Most of us know how to spill a bit of champagne on New Year’s Eve and announce our resolutions for the year ahead. Many of us, however, also know what it’s like for our intentions to fall flat, sometimes as quickly as two weeks or even two days later. Gyms, dating agencies and weight-loss businesses know the January rush well. But what if you could make your resolutions stick in 2011? There are ways to prevent them from becoming just another list of momentary wishes that vanish into the ether this year.

New Year’s Eve’s wave of hope

As cultures all over the world celebrate the transition between the calendars, white witchcraft knows New Year’s Eve to generate an enormous energetic wave of hope, good feeling and potential for positive change. According to modern witch Stacey Demarco, it is a wave that can be ridden in support of your desires for the year ahead.

“New Year’s Eve is a very powerful gateway that is free from resistance to moving forward and a fantastic night to take advantage of,” Demarco says. Other gateways include dawn, sunset and the changing cycles of the moon.

One way to harness its power is with a New Year’s Eve spell (see below). It calls on the double-headed Goddess Jana (January) from ancient Rome to support your transition; one head symbolises the past, the other the present, which also represents the gate to your future. In preparation, however, you must decipher what you truly want by thinking big and making a clear list of intentions phrased in the positive. For example: “I want to get rid of fear” becomes “I fearlessly move forward in my life.”

Demarco says the most popular resolutions globally relate to health (weight release and healthy eating), money (generating more prosperity) and love (creating better relationships). If your list includes a long-held desire that has previously failed to manifest, take the time to identify the obstacles that have prevented you from getting it in the past. The most common include lack of clarity, lack of knowledge around how to get it, fear and procrastination.

“When I’m casting my New Year’s Eve spell, I always request universe participation by asking ‘What is the one thing I can do to get this going?’,” Demarco says. “It’s important to identify little steps that can move you in the right direction. If you’re on the right track, life will always give you a boost by throwing in a supportive teacher or bringing you the information that will help you manifest your goal.”

Booster spells conducted monthly on the night of a full or new moon are important for keeping your resolutions at the forefront of your mind. “A lot of people start thinking about their New Year resolutions a couple of days before and wonder why they don’t get what they want,” Demarco says. “I get what I want because this stuff works but it’s all about right thinking. The time to start preparing for the 2011 you want is now.”

New Year’s ritual or spell

Checklist: A glass of champagne, your intentions list, a brightly coloured candle to represent 2011, a white candle to represent 2010, a ceramic bowl filled with salted water.

The ritual: Light the candle that represents this year and say: “Universe, thank you very much. I am grateful for the bounty and lessons of this year. I have some intentions for 2011 to make it the best year ever. Read out everything you want from your list, loudly and with feeling. Then say: “Universe, I release this to you, knowing you have heard and that 2011 will be as I have wished it. So mote it be.”

Light the brightly coloured New Year candle, burn the list with its flame and place it in the ceramic bowl. Sprinkle some champagne on the ground and say: “I celebrate this with you, Goddess Jana of the gateway. May this year be magnificent!” Take a sip. Place both hands into salted water and say: “I wash away all doubt.” Then say: “Universe, what is the one thing that I can do to start this magnificent year?” Take note of any messages you get and action them. Blow out the 2010 candle and leave the other one burning until it goes down.

Booster: On the new or full moon, light a candle, give gratitude and remind the universe of your intentions. “Thank you for the five kilos I have released. Next month I’d like to release another two.”

Getting results

Entrepreneur Tim Levy is addicted to tangible results. To get them with his manifestation strategy he requires an acknowledgment that there is more than just the physical going on. Religions refer to it as God, while the new agers work with universal spirit, and the corporate community are most comfortable with the concept of synchronicity.

“When you’re cool with the fact that there is something bigger at work than just us, you can work with the other side’s way of arranging things for powerful results,” Levy says. “If you only go as far as noticing coincidence, that’s enough, but it’s the results that are, interestingly, addictive.”

There is one basic principle for effective manifestation that Levy shares with boardrooms across Australia and America: the things that you focus on unambiguously and consistently are the things that will show up. The exact same principle can be applied to nailing your New Year’s resolutions.

On unambiguity, Levy says: “If you say, ‘This year I want a million bucks but I really don’t deserve it’ then you’re in an ambiguous place and the manifested response will be ambiguous, too. You must work through your wants and desires to make sure you are crystal clear about wanting them and that there’s no internal baggage around them.”

Create your New Year’s resolution list mindfully, honestly and with an open heart as this is a process that can move you into an important space of unambiguity and crystal clarity. Resist the urge to look back on the things you did badly in the year before as your list will be reactionary and limited by the parameters of how your life looks and feels right now.

“You don’t want a New Year’s resolution list that includes ‘drink less, party less, take less drugs, smack my kids less’,” Levy says. “Focus on what would be awesome for you instead, the absolute best that could happen, so the process is inspired, fun and your resolutions become something you can really get excited about.”

The second part of Levy’s manifestation principle is consistency. New Year’s resolutions are a fantastic way to start the year but should be renamed monthly, bi- or tri-monthly resolutions, he believes. “Imagine having a dream you only think about once a year verses one you check in on regularly. It’s the consistency of focus that provides the power for them to manifest.”

International author and speaker Dr Wayne Dyer agrees. In fact, Dyer recommends revisiting your goals every single night before sleep. “Spend the last five minutes of your day visualising what you want as you lie in bed so your subconscious mind can marinate in them while you sleep,” he says.

The benefit of New Year’s Eve, however, is that sharing your resolutions with family and friends can produce inspired thought and action that will support you in making them stick. So take your mind forward to the big day now and to your crystal clarity around wanting to give up alcohol in 2011. What if you find yourself downing a bottle of wine come January 3? Try to give up your all-or-nothing thinking.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself as it may be that the January 3 glass of wine is an important milestone in your ability to make the decision to put it down for good,” Levy says. “Just acknowledge it’s a different step from what you expected and reiterate that you still identify with the desire to be healthy and hydrated.”

Manifestation

• Get crystal clear on goals. With 100 per cent clarity, things will start to show up.
• Share resolutions with loved ones for inspired thinking and action.
• Be consistent. Reiterate your goals regularly.
• Be open to receive in ways you weren’t expecting. The universe has more ways for something to manifest than the number you can hold in your head.
• Give up all-or-nothing thinking.
  

Eloise King is the founder of Soul Sessions. W: www.soulsessions.com.au