As the first month of the year, January holds the promise of new beginnings – New Year’s resolutions, and all sorts of new things to hope for and look forward to in the coming year.

In Japan, one of the most sacred and powerful moments of any year is the first sunrise of the year, particularly as viewed behind Mount Fuji. The rising sun always symbolises blessing, new beginnings, hope for the future, and healing, but witnessing the New Year’s Day sunrise has particular importance in Japan – as the Land of the Rising Sun, this particular sunrise is very mystical and special.

Kendo’s Ceremony of the Rising Sun is inspired by the energy of this extremely ancient and powerful cosmic event. Even hard-headed scientists can’t deny that all life on earth comes from the sun, but there is so much more to life than cold, hard facts. As Kendo mentions in his Empowerment Meditation, symbolism can open the deeper self to an understanding of and communion with energies that cannot be encompassed by the limited conscious mind, and what the rising sun symbolises is immense.

In today’s Healing Ceremony, we remember that the sunrise which occurs every day brings anew the promise of emergence from darkness, new beginnings, healing, renewal of strength, inspiration, and faith in the forces of the universe which remain beyond our understanding, yet which continue to sustain our lives. Therefore, Kendo would recommend that the optimism of the New Year’s Day sunrise should be carried forward to every day, remembering that each day’s sunrise brings energies which, if we have the courage and the humility to accept, will sustain every level of our lives, bringing and maintaining the perfect balance with the rest of nature.

Calling to mind an image of the rising sun at any time brings healing – imagining the first sunrise of the year increases its symbolic strength, and the power of how it may inspire, heal, and support you every day of the coming year.