As I sit here writing, it is Friday the 11th and we are sitting in the energy of the last waning moon of 2020. We are also a week away from the Great Conjunction (between Jupiter and Capricorn at 00° Aquarius) which auspiciously falls on the Winter Solstice. These energies combine to create what astrologer Stephen Arroyo often referred to as a “double whammy” or repeating theme. When energies start to all align towards the same goal, it’s time for us witches to pay attention.
As witches, we don’t live solely by the arbitrary calendars of the muggles – we live by phases of the Sun, the Moon, and the planets. Within the span of a week, the moon wanes (culminating in a solar eclipse), the Sun wanes, and then both Jupiter and Saturn transit from the sign of Capricorn into Aquarius before immediately make a conjunction with one another. This is huge transitional energy and the perfect time to banish anything that you don’t want to carry within you any longer.
This best time to perform this ritual will be on this Saturday night (12/12/2020) after the moon has transitioned into the sign of Sagittarius if your time zone/schedule allows for that. The next best time to cast this ritual will always be when you need to do it – banishment is timeless. You can always boost a banishment ritual by performing it on a Saturday, with strong Saturn transits, during a waning moon, on the hour of Saturn, or any and all of the above.
I’ve kept the concept intentionally simple. All you need to perform this is a piece of paper (scrap is fine), a writing utensil, and a fire starter. Embellish from there as little or as much as you want in keeping with your practice. Feel free to add in candle magic, oils, or herbs for banishment. Or, performs a spiritual cleansing afterward.
This ritual is also best used to rid yourself of concepts and thought-forms rather than people. Think, your bad feelings about your neighbor rather than removing your neighbor directly, as a quick example.
Also, this ritual involves the ritualized removal of something by fire. If you are of the school that burning a wish makes it come true – this is not the ritual for you. That’s great, you do you.
You will Need: a piece of paper, writing utensil, fire starter
- Find a quiet space to sit down with your thoughts. Write down, in detail, what you want to remove from your life. Be very specific – what don’t you like about this? How does it make you feel? Don’t censor yourself – get it all out. Write for as long as you need to.
- Draw a bindrune or sigil over your paper that represents your desire to be rid of these thoughts/feelings – I have often used a simple bindrune for “Let it Go” that works well but feel free to create your own personal sigil for this purpose
- Burn that shit. I like to speak words of intention as the paper burns – I personally prefer to burn outside on a windy day and ask the wind to take these thoughts away from me. Please use fire safely!
- Optional: Add a cleansing ritual to the end of this: a ritual bat, a Cut & Clear if it’s really stuck energy, or any other cleansing practice you have
- You’ve made space by removing something you no longer need – consider doing something to bring in blessings in its place (as per your practice)
There are so many fun ways to make this ritual your own: you can easily use all elements by bathing before or after for water, burning with fire, blowing away with air, and the grounding at the end. You could burn a banishment candle over your writing before you burned it – or – alternatively – you could burn a banishment candle in the ashes of your writing. Or try burning it in a cauldron with banishing herbs. I hope that you enjoy it and make it your own!
– Minx