Spiritual Ways to Celebrate the New Year & Manifest Good Luck

There's a mystical and magical energy that flows abundantly through the air around New Years Eve/New Years Day.

It's an energy of endings and new beginnings.

Death and rebirth.

Reflection and setting new intentions.

This is why New Years Eve/Day is synonymous with the Death tarot card. It sends a chill up your spine when you see it laid out in front of you, but you'll soon realise that the Death tarot card (i.e. the New Year ahead) is a welcoming offer to help positively transform and enhance your life, whilst ending what isn't working for you (i.e. change and new opportunities).

The New Year is a metamorphosis of the old you into the person you are going to become. Similar to a caterpillar into a butterfly. You are never the same as you were a year ago, because of your life experiences and the spiritual lessons that you are taught.

This is something to be celebrated, and has been celebrated for millennia with the origin of New Year’s Day (or at least first record in the history books) dating all the way back to ancient Babylon.

So it's basically part of our human nature to tap into this potent energy of change at the turn of a new year.

Most commonly, in the modern era, we set ourselves New Years resolutions to help us reach those out-of-reach goals.

You could ride off of the energetic wave of the New Year celebrations (which we all know inevitably results in abandoning your goal after a month at best).

Or you could continue reading to gain longer-lasting & intentional manifestation ideas on how to set achievable goals for the New Year ahead, and ways to clearly communicate with the Universe what you wish to attract; whether it be health, good luck, fortune, fame, creativity, travel, or love.

And remember: metamorphosis is a delicate process that shouldn't be rushed. Persistence is always key when manifesting the future that you're dreaming of.

Fortune Foodie

Among many different cultures you'll find a New Year's tradition that (quite literally) in some way shape or form involves eating food to bring you good fortune in the new year.

Round-shaped foods (like doughnuts, cherries, grapes, lentils, dumplings, etc) are eaten in the Philippines in a midnight feast called Media Noche on New Years Eve. The round foods are representative of coins, fortune, and abundance.

A New Year's tradition in Spain is to eat 12 grapes on each chime of the bell after it strikes midnight. This tradition is called 'Las doce uvas de la suerte' meaning the twelve grapes of luck, as each grape eaten is to represent good luck in each of the 12 months ahead.

In Japan a dish called Toshi-koshi soba (meaning 'year-crossing soba') is eaten as the noodles are representative of a long and prosperous life, or longevity and resilience in anything you do/create/build.

Or, if you're lucky enough to get to celebrate a magical New Year in New York City at the Times Square Ball, make sure to try their unique New Yorker tradition of breaking open a pink peppermint pig. It's made from sugar and peppermint that's been poured into a mould of a lucky pig - certainly a fresh way to start the new year!

Spiritual Ritual

Raise your spiritual vibration before the new year ahead by lighting a candle, performing a prosperity spell, cleansing your home with sage…

Something that you feel will help clear out what is old, and bring in what is new.

Feeling this energy surround you will help assist you with transitioning seamlessly into the new year, and start the year off on a positive note - ready to receive the spiritual lessons and gifts that the new year will bring.

If you're a social butterfly, invite some friends and/or family round on New Years Eve and invite everyone to share what they are most grateful for this past year. And what they wish to nurture or manifest in the new year.

You can do this by passing around a shell ('Lord of the Flies' -style) to let everyone talk one-by-one, or use any natural/meaningful object you have to hand.

Natural objects (such as a feather, pinecone, flower, or a log if you have a wood burner) can help keep the conversation grounded and enlightened.

And a meaningful object (such as a picture of a lost loved one, a precious family heirloom or trinket, or even light a handheld sparkler each if you're outside ready to watch some New Years fireworks) can help connect with what is most purposeful and enriching to your soul.

Reflections of You

Knowing who you are is essential for mapping out the pathway to who you want to become. Part of this process is reflecting on the past year.

What are some of your treasured achievements? What were your failures? Where was your mind focussed? What did you neglect? Who did you spend most of your time with? Was there anything you wished you had done? Or hadn't done?

Writing down all these thoughts and reflections in a journal, or speaking them out loud can help with processing this information (which we don't often give ourselves time for in our busy day-to-day lives).

And in a way, it is a form of writing down/telling a story from the chapter of your own book.

It's much easier to analyse a character in a book or a film and see where they're going wrong, or how strong they really are when faced with an obstacle. Which is why this practice can be quite helpful with your own personal development and self reflection.

Always try to learn from what you’ve experienced in the past year so that you know what you want to give to/receive from the Universe in the coming year. And how you can overcome what might be blocking you.

Note down the areas of your life that you want to improve, and set yourself achievable goal posts on how to get there in the new year. It's through continuous effort that we are able to achieve things that seem like a far-off dream.

And it's through internal reflection that the child inside of us will beam with pride at what you've been able to achieve.

Vision of the Future

Creating a Vision Board is a great way to help illustrate how you want your future to look.

And by placing your Vision Board somewhere in your home so that you'll be able to glance at your future on a daily basis can help rewire your brain to make active efforts towards making it a reality.

If you'd love to travel and explore Greece and it's mythical temples, then place a picture on your Vision Board of the hotel you want to stay in, the ancient sites you want to visit, the restaurants you want to try, and you can also include pictures of who you want to go with.

Or if you want to get back into the habit of reading books as much as you did back when you were in school, then use pictures of books on your TBR (to be read) list, and a number for the amount of books you want to read. Or better yet, place your vision board on/next to your bookcase for a constant visual reminder to yourself.

You'll realise that the Universe will begin to send you signs, such as an advert on the bus or a random overheard conversation, to tell you that it's received your Vision Board messages of what you wish to attract.

These signs from the Universe will help guide you on how to best achieve your Vision Board goals, sometimes in unexpected ways.

Perhaps you'll see a sign about your dream holiday to Greece and decide to have a cheeky look at flight prices, only to discover that they're on offer at an exceptionally good deal at the exact hotel you wanted to stay in.

Once you start to believe that the Universe can provide wonderful things for you, it will provide in abundance.

Dress Code: Manifestation

Simply put; wear what you want to attract.

Whether it be love, money, confidence, or travel, wearing certain colours and objects/symbols can help send out a signal to the Universe to say “Here it is, this is what I want!”.

You can wear reds or pinks for love. Gold or green for money. Yellow for happiness. Blue for wisdom and emotional healing. Or white for spiritual enlightenment, or relaxing spa days.

Colour theory definitely comes in handy, as knowing what each colour represents can help determine what you want to bring more of into your life.

Also, don’t be afraid to get more specific.

If you want to learn how to speak French, buy a t-shirt with a French phrase embroidered on it. Wear a gemstone necklace (such as citrine) for attracting confidence & prosperity in the workplace. Pack your sunglasses or a swimsuit into your everyday bag if you’re wanting to manifest a sunny getaway. Or, if you’re like me, wear lots of Disney merch to help attract your dream Disney World trip!

Wearing clothes and accessories intentionally is something you can easily do throughout the year. Which is why this is a fantastic low-effort way to maintain the momentum of manifesting and achieving your goals in the new year.

And what you decide to wear on New Year's day will set the tone for the year ahead.

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Currently residing in West Sussex, Maddie is a 26 y/o blogger and illustrator with a passion for mythology, legends, fairytales & folklore. You'll regularly find her escaping into fantasy books, films, TV, and games.