The Ritual I Need (and Don’t Want) to Do

My life needs a bit more ritual.

Sometimes, it feels like a room I haven’t cleaned up in a while. I look around and I know where things are to function, but I also know that if I organized a bit, threw a few things away, and/or rearranged the furniture, I would feel less overwhelmed.

In the quiet spaces of my morning walks, I have heard the message: clear away the duff and you’ll have more space for what is coming. For what is already on its way.

Like it or not. Ready or not.

For the other spells you lit and wept and didn’t mean to cast in moments of fear, anger, and desperation, it’s time for something new.

And a new ritual of letting go steps into view. Steps in to offer grace and gratitude, but also a pause and reflection of what was once so beautiful and now complete.

Rituals for Clearing and Releasing

It is one thing to know what to do…and it’s another to know WHAT TO DO. I adore the deities I work with and they can often point me down the road without a map that shows me the next turn. It’s about trusting yourself, they whisper/yell. It’s about knowing what you will do when you get to the place where you will do it. The ritual will arrive when you do.

Sigh.

(I don’t have to like it to need to do it anyway.)

These are rituals I would certainly create sacred space for, however you do that. A grounding, a circle, and some allies seem appropriate for this container. Gather the ones you love around when you are letting go for realsies.

• Burn it – You can write the name of the thing you want to release on paper, a bay leaf, or some other burnable material. Burn it. Watch it burn. Feel the release as the ashes reveal themselves and the words disappear. Burn the things that connect you to the thing you want to let go of. Burn the old spells, the old charms, the cords, and the things that can be burned.
• Break it – If there is an item that can hold the energy of what you want to release, break it apart. Shatter it into little pieces. Throw it to the ground. Use a hammer, your fist, your foot. Know the pieces release and let go.
• Cut it – Take an athame or knife or your finger to cut any known (or unknown) attachments from yourself. Shed them like skin and let them drop to the ground below you. Name them and release them. Feel yourself freer in a moment where you are yours and yours alone.
• Rewrite it – Write a new story to tell the tale of where you have been. This can be a fairy tale or a eulogy. Write the story of what came before in a way that empowers you and emboldens you for whatever comes next. You might read it to yourself in ritual space until you are ready to write the next pages.
• Bury it – I have taken old intentions and dreams and placed them in a box. Sometimes that box is just outside of the place where I live and sometimes it is buried in the ground. I let it go to the Earth to sleep and settle. I have picked up some things again, but many just fade like a dream I really thought I’d remember.

Or you could do a combination of all of these in a ritual. Or none of these. Or something over a year and a day.

Find the ritual that clears out what no longer serves. Make room for what is waiting to step into view.