The magickal power of words is.. well.. kind of my forté. Being a word shamaness who likes to teach people how to tell their soul stories and who seems to have found my personal “home” in my Style Statement (Sacred Sensual), I understand the power of a word to drive your life in the direction you want.
For the past two years I have chosen a word to encapsulate what quality or intention I wanted to experience and invite in during that year. Each year Goddess Leonie’s Creating Your Goddess Year Planner has had a section devoted to your annual word, but I first got the idea from Christine Kane over on her blog. (Last year she also featured a free nifty download to help you find your word, and I highly recommend it.)
For the past two years I have chosen a word to encapsulate what quality or intention I wanted to experience and invite in during that year. Each year Goddess Leonie’s Creating Your Goddess Year Planner has had a section devoted to your annual word, but I first got the idea from Christine Kane over on her blog. (Last year she also featured a free nifty download to help you find your word, and I highly recommend it.)
“Choosing” a Word
Since my “compass word” for the year 2012 has begun flirting with me, I’ve started talking about it amongst friends. And the more I talk about it, the more people ask me “How do you choose your word?”
Here’s the thing: I don’t. It chooses me!
The very first time I chose a word, I scanned Christine Kane’s list. I did a gut-check, listening for resonance, recognition, and also for that sickness in the pit of your stomach that you feel when you’ve seen something you wish you hadn’t seen because you can’t un-see it. You know what I’m talking about! Because once you’ve laid eyes on your word it is going to chase you around!
Perusing the list, I found a handful of words that all “spoke” to me. I think that’s pretty common, so if this happens to you, that’s perfect, too! I wrote down 3 or 4 words that resonated, and considered what they mean via the dictionary as well as what they meant to me. And then I left the list alone for a couple weeks, to see what came up. I would not consciously try to “decide”.. I would think about the words and see which one(s) kept coming up over and over again. Which one kept showing up as the answer to the issues at hand. Which one was starting to lose its luster and no longer looked as shiny as it did when I picked it. Your words will tell you if they are going to be your primary word, if they might be a secondary word, or if they think you just aren’t ready for them yet and maybe come back to them another year.
The second year I chose a word I didn’t look to a list like Christine’s. Since I had chosen a word for 2010, as the end of the year neared, part of me knew it was time, and the word that became “the word” made itself known to me, just as my 2012 word is doing now.
And Now.. You Must Steer Your Ship!
Now you’ve got your word.. what do you with it?
This is even more magickal than having a word choose you! This is juicy stuff. It’s also hard to explain, but that has never stopped me from trying!
So let me share a story.
For the past two years I have filled out Goddess Leonie’s planners with the things I wanted to do, focus on... plans I had for the year. But in each case, life had other plans. Almost everything on my 100 things to-do list this year was out of the question when I lost my job (no tattoo for me, and no nose ring while I’m looking for a job in conservative corporate America; forget a trip to Australia or my Super Goddess Road Trip or even the self-wedding of the century!). This frustrated me no end, and I wanted to chuck my 2011 planner out a window while driving very fast, except my car only goes about 40 safely and.. well. Anyway. Having a word saved my year from ruin!
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.”
- Louisa May Alcott
So much of my “plans” went unfulfilled, but by taking the long view in terms of how my life is changed when steered by a guiding word, I see there is much that went “right” in 2011.
I call it a “compass word”, a “steering word”. The word sets the tone. It can be a word you fall back on when you have a decision to make. This can be as mundane as what you are going to wear or as momentous as whether to break off an important relationship or take a job. Your word can guide the way. And when you ask yourself “What would [your word] do?” it will be obvious what you must do. You will feel it in your gut. That is magick!
In 2010 my word was Self-Love (I wrote my year end wrap-up on Christine’s blog here). Self-love sometimes meant comfort food was a perfectly appropriate indulgence and other times it meant I had to opt for veggies because that’s what my body really wanted. Self-love meant setting boundaries with loved ones whose energies clashed with mine. Self-love steered my ship, most of the time. Which was no small feat.
In 2011 my word has been Surrender. It has served as a reminder that resistance to what is only hurts the resistor -- me. It has helped me let go, which is a tad ironic because life has been ripping things away from me left and right; it is not as though I have had much choice! But better to go down peacefully than screaming and fighting, especially knowing at the end of the day that the losses are probably for my own good. Surrender means accepting that yes, it sucks. And I don’t have to put a smiley face on it, but I can sit with it and not be swallowed alive by the despair of not being willing to accept that certain things are no longer what they were. Fighting what is just hurts, weakens you, slows down the healing process. Breathing into the pain has gotten me through it faster. And the surrender of knowing that my ship sails the seas of Destiny, and all is as it should be, even when it doesn’t appear that way. All is well because it is always as it should be.
