I’m a big fan of new beginnings. Every day can be a new start if you are ready for it to be though it always helps to include power days: a new moon, the first day of the season, or even the first day of the MONTH.
That said, there is no day that is more powerful – more special – more uniquely you – than your birthday.
This spell combines the traditional birthday candle ritual with a psychic cord cutting so that you can begin your new year with a fresh start.
It’s pretty simple.
You will need:
- A candle to represent yourself – this can be figural if you practice sympathy
- Salt – I use black, pink, and white for this but I’m Extra(TM)
- A Botanical to represent Cutting/Cleansing
- A Botanical to represent Clearing
- A pair of scissors
- a platter, plate, or tray to burn your candle on
- optionally additional herbs, protection oils, cleansing stones or anything else that will help with your personal cord cutting
* you could alter this to be a more traditional cord-cutting by adding string to bind your candle if you wish The beauty of this spell is that it requires very few ingredients but packs a big punch – this is going to be done by the repetition in the “Cutting” in this ritual – this is the important part. Do not skip out on this. (This is also why a larger figural candle is preferable for this working – performing this ritual for a number of hours gets in the most cuts. If you have a smaller candle, increase the frequency with which you cut or focus on the candle entirely until it goes out).
Take your candle and become very well acquainted with it. It will represent you for the ritual – I like to run my candle across my entire body focusing specifically on anywhere that I may hurt or feel is out of alignment in some way. Focus on transferring your essence into the candle.
When you are ready, adhere the candle to a platter (you can anoint it with a protection oil here if you want) and surround the candle with salt as a protective barrier. My preference is to do an inner ring of black salt (the volcanic kind, not witch salt) to activate the sulfur to protect me from hex work and curses, a secondary circle of pink salt to protect my emotions, and a final layer of white salt for general protection.
This is where you get to get creative! I love working with fresh herbs but dried botanicals will work in a pinch. I always have lemon and orange peel on hand which I’ve used as the cutting agent but I’ve also used fresh eastern white pine and even lemon blossoms one time.
Your selection of botanicals for clearing are endless: from sage to hyssop to vervain and far beyond. Use the botanicals that are most familiar to you – I like to use herbs from my garden for this but have definitely made a trip to the grocery store specifically to buy herbs for it as well. Choose herbs that you enjoy the scent of – you want to bring positivity in your life after you cut away what is lacking and it’s important that you ENJOY this spell.
I don’t think that I’ve ever repeated the exact same combination of ingredients twice. Add the herbs to your tray in a way that works well for you.
When you are ready to begin your ritual, light your candle and take up your scissors. Again, how you cut here is up to you and your practice but the idea here is to cut all etheric cords which no longer serve you so that you can walk into your new year free of their weight. I like to cut on all sides of my candle – I practice personally that the left of the candle represents the past and the right the future, so I cut in both places as such. Do what feels right to you. Cut for as long as you want. Just remember to be aware and focused on what you trying to – you are trying to cut away the past.
If you have something that needs to go, name it specifically before you cut. If it’s a thought, cut around your head. An emotional attachment? Cut near the heart. Feel free to cut around your body as well as the body of the candle. For the length of the spell, you two are one.
After some initial cutting, I set a timer to make sure that I return to my candle periodically to reinforce my spell by focusing back and cutting again. I do this at regular intervals until my candle is done burning. Note: this does not mean walk away from a burning candle, please keep an eye on your flames at all times!
While your candle is burning is a good time to focus on some of the good things that you would like to bring into your life in your coming year. Sometimes I like to journey about how I am feeling about the passage of time. Other times, I perform this ritual while playing games with my coven (true story). Sometimes I clean if I feel that my space needs a Cut and Clear of its own.
I find this spell to be enough to remove almost all of the everyday ick that I accumulate as a witch and empath. It’s my first step in all of my personal cleansing routines. It won’t likely remove the really sticky shit or any nasty curses without some extra help but it’s not that difficult to layer more on from here.
I kept my version of this spell specifically bare bones so that you can add your own flair to it. Add in an intention oil of your choice, or more herbs, or a cleansing stone like selenite if that’s your thing. Create a cut and clear chant to use while you cut – or put your candle in a bowl of body scrub to change it with cut and clear energy that you can bring with you into your shower. Do what feels right for YOU – it’s your birthday after all.