At the end of the year, we have many reasons to celebrate. Nearly every faith and culture have special observances that help us to experience peace, light, and joy. If these are not enough to put us in the spirit of the season, the New Year also offers a time to wipe the slate clean and start fresh.

However, during this busy time of the year, we can easily forget the essence of these celebrations. We can get caught up in shopping and neglect why we give gifts. We can get tangled in Christmas bulbs and fail to embrace the glow. We can light candles and overlook the significance of this sacred ritual. Or we can dance and drum in a circle but fail to be proactive and disciplined. We can also celebrate a holy birth but ignore this perfect chance to be reborn ourselves.

Regardless of our beliefs and practices, the year-end marks the beginning of something new. As darkness slowly gives way to light, we can wait in the silence and stillness, reflecting on who we are, why we are here, and where we are going. We can focus inside and see what is blocking our way or holding us back. And when we take a stand and let the sun light our way forward, we can celebrate new beginnings.

Every moment, ritual, observance, and symbol are sacred during this time of year. However, unless we embrace this occasion, we will miss this wonderful opportunity transform.

I have one more event to celebrate—my birthday. I was born on December 22^nd, a few hours after the winter solstice. My mother jokes about how she brought me into the world after the longest night of the year. I didn’t think much about my birth date until my husband, and I visited Tulum on the Yucatan Peninsula. As we explored the crumbled buildings, I relived the brief vignette from a past life I had experienced in meditation a few years earlier. Here is the story of a Mayan maiden who lived 4000 years ago.

While my husband and I visited this ruin, the images and feelings were so powerful that they felt like muscle memory. I walked around the foundation of a building that felt like home. When I stepped inside, the walls took shape around me. The rooms echoed with the laughter and commotion of the young girl and her siblings. Servants bustled about cooking elaborate dishes and decorating the halls for the festival.

I climbed the steps of the temple of the Diving God and knew I had been there before. Memories filled in what remained from ancient ruins. The streets came to life with adults and children in festival finery. Preparations were underway for the celebration, marking the beginning of the yearly cycle.

The movie in my mind replayed the ancient story of the Mayan maiden who was born hundreds of years ago on the winter solstice. She was the first child born in the new era and died in this very place thirteen years later, a virgin sacrifice, in a ceremony to appease the gods and commemorate the new year.

This memory is filled with symbolism. Thirteen is considered the age of accountability in many cultures. Sacred ceremonies celebrate this moment, and from then on, young women and men are expected to assume responsibility for their actions.

• The white robe that this young woman wore represents purity. When we are clothed in white, our innocence is expressed. We are pure in body, mind, heart, and soul.

• The High Priests represent our inner knowing, higher awareness, and higher perception. When we tap into our intuition and inner guidance, we become our own high priests.

• The fact that this maiden died is symbolic of transformation. In dreamwork and universal imagery, death represents change. When we die to one way of being, we are reborn into a higher state of awareness.

• The winter solstice marks the beginning of the new year. It is the shortest day of the year and the longest night in the northern hemisphere. It also marks the moment when the heavens open, the slate is washed clean, and we are given the opportunity to start over.

This is exactly what I did when I engaged in a 40-day rebirthing experience that I shared in my book, The Dance of Ego and Essence: Confessions of a Divine Diva. Every day I received a keyword and released old baggage and beliefs that no longer served me. I was freed of so much guilt, shame, and fear that I was flying. I saw precisely how my life unfolded and how I was transformed through the Blueprint for the Human Spirit, my holistic guide for conscious, compassionate living. Then, I was compelled to share my experience so that you, too, could benefit from your own joyful, deep soul cleanse.