So those are my stories. Let’s summarize it into a recipe for you to follow:
Create Your Perfect Year with One Magick Word:
Since my “compass word” for the year 2012 has begun flirting with me, I’ve started talking about it amongst friends. And the more I talk about it, the more people ask me “How do you choose your word?”
Here’s the thing: I don’t. It chooses me!
The very first time I chose a word, I scanned Christine Kane’s list. I did a gut-check, listening for resonance, recognition, and also for that sickness in the pit of your stomach that you feel when you’ve seen something you wish you hadn’t seen because you can’t un-see it. You know what I’m talking about! Because once you’ve laid eyes on your word it is going to chase you around!
Perusing the list, I found a handful of words that all “spoke” to me. I think that’s pretty common, so if this happens to you, that’s perfect, too! I wrote down 3 or 4 words that resonated, and considered what they mean via the dictionary as well as what they meant to me. And then I left the list alone for a couple weeks, to see what came up. I would not consciously try to “decide”.. I would think about the words and see which one(s) kept coming up over and over again. Which one kept showing up as the answer to the issues at hand. Which one was starting to lose its luster and no longer looked as shiny as it did when I picked it. Your words will tell you if they are going to be your primary word, if they might be a secondary word, or if they think you just aren’t ready for them yet and maybe come back to them another year.
The second year I chose a word I didn’t look to a list like Christine’s. Since I had chosen a word for 2010, as the end of the year neared, part of me knew it was time, and the word that became “the word” made itself known to me, just as my 2012 word is doing now.
And Now.. You Must Steer Your Ship!
Now you’ve got your word.. what do you with it?
This is even more magickal than having a word choose you! This is juicy stuff. It’s also hard to explain, but that has never stopped me from trying!
So let me share a story.
For the past two years I have filled out Goddess Leonie’s planners with the things I wanted to do, focus on... plans I had for the year. But in each case, life had other plans. Almost everything on my 100 things to-do list this year was out of the question when I lost my job (no tattoo for me, and no nose ring while I’m looking for a job in conservative corporate America; forget a trip to Australia or my Super Goddess Road Trip or even the self-wedding of the century!). This frustrated me no end, and I wanted to chuck my 2011 planner out a window while driving very fast, except my car only goes about 40 safely and.. well. Anyway. Having a word saved my year from ruin!
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.”
- Louisa May Alcott
So much of my “plans” went unfulfilled, but by taking the long view in terms of how my life is changed when steered by a guiding word, I see there is much that went “right” in 2011.
I call it a “compass word”, a “steering word”. The word sets the tone. It can be a word you fall back on when you have a decision to make. This can be as mundane as what you are going to wear or as momentous as whether to break off an important relationship or take a job. Your word can guide the way. And when you ask yourself “What would [your word] do?” it will be obvious what you must do. You will feel it in your gut. That is magick!
In 2010 my word was Self-Love (I wrote my year end wrap-up on Christine’s blog here). Self-love sometimes meant comfort food was a perfectly appropriate indulgence and other times it meant I had to opt for veggies because that’s what my body really wanted. Self-love meant setting boundaries with loved ones whose energies clashed with mine. Self-love steered my ship, most of the time. Which was no small feat.
In 2011 my word has been Surrender. It has served as a reminder that resistance to what is only hurts the resistor -- me. It has helped me let go, which is a tad ironic because life has been ripping things away from me left and right; it is not as though I have had much choice! But better to go down peacefully than screaming and fighting, especially knowing at the end of the day that the losses are probably for my own good. Surrender means accepting that yes, it sucks. And I don’t have to put a smiley face on it, but I can sit with it and not be swallowed alive by the despair of not being willing to accept that certain things are no longer what they were. Fighting what is just hurts, weakens you, slows down the healing process. Breathing into the pain has gotten me through it faster. And the surrender of knowing that my ship sails the seas of Destiny, and all is as it should be, even when it doesn’t appear that way. All is well because it is always as it should be.
So those are my stories. Let’s summarize it into a recipe for you to follow:
Create Your Perfect Year with One Magick Word:
- Peruse a list of words like Christine’s OR write down a few that you are already considering for your year’s word.
- Do some thinking on the meaning of the words, both to you personally and to Merriam-Webster.
- Then let your list “sit” for a bit. Take note of what words are still attracting you, or maybe one is now repelling you or losing its charge. What word keeps showing up?
- Let your word choose you.
- Make a vision board for your house AND your computer desktop, or create a vision book with your word and its secondary words, and keep these things where you can see them regularly. If you can find a theme song for your year featuring your word, so much the better! Make a 2012 playlist! Listen often.
- Call on your word often when making decisions.
- “Check in” with your word. Perhaps by journaling about it every morning, or setting a date once a month to write about how the word has affected you. But try to pause at least once every 3 months and see how your word is shaping you. If you find you aren’t letting your word guide your life, formally recommit to the word, or, if it turns out to be a dud word, find a new one!
