Spell for Banishing
Intention: To rid yourself of something you are ready to release (internal or external obstacles)
Materials: Paper, Writing Utensil, A “Thing of No Value” (something you are ready to throw away, to move out of your house, that represents what you are banishing), Clearing Herbs like Juniper, Fire Source and Burn Bowl
Process:
Discern a laser-focused intention for what you are banishing. Do not simply banish “all fears” with a spell. Also, it is usually best to banish an unwanted relationship rather than another person (Consider banishing the connection between you but not them. It’s not always the right thing, but it’s usually the right thing). Your intention should be specific enough that you know when the spell has worked. Name your proof before you cast the spell, but be sure to name the what and not the how. Our linear brains will try to decide how you will get this, and that is the spell’s business; not yours. Know the what. Don’t worry about the how.
Once you know the what, link it to an embodied feeling. This is how you ensure you don’t banish an old belief you actually need or a relationship that is not as outmoded as you think. Tie your what to a feeling of freedom, lightness, joy, etc.. Feel it in the body and, ideally, low in the body. Root yourself in that feeling.
With your materials close, cast a circle. You might use this method or another that’s in your practice:
Face the North. Call your loving ancestors of the north, past and future, to come closer to your circle and witness you. To the north, to my ancestors, to the sacred energies of the Earth, I say welcome.
Face the East. Call your loving ancestors of the east, past and future, to come closer to your circle and witness you. To the east, to my ancestors, to the sacred energies of the Air, I say welcome.
Face the South. Call your loving ancestors of the south, past and future, to come closer to your circle and witness you. To the south, to my ancestors, to the sacred energies of the Fire, I say welcome.
Face the West. Call your loving ancestors of the west, past and future, to come closer to your circle and witness you. To the west, to my ancestors, to the sacred energies of the waters, I say welcome.
Name the obstacle you are releasing now. Ask yourself where this thing is in your body. What color is it? What temperature is it? On your piece of paper, “write it gone” by telling the obstacle to go. Use all the ferocity you’ve got. Why does it not longer belong? Why does it hold no power over you? You may use the prompts I offer here or create your own:
You are nothing to me, and I am free of you because…
To you, I say…
You are already gone from my world, and I feel…
Read your writing aloud and with conviction. Begin to chant no, be gone, away with you, and fold the paper AWAY FROM YOU. Keep chanting. Get louder and more forceful. Build the energy. When you feel ready, burn the paper and begin to move in ways that break up the energy of the obstacle in the body. Go for about 10-15 minutes if you can. Chant and move. Watch the smoke rise. Your clue that the energy-raising phase is ending will be a subtle (or sometimes not so subtle) energetic shift in the body. Move until you feel the change.
Let your chant go quiet while the ashes cool. Feel the new feeling. Stay here for at least five minutes. Cover the “thing of no value” in some of the ashes once they have cooled.
Open the circle by offering gratitude to the ancestors and elements from West, to South, to East, to North.
Place your hands on the ground. Breathe from low in the belly. To end the spell, carry the thing of no value to the trash and release it. If it can be ethically buried without poisoning the ground, you might do so in a place you don’t regularly visit. Dispose of the remaining ashes and do not look back.
Let it be.