Releasing Rituals

A lot of people are restarting their personal journeys, and that means new chapters in your life. Now, past chapters are a good thing to look back on, but if you look back on them and feel guilt or an instant pull to it, it could be time to release their hold on you. I have a lot of stuff that I thought I'd released, but when probing through those things, I realize that I still have several hurts to let go of. I've been aimlessly surfing the blogosphere, and several other places, and I'm noticing a trend going on right now. There is an abundance of releasing rituals floating around. Well, while I hate jumping on bandwagons, I think this is one worth the jump.

I personally have always loved releasing rituals/ceremonies. While I admit I probably don't do them often enough (or maybe it's that I'm not releasing enough when I do them...), I also can't escape the fact that when you do one, the end result is almost addicting. You release the hurt, the guilt, anything holding you back, and you're left with this amazing feeling of floating weightlessly through the world. Of course, to continue to float like that would be hazardous because you're not grounded like you need to be (which is what causes the floaty feeling), so it's always good to enjoy your feeling for a while, then ground yourself. But even after grounding that lightness stays with you. You no longer feel like the weight of the world is crushing you. You end up happier, and a blank slate for all the new lessons coming your way. It's like finishing the freshman year of high school... after you finish you generally get a new notebook so you have a clean slate to write down notes for the next year. That's how a releasing ritual works.

Now, on to my favorite kind of releasing ritual. I've always loved working with fire... it's just something I'm comfortable with, and that I instinctively know how to work with. I probably need to get used to working with the other elements as well, but for a releasing ritual I'll probably always go back to working with fire. It's just so cleansing! Now, what I'll normally do if I'm just doing a small releasing ritual is to speak my worries into the fire and watch the fire burn them away. Then I'll allow the fire to mentally engulf me (mentally watching it spread over and through my body... no it doesn't hurt, its like having a warm blanket covering my entire body), and feel it cleanse and release all the worries I told it about. It leaves me cleansed and ready to start new. Now you could most certainly do that by itself if you wanted, but if you have bigger issues to handle (like mine and the feelings I have surrounding my grandmother's death), sometimes it's best to write a letter.

In the case of my grandmother, I would write a letter to her, starting with how much I love her and miss her, then explaining the hurt, the anger, the frustration, confusion, and everything that went along with her death, and ultimately being told I killed her by being a different religion. The whole time, because I know how much Gram and I love each other, I know that she is fine with the feelings I'm telling her about, she'll listen to them, tell me how much she loves me, tell me everything will be alright because she knows for sure that it will be. Then, after I've finished writing this letter (which in all honesty turns into a deep conversation with Gram just like we did at the kitchen table all those times), I'll take the letter and set it on fire, in a safe place of course because I would die if I burned my lovely little cabin down. As I watch the letter burn, I focus on watching those bad feelings burn away with it.

The letter thing works well with past romantic relationships as well. If you're holding on to hurt from a different relationship, it will severely hurt any new relationships that come into your life, making it impossible to have a healthy relationship with the new person. So sit down and write a letter to any and all past partners, talk to them, starting with the good, telling them how you will always hold on to the good memories, but it's time to let go of everything else. Burn the letter, and watching all the baggage burn away as well. The key to both of these simple rituals and truly meaning it. If you're half hearted about it, that means you're not ready to let go just yet. And there's nothing wrong with that, its just gonna take time. But ritualistically, the magick won't work unless you're all in.

There are many ways of going about releasing things. There's a pretty neat one that's also really simple involving the toilet and toilet paper! You write what you want to release on the toilet paper, then flush it down the toilet literally and mentally releasing those problems while watching the water swirl. Whisper your worries into bubbles (yes like the bubbles children blow) and let the bubbles carry them away. Speak your troubles into handfuls of dirt, bury the dirt away from your house, and let the earth compost it and turn it into something positive.

Here's one that I think is pretty creative, and involves your internal warrior! I call it the Warrior Jar. Take a jar, like a canning jar or coffee can, just something with a lid. Gather several rocks while walking around in nature. The number doesn't matter that much, but make sure it stays in increments of 3. Once you've collected all you're rocks, put them in a glass bowl and rinse them lightly with water. Infuse them with the power of a warrior. I imagine a Celtic Warrioress. She is built like an Amazon, but more important than what she looks like is what she exudes, and what she stands for. She is the perfect image of strength, honor, justice, truth, and when needed rage. She is there to protect, and she will give her life with honor to protect her home and family.

Take what I just worded there lol, and infuse it into the rocks you picked up. I promise it's easier than you think. Hold the mental picture of what I just wrote about the Warrioress, and remember what I said she exudes and stands for. While holding all that, push those feelings through your hands and into the rocks. See them glow a pure white light with streaks of red. Next, put them inside your jar. Now is the fun part. You can either write down the things you want to release (bad habits, feelings of guilt, anything) and put the slips of paper into the jar with the rocks, or you can just push those feelings and thoughts into the jar, the same way you released the Warrioress energy into the rocks, only this time you're not infusing anything with those feelings, you are simply putting them inside the jar. Once you've placed your feelings in the jar (with whichever technique you choose), start to shake the jar. Imagine your Warrioress rocks pummeling the things you placed in the jar, utterly destroying them. Shake, shake, shake that jar, until you feel better!

Then, this is where your honor comes in. It isn't honorable to bury the Warrioress rocks with the "enemy", so you'll need tongs or gloves for the final part. Place the glass bowl we used earlier in the sink again. Use your tongs, or a gloved hand, and pull out the Warrioress rocks. Place them in the bowl and cleanse them of the rigors of the battle they just waged. Now, you can either give those rocks a warriors burial, or allow them to be "reincarnated" by completely cleansing them and store them somewhere for later use. Now you should cleanse the tongs, or if you used a glove, put it in the jar. Take the jar, with the massacred things you've released and bury it preferably near a tree. After you've buried it, walk away with your back completely to it, and DO NOT look back at it, and don't give it another thought.

I hope you enjoy these options I detailed. What's your favorite way to release things?