things that interested me: astrology, growing things, new ways of relating, healing, new cuisines, perfecting sourdough bread, creating a Witch Camp strawman, growing Runa Troy’s Magical Services & Goods, raising geese, the list goes on and on.
It was a great year of exploration, this year I wanted to use the new knowledge that I found throughout 2021 to propel my goals further into this year (2022).
This year my word is Curate (or its adjective form, Curative). The short hand description and desire of why I chose this word for 2022: Curate a healthy existence to keep learning while leaning into abundance that comes with knowledge by consistently practicing mindful Magic and Earth healing while writing it all down.
Coming up with a Word of the Year can be a ritual/spell in itself. If you’re interested in how to do that, there’s some easy steps.
Watch for Divine Downloads: First and foremost, the universe may just step in and let you know what that word is. Approaching and maybe even after the first few days of the year, you may be presented with a word that keeps popping up in conversation, media you digest, or even in a dream. Listen to those whispers and voices, they are leading you to what is going to aid you moving forward in the next year. Don’t shrug it off. If you aren’t sure, read ahead.
Free Write: Back in school you may have learned about mind mapping or word clouds, etc. Sit down and just write down words that you think might stand in as quick shorthand for your goals for the year. Don’t judge yourself here. Just write it all down. Let it lead you to another word and another word.
Divine: Pull a Rune, or Oracle Card. Pull out your dictionary and just do a bit of Bibliomancy. Ask friends to give you the first word that pops in their head. Write it all down.
Narrow The Options: Sit down in a comfortable place. I used my meditation space to just scribble and cross off and reconfigure words that didn’t quite hit the mark. For example, discernment was one of the words that was on my list, but didn’t quite hit the mark. I pulled out the thesaurus as I sat cross-legged on my cushion and found Curative. I added it and then went through some of the other words: temperance, care-free, untroubled, etc. Until I felt this organic resonation.
Dive Deep: Once you have a top 5 or top 3, look up the actual definitions and make sure they really speak to you. My top three were Essential, Consistent, and Curate. I did some more mind mapping to decide which felt like it fit within the goals I wanted for the year.
No Wrong Answer: If you choose a word and get to the month of March and find that it’s not working, you can adjust, change, and rechoose a word. This is an exercise for you and you alone. You can share your chosen word, or not. It’s your prerogative.
Ritualize It: Hang the word or post it in places that will give you a reminder of what you are trying to accomplish for your year ahead. Have your kids draw a picture of the word for the fridge. Put a sticky note on your mirror. Get one of those Home store signs with the word on it (they seem to have every word worth focusing on in a sign). Get a mug with the word on it for your morning coffee or afternoon tea. You get my drift by now. Put it in your face and make it partner with you for the year.
Block out Time: I blocked out an hour a day for my Explore time. And this year it will be Curate. That’s a lot of time. I’m a Crone. I’ve worked my tail off throughout my life so that I could create a life that lets me do something like focus on my goals. But if you only have fifteen minutes, give yourself fifteen minutes. But an hour a day towards anything that will take a year to accomplish is paltry. Blocking out the time makes it sacred and you’re more apt to stick to it. So, schedule your goal making.
Moon Magic: Each New and Full Moon, do some record keeping and see how your word is guiding you. Are you making small steps towards your vision for 2022? Where can you realign yourself and your goals? It may seem a simple little spell, but it’s powerful. The more you hang out here on my little Witchy blog the more you’ll find that I love simple and powerful.
We can only make progress towards our goals when we have envisioned it clearly and focus all our energy on it. Having a Word of the Year is just one more tool towards manifesting that reality we want, and getting down to business to make it happen.
Whatever your Word of the Year, I wish you a clear path to being your truest self and living your best life.
