4 Rituals to Close this Year + Open the Next

December is my favorite time of year; preparing for a fresh start in the new year ahead! And so, I'm sharing with you 4 rituals to help you powerfully close this year and open to the next. I have personally practiced these for the last decade to create completion of what has been and readiness for the new to emerge. You can spread these rituals throughout the month and even into January, weaving them into your personal rhythms. They are designed to meet you wherever you are and gently guide you into your next evolution.

The 4 Rituals

Here are the four rituals to open the new year with purpose and power:

Ritual 1: The Vision Seeds

Gather the inspired ideas arising for your new year.

In December and through January, intuitive ideas for the year ahead naturally begin to drop in. This is a time of receiving, not deciding. Let the insights come in without the pressure to finalize plans yet.

Choose a dedicated space in your journal or phone to gather these ideas or "Vision Seeds." You can create a handful of topic headings that feel relevant to you such as:

• Work areas of focus

• Life areas that want attention

• Healing or spiritual modalities to practice

• New energies to embody

Think of this practice as collecting puzzle pieces. When you later sit down for intentional planning for the year, you’ll see how the pieces come together. The month of January is a beautiful time for this, much better than forcing clarity by January 1.

If you’d like guidance on a process for creating your plan for the year, join me on Friday, January 16 for a live visioning workshop in Chicago (save the date; details coming soon), or I can teach you my 6-point new year vision structure called: Sacred Seeds of Success in a private 1-1 coaching session.

Ritual 2: The Word of Becoming

Receive the word that will guide your highest expansion.

As your Vision Seeds are forming for the new year, you can also be in an inquiry: Who am I becoming to bring this vision to life?

The answer to this will come to you in your Word of the Year. Your Word is a sacred and simple tool, a mantra that calls you into your next-level self.

Your word, when spoken, will:

• Bring a sense of inner peace

• Call you forth into who you’re evolving into

• Shift you from fear to faith

• Affirm your deeper purpose and direction

You want to choose a word that feels high-vibration: both sacred and expansive. Past words I’ve used include: Allow. Embrace. Imagine. Trust. Limitless. Grace. Communion. Devotion.

To support your process of attuning to your word, I created a guided audio recording.

Listen HERE:

Word of the Year Attunement 

on the Insight Timer Meditation App

(Free access anywhere anytime!)

In the new year, you will speak your word often. It will guide your decisions, soothe your fears, and remind you who you are becoming.

Ritual 3: The Completion Wheel

Honor the year behind you with clarity, compassion, and wisdom.

Before stepping fully into the new year, it’s powerful to consciously close the one you’re completing. I first learned the Completion Wheel from my mentor, transformational teacher and author Christine Arylo, and it remains one of my favorite annual rituals.

The practice is to journal your answers to 4 questions that helps you look holistically at the year:

• What were the successes?

• What were the surprises?

• What were the losses?

• What were the lessons?

Although I’ve done this practice for a decade now, it still surprises me how much wisdom and magic comes out of these questions. You get to revisit how much you’ve given. You get to see where you are incomplete with issues you may want to tie up before the year closes. You get to see your challenges with some hindsight, and now you can gracefully look at the lessons. Practically speaking, I’ve enjoyed doing this practice in one sitting for usually about 2 hours, with my calendar out in front of me to truly remember all that occurred in the time span of the past year.

This completion process supports the next ritual…

Ritual 4: The Fire of Release

Let go of what is complete and open the path for what’s next.

The close of the year is a great time to look at what you’d like to release and leave behind going into the new year ahead. Such intention can be marked with a burning ritual!

Burning rituals are powerful mystical practices. As you choose what you want to release, know that you don’t have to know how to create the change. All there is to do is listen to your own heart and make your declaration and commitment through the ritual.

Steps for Your Burning Ritual:

• Create a safe indoor or outdoor fire

• Open the ritual with a meditation or music

• Take some time to reflect on:

  • What am I ready to release?

  • What beliefs, patterns, or habits am I outgrowing?

  • What has held me back that I’m willing to let go?

• Distill what you're releasing into one word or phrase each for up to 3 topics of release; clarity and simplicity strengthens the ritual

• Write your words/phrases on a slip of paper

• Take a photo of your slip of paper

• As you place your paper in the fire say: “I release, I trust.”

Examples of what I've included in release rituals: Shrinking, Smallness, Powerlessness over Money Dynamics, Self Hate, Being a Victim, Boredom, Co-dependency, Energy from those who invaded me.

My recommend that you take a photo of your paper gives you the option to revisit what you released in the ritual at various points in the new year or later years. You will likely be awestruck to see how life unfolds later around what you have been releasing

How to Plan Your Rituals

My pro-tip for you is to create structure for yourself to fulfill on these rituals. And so, here are 4 steps you can take right now:

Action Step 1. Create Space to Capture Your Seeds

Create a dedicated space on your phone or in a journal that you keep with you daily to gather every idea that drops in for your year ahead. Set up simple headings and add ideas as inspiration comes.

Action Step 2. Schedule Your Burning Ritual + Include Friends

Plan to do your release ritual with a group if possible. You can make it a special gathering (like a Winter Solstice gathering) or integrate it into something already happening (like New Year’s Eve dinner). After the burning, invite each person to share what they released, briefly, without commentary, so the group serves as a sacred witness.

Action Step 3. Schedule Time for Your Word of the Year Attunement

Put a 15 minute block in your calendar at the start or end of your day sometime in December, and use this time to listen to your 6-minute Word of the Year Attunement recording. One word may become clear easily, or if you want to take your time, keep a running list of word possibilities with your Vision Seeds.

Action Step 4. Schedule Time for Your Completion Wheel

Choose and schedule a two hour time block on a date in December to do your Completion Wheel. Be sure you will have your calendar with you. Ideally complete this practice before your burning ritual.

As an extra support for each step in your process, here are musical playlists that I created that you can use for your sacred space to complete your rituals

My sacred music playlists on Spotify:

• Oneness (1 hour 5 mins)

• Life as a Prayer (41 mins)

• Mantras (41 mins)

Closing Thoughts

As you complete these four rituals, you create a powerful energetic arc: you receive, you align, you honor, and you liberate. This arc mirrors the natural cycle of transformation. It helps you step into a new year with both grounded clarity and spiritual spaciousness. You’re not forcing goals or rushing into resolutions; you’re allowing your next chapter to reveal itself from a place of wisdom and inner truth.

I encourage you to give yourself the gift of time and presence with each ritual. Let your intuition speak. Let your body guide you. Let your highest self show you what is ready to unfold.

And if you’d like to receive support in formulating your 2026 vision, to have a reflective listener and guide, I’d love to help, whether through our live Chicago gathering on January 16 or through a private 1:1 coaching session. Your next chapter is ready.

Here’s to your becoming, and the beautiful year ahead.

About the Author

Gina Marotta is a coach and facilitator who believes in work that lights you up, not burns you out. She helps people and organizations align with their genius, and let go of the rest. This clarity helps create careers and cultures where everyone thrives in their best gifts doing work that creates a better world. With past lives as a lawyer and nonprofit exec, Gina has a practical toolkit and collection of resources that pairs well with her deep intuitive gifts. She serves clients with 1-1 coaching and also partners for group programs with organizations like Google, Deloitte, and ComEd. She has been featured in media outlets such as Thrive Global, American Bar Association Magazine, and CBS News. You can also find Gina as a teacher on the Insight Timer Meditation app.