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By Root 164 0

what it is you need to release, let go of, surrender, in order for the relationship, and your grief, to heal. As you become aware of what you want to release, write it down on paper you can later burn. Try writing with your nondominant hand; often this will give you access to unconscious thoughts and feelings that are more difficult to access with your dominant hand. (Don’t worry about it being legible: Remember, this is to burn.) If you wish, you could also write a letter from your larger, wiser Self to your smaller self about what needs to be released for healing.

When you feel done (ask your body as well as your heart if you’re finished for the purposes of this ritual; you should get a feeling of lightness or relief physically), take the pages out of your journal. Wad them up and place them in the burning bowl. As you light them, say out loud, “I release all of this, so that I may be healed.” If you wish, you also can ask that the other person be healed as well through this burning.

As the paper burns, feel the release within you. When you are left with ashes, drink the water, imagining it washing your soul clean. Ask for love and healing to move into the places in your heart and soul left open by the ritual. If you wish, you can imagine this as light filling all those places.

Take all the time you need here. Journal if you wish. When you are ready, take the burning bowl in your hands. (Leave the glass and journal to retrieve later.) Walk out carrying the ashes with you. Stay present to whatever is happening inside you, and breathe through it. When you reach the entrance, thank Spirit for healing and release, and pray that the healing may continue.

After the ritual is over, you can either release the ashes under running water or bury them in your garden. Roses and lilacs thrive with ash amended to the soil, and I love the idea of ashes of the old fertilizing new life—both literally and metaphorically.

CELEBRATION/BLESSING

The labyrinth can be used to celebrate beginnings as well as to mourn endings. For this celebration ritual you will need a candle and a symbol of what is to be celebrated. For instance, if it is a new relationship or a birth, you can take into the labyrinth a picture of your loved one or baby. If it is a new job, take in the contract, or something that represents the particulars of your job. If it is school, take a textbook.

At the entrance to the labyrinth, light the candle in gratitude for this new light coming into your life. Ask Spirit to be with you in this ritual, blessing the new venture and guiding and supporting you through it.

Walk to the center of the labyrinth thoughtfully, holding the object before you with both hands. Treat it as if it were a sacred object, which it is. Acknowledge as you walk how this new beginning is bringing healing and transformation into your life. If you are also aware of challenges it is bringing in (and all new beginnings bring those as well!), acknowledge them and ask Spirit to bless them and to support you in learning the most from the challenges; ask that they unfold for your own and others’ highest good.

When you get to the center of the labyrinth, hold the symbol up before you. Ask that Spirit bless this symbol. Imagine light pouring into the symbol and filling the venture with the grace and light of the Sacred. Feel that light and grace filling you as well.

You may either leave the symbol in the center of the labyrinth as an altar offering for a while or take it back out with you. When you reach the entrance, extinguish the candle, thanking Spirit for its blessing and acknowledging your gratitude once more for this new beginning. Take the candle back with you to burn whenever you need reminding of the graces of this new beginning or when you wish to have a moment of celebration and gratitude again.

I have used this ritual a lot for writing, taking book proposals and first chapters into the labyrinth for blessing. This ritual helps me remember, when I am in the “slogging” stages of writing, that this is a sacred venture, one that, I hope, brings