Season of Self: Preparing for Renewal
Honoring the Endings that Make Space for New Beginnings
As winter slowly releases its grip, I find myself in a familiar ritual one that has been woven into my life, my lineage, and my seasons of becoming. Yesterday, I cleared off our family altar, the sacred space in our home where the faces of our ancestors watch over us.
This altar is more than a collection of framed photos and offerings, it is a bridge between past and future, a reminder that we do not walk alone. It is a space where the faces of those who created and connect my littles exist in frames on the wall—it is here that I remind them of ancestral mathematics.
Over this season, the altar has been a resting place, a space for incense and quiet prayers, for fleeting thoughts whispered into the air. But nothing too major. Now, as I prepare for the next season, I find myself wiping, clearing, and renewing. Each ancestor plays their own role, and I know they will ring their bells when it’s all said and done.
It is during this time that I open us up to all the possibilities of spring. We do so by shedding the clothes of winter, releasing what we no longer desire or need, taking inventory of what can be used again next winter, and deciding if we want to save it or let it go. We check in with what has changed—our fashion, our shoe sizes, our personal growth—and we sort through it all. These practices seem benign, but when held as sacred, you can see the ritual in them. You can see the renewal and release.
The Sacred Act of Clearing Space
As I wiped down each frame on the altar, I was reminded that this act isn’t just about dusting and rearranging—it’s an ancestral practice. Clearing space isn’t just about making things look nice; it’s about making room for what’s coming next.
Just like I sort through winter clothes, deciding what will be stored, donated, or released, I find myself doing the same with my internal landscape. Which beliefs, habits, and stories still fit? Which ones have become too small, too tight? Which ones have served their purpose and are ready to be set down?
This is how we step into renewal—not by rushing forward, but by honoring what has been, releasing with intention, and trusting that there is space for what’s next.
In this way, even the most mundane acts—sorting clothes, turning soil, wiping down a surface—become sacred rites of transformation. When we treat them as ritual, we remember that renewal is not just something that happens to us. It is something we co-create.
Part of liberation work is the return to the divine. If you (re)member you are divine, then everything you do in turn is ritual, sacred, and worthy of reverence. As we prepare for the renewal that comes with spring, we release what doesn’t serve us and step into the power of new beginnings.
The Sacred in the Everyday: Renewal as Ritual
So much of what we dismiss as mundane is, in truth, sacred. The preparation for spring is not just about changing wardrobes or sorting through last season’s belongings—it is about taking inventory of our lives, our needs, our desires.
In our home, this work is tangible. My little ones sort through their clothes, deciding what no longer fits, what can be passed on, what will be set aside for next winter. We clear out, we refresh, we decide what still belongs with us and what we are ready to release.
These acts—often overlooked in the rush of modern life—are sacred when we allow them to be. They are a return to the divine, a reminder that everything we do holds meaning. Renewal isn’t just something that happens outside of us as flowers bloom and the days grow longer. Renewal is something we choose.
And to choose renewal, we must first choose release.
Releasing Control, Inviting Clarity
Supremacy culture has taught us that renewal comes through force—through rigid resolutions, through pushing ourselves into something new, through urgency and control. But true renewal is not about force. It is about trust.
We cannot rush the return of the sun. We cannot force a seed to sprout before its time. We cannot demand transformation—we can only create the conditions for it.
So we shed.
We take inventory.
We release what no longer serves.
And we trust that what is meant to grow will grow.
This week, while the kids are off, we will prepare our backyard for the return of the sun and begin seed prep for the garden. Everything in its time. And when we honor that timing, we allow space for true transformation. We will place tiny seeds into the soil, knowing that we will not see their growth immediately. We will water them, knowing that transformation is already happening beneath the surface.
This is the work of renewal: To surrender to the process. To trust that what we nurture will flourish. To believe that we, too, are in a season of becoming.
Reflection Prompts for Your Renewal
What am I ready to release to make space for what is coming?
What lessons did winter teach me that I want to carry forward?
Where in my life am I still holding on too tightly? What would happen if I trusted the process instead?
What do I want to invite in as I step into this new season?
Embodiment Practice: A Ritual for Renewal
🕯️ Set Your Space: Find a quiet place. Light a candle or incense. Bring a journal or simply sit in stillness.
✍️ Release: Write down what you are ready to let go of. Speak it aloud, then tear the paper, burn it (safely), or bury it in the soil.
💨 Breathe: With each inhale, invite in clarity and possibility. With each exhale, release what no longer serves.
🌱 Set an Intention: Hold a small object (a stone, a piece of earth, a seed) and infuse it with your intention for the season ahead. Place it somewhere meaningful as a reminder of what you are welcoming in. Personally I enjoy planting a seed and watering and watching it grow as it feels like I am returning to that intention and feeding it.
Closing: The Invitation to Step Into Spring
As we step into this next phase of the Season of Self, let us do so not with the pressure to become something new, but with the trust that renewal happens naturally when we allow it.
May we release what is heavy.
May we invite in what is light.
May we honor the sacred work of transition.
The next article in this series will guide us deeper into this practice with:
Emerging from Winter—A Season of New Growth
We’ll explore how we carry the lessons of winter into the blooming of spring, how to honor the process of slow transformation, and how to step forward with both softness and strength.
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In solidarity and liberation,
Desireé B. Stephens, CPS-P
Educator | Counselor | Community Builder
Founder, Make Shi(f)t Happen