The Willow tree...

An ancient tradition was to take some Willow leaves, it should be done the last week of December, and write on the back of them the month during one had issues, and if one has good memory, even add the week and the place where they occurred and really concentrate on the problems as to "charge" the leaves with the negative energy of it, then read out loud the following:

"Veni, Creator Spiritus, Mentes tuorum visita, Imple superna gratia quae tu creast pectora.  Qui diceris Paraclitus, Altissimi donum Dei, Fons vivus, ignis caritas, et spiritalis unctio. Tu septiformis munere, Digitus Paternae dexterae, Tu rite promissum Patris, Sermone ditans guttura. Accende lumen sensibus, Infunde amorem cordibus, Infirma nostri corporis Virtute firmans perpeti. Hostem repellas longius; Pacemque dones protinus; Ductore sic te praevio, Vitemus omne noxium. Per te sciamus  da Patrem, Noscamus  atque Filium, Teque utriusque Spiritum, Credamos omni tempore. Deo Patri sit gloria,  et Filio, qui a mortuis Surexit, ac Paraclito. In saeculorum saecula. Amen."

Then you throw, one after the other, the leaves into a fireplace.

This is an act of transferring, which is a common act in magic. It is clearing a memory of a failure or an ordeal by purifying it with fire. The Willow tree is, traditionally considered to be "the sadness tree" a tree with the capability to absorb the sadness of the person caring with him/her a branch of it.