A wealth of tradition attends the entrance of the new year as a time for new beginnings, as well as an opportunity to ensure one's luck for the year to come. The following enables you to add a welcoming ritual to your celebration. Choose the most convenient time to perform this rite by coordinating it with your other activities. You could try it a few minutes before or after midnight or at any time during the following day. You can also perform it with your family or group, changing the "I" to "we." When ready, light the candle and say:

As I light this candle,

I bid the Old Year farewell,

With gratitude for milestones passed,

And memories cherished.

And I welcome the New Year in

With love and warmth and blessings.

That the quality of this new year be assured,

I now dedicate a moment to visioning

Some ways to make this year

A year of excellence,

A year of fortune.

Pause for a moment to envision the kind of year that you want to have and the kind of person that you want to be. Enhance these visualizations by imagining your objectives charged with energy and bathed in glowing light. Then continue:

And thus do my wishes for the year

take on their own life and purpose.

So does the year itself

take on a glowing life and power;

A bright year, a bold year,

a golden year, a year of magic!

So may this year bring luck,

and peace, and prosperity

to one and all.

Now return your revelries, or whatever you have planned. You can allow the candle to burn continuously, or relight it every morning to reactivate the magic of your celebration. Whether the candle takes a few days or a few months to burn down, you can be satisfied that its flames will radiate your blessings to last the twelve months out.

Excerpted from By Candlelight, by Janina Renée