Typical. On the last full moon of the project (and year), the sky is so bunged up with clouds, as to be impenetrable. So, no moon beams for me to exploit then. Today’s full moon is called the Full Cold Moon, which is pretty self-explanatory. Another name is the Oak Moon, so called as it’s said the Oak King has dominion over the year between the winter and summer solstices (the Holly King rules over the other half). But I took my inspiration from another name, the Moon after Yule.
And by inspiration, I mean very loose interpretation. The instructions said to write my intentions on a board or a log, representing the Yule Log (not the delicious chocolate roll variety, but the log brought to the hearth to burn throughout Yule, supposedly lit by the remains of the previous year’s log), and then set fire to it to seal the deal. However, the only boards I have are chopping ones and the Christmas tree has already been recycled, so no chance of using one of the branches. Besides, the burning of something that substantial sounded like a time commitment I didn’t have.
So I went all Little Matchgirl and wrote five goals for the coming year on five matchsticks, bundled them up, and torched them. It took two minutes and four extra matches to incinerate them properly.
I can’t remember ever having literally set fire to my New Year’s resolutions before. It felt quite satisfying. Although I now have no idea what I’m supposed to do with the cremated bits.
Resources
Leendertz, L. (2019) The Almanac, A Seasonal Guide to 2020, London, Mitchell Beazley
Neff, A. (ed) (2019) Llewellyn’s 2020 Witches’ Spell-A-Day Almanac, Holidays & Lore, Spells, Rituals & Meditations, Woodbury, MN, Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.
Simpson, J. and Roud, S. (2001) Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore, Oxford, Oxford University Press
