Rites of Transitionfor the doorways of a life

The Open Hand

For the end of a relationship: a breakup, a love that ended without ceremony, a friendship that has closed.

Love is never wasted. In this rite you speak what you loved, what you learned and what you are no longer carrying, and release it, petal by petal, into salt water held for Yemaya, keeper of the waters and of tears.

Then Aphrodite returns your love to you, sealed with rose oil at the heart. The other person is never named as a villain, and never needs to know.

You leave with a shell from the altar and a forty-day practice of love written to yourself.

Return to Self

For a marriage that is ending or has ended. Offered for one, or for two people who wish to part with grace.

An ending does not make a marriage a mistake. Here it is honored as real. You read a letter of thanks and release to the marriage itself, and the old vow is returned to the earth, or, if you wish to keep your ring, blessed with a new meaning.

Isis, who gathered every scattered piece and made it whole, is called to gather you. A white cord is tied at the wrist as a vow to yourself, and if you are reclaiming your name, it is spoken back to you three times.

This is a spiritual rite and has no bearing on the legal side of a divorce.

You leave with a written vow to yourself, signed at the altar.

The Sword of Kali

Cord cutting: for releasing a tie to a person, a place, a past self, a habit or a chapter that still pulls at you.

Kali's sword cuts what no longer serves. You name the cord, where you feel it in the body and what it has cost you. Two candles, one for you and one for what you release, are joined by a single thread and lit, and the flame frees you as it burns through.

Then Green Tara, swift protector, is chanted in to seal the place where the cord once was.

You leave with the burned thread in black salt to return to the earth, and seven nights of practice to fill the space with light.

Crossing the Threshold

For a change of work: a new path, a layoff, leaving a career, opening a business, retirement, or a calling finally answered.

You stand on the old side of a line of flowers, holding something from the work you are leaving, and honor what it gave you and what it took. You lay it on the altar with thanks.

On a drumbeat you step across. Lakshmi places a coin in one hand for abundance, Saraswati a seed in the other for what you will grow, and your palms are anointed: Durga walks before you.

You leave with a seed to plant at home and nine days of practice, one step on your new path each day.