This is a practice which I
started many years ago after watching an episode of Ally McBeal. One of the
characters said to another: “If you think back and replay your year, if it
doesn’t bring you tears, either joy or sadness, consider the year wasted”. This
was followed by a montage of the whole seasons highs and lows. What I took from
this is that everyone, witch or not, needs to find time to take stock, release
emotion, count their blessings, etc… I do this at Mabon because it is the last
sabbat on the wheel, Samhain is a new year. In between the two I emotionally
rest and try not to get too involved in anything dramatic. I find this
necessary for emotional well being for two reasons:
1.
Deep
down, I am a petty and selfish person. I’m not proud of it and I hide it to the
outside world but so many little things bug me and when I don’t get my way I have
to make myself not stomp around and throw a tantrum. I let things go for the
sake of social grace but they still bug me. I get angry over my boss cutting my
hours, I get frustrated that with my debts and I get upset with family issues
and niggles.
2.
I
believe in detox; not only for the body but for the mind and the spirit too. It’s
not always the little things (that shouldn’t bother me) that build up;
sometimes it’s the things that should bother me that I let pass too because I
am so conditioned by my response to the little things. The unrequited love that
plagues my heart is a big one at the moment but there are other things too and
I do nothing about them.
This ritual lets me cry
about everything, tears of anger and tears of upset; I can get rid of it;
lighten the load and start fresh. The act of crying is the magick here… the
release of these grievances with the intention of saying goodbye to the emotion
behind them activates the cleansing process and revitalises your energy for
future workings.
I’ve never come across
ritual crying in my years of magickal study but it’s something I find very
refreshing. Here’s how:
You will need:
Ø Circle Casting Items
v
I
create an emotionally evocative circle; autumn is emotionally evocative for me
so it works well for me to do this at Mabon. I use my aromatic Mabon incense
blend (see Sabbat Discovery - Mabon);
v
The
physical circle is made with autumn leaves, pinecones, acorns and conkers; the
astral circle is an orb of fallen leaves.
v
Music
has an emotional effect sometimes too so that is added for additional ‘mood’.
v
The
quarters I call are the directional winds which ruffle the leaves of my astral
circle as the enter.
Ø Momentoes of the past year.
These momentoes should represent good times, bad times, anything emotionally
charged. The purpose of them is to well up the tears… once the tears are there,
the sub-conscious will bring up everything that needs to flow out. All you have
to do it let it… The momentoes won’t be thrown away or burned, this isn’t that
type of ritual. It’s about letting yourself cry, not the things that get you
there.
Ø A small bowl or bottle.
What to do:
1.
Cast
your circle around the mementoes. Take time over it; charge it with all those
emotions that have been welling up all year. If you’re following my leafy
example for your astral circle, see every leaf, the flush of colour on each
delicate surace – let it emit a soft gold glow, the scent that always carries
on an autumn breeze will surround you from every leaf of the circle. Make the
circle an all encompassing bubble of autumn energy.
2.
Light
candles, play music, burn incense… set the mood. A circle should always feel
like a safe place but because you will be letting down emotional barriers and
making yourself vulnerable, do whatever you can to feel comfortable. Allow this
creation of a ‘mood’ be the beginning of letting the emotional walls down.
3.
Sit
in your circle and spend time with your momentoes, hold them, feel their
energy, remember the emotions and experiences that went with them. If you feel
tears starting to come, don’t fight them. Let them flow. Do this for as long as
necessary to feel cleansed.
4. As you cry, push all the
crappy, pent up anger, frustration, stubborness, pettiness, negativity, push it
all out of you and into those tears. Use the bowl/bottle to collect the tears
as much as you can.
5.
Once
you’re done, place the bowl/bottle somewhere secure while you take down your
circle. The astral leaves stop defying gravity and fall as the fade into the
aether; sweep up your acorns and conkers, extinguish your candles and incense.
6.
The
last step is to dispose of your tears. Pour them into the earth for those
feelings to be absorbed. I like to say something, as a final goodbye:
Sadness, anger, fear depart
Banished from my mind, my heart
Be cleansed within the earth’s embrace
Be gone from me, leave no trace
7.
Take
a deep breath and let the fresh air and the scent of autumn enter all the
places of your mind that the negativity dwelled and let it lift you up. Feel
unburdened, feel lighter, feel great!!!!
