I’m a bit of a fan of doing ritualised things to mark changes, chapters closing and opening in life, stuff like that - now it looks like this has serious scientific support:
Ritual turns change, which can be scary and difficult, into a turning point with an element of celebrating and acknowledging the “old you” whilst welcoming in the NEW - useful if what you’re leaving behind took up a lot of your energy, and walking away from it feels like a mixed blessing, given how much of your life it may have consumed.
This is why I personally encourage people who feel mired down in the religious accretions of their upbringing to do a ritual to mark shedding that, and moving into a new direction… better to do a simple ritual, that defines the boundary, than walk on with some kind of nagging feeling of incompletion, right?
Good ritual formats include taking a bath at the New Moon, maybe using some sea salt or herbs, binding a ribbon or string round your wrist imagining it as the past state and then cutting through it with a pair of scissors, then ritually burying the pieces, and all kinds of ritual that involve burning things, and writing things out, like this ritual from E.A.
This is a really important snippet from the link above by E.A. that I’m going to post here to make sure it gets seen, because I know some people will be seeing this and worrying about where to buy the virgin beeswax candles and organic herbs and whatever, and thats really just your mind trying to trick you into staying stuck!
I’m sorry to say that the method that I’m going to give you here is very simple. I say that “I’m sorry to say,” because I know that people who have always had to do things the hard way have programmed themselves to believe that everything worthwhile must be hard. If you’re the type of person who has always had to struggle, then I ask that you engage in this exercise out of curiosity or entertainment, and you’ll still find that it produces amazing results. I’ll also take this opportunity to remind you that most of the mysteries of power are indeed simple. In fact, they’re so simple that most people overlook them. A Simple Ritual To Erase The Past And Embrace The Future
Keep things very simple, use what you have to hand, focus on the internal process rather than getting all the trappings “right”!
The more you make things elborate, in 99% of situations, the more you’re really just trying to add in pass/fail conditions so you can rationalise not ever quite getting round to doing the work - it’s procrastination, taking on the pious mask of perfectionism.
I think most of us do this at some point, so just be aware it might try to hold you back, and if it pipes up with demands, acknowledge them, then proceed regardless, according to your WILL.
Bumping this with an excellent post from last year by @C.Kendall ahead of next Sunday/Monday’s New Moon that follows close on the heels of Mercury’s retrograde ending:
“What’s the crazy bint on about?”
Mercury goes direct on April 15 at 9:21 am UTC*, in Aries (4o 47")
Bumping for anyone looking to clear out the stress and negativity of the last few months, and start fresh!
The Moon is waning now, perfect for planning ahead, and doing some banishing and reducing types of workings, with a New Moon at 12:00 UTC on Thursday 17th Sept.
