Simple Rituals of Clearing and Letting Go

“To the unconscious mind, ‘real life action’ and and ‘conscious intentional ritual’ are the same thing!” –Your Spacious Self

If you think of dreams as the way that your unconscious mind communicates to you in special symbolic code while you sleep, ritual is one way you can consciously communicate back to your unconscious while you’re awake. To the unconscious mind, “real live action” and “conscious intentional ritual” are the same thing! By creating a ritual of letting go, for instance, you can send a powerful message to your subconscious that letting go of clutter is doable and even fun.

Ritual is a great way to anchor your intentions. It helps you to massage and soften and release tough holding patterns and bring to conscious reality the longings of your heart. As Robert A. Johnson writes in his book, Owning Your Own Shadow:

“You can draw it, sculpt it, write a vivid story about it, dance it, burn something, or bury it—anything that gives expression to that material without doing damage…Remember, a symbolic or ceremonial experience is real and affects one as much as an actual event.”

Try These: Simple Rituals for Clearing and Letting Go *

• In the spirit of this Japanese saying, “Let the past drift away in the water,” wash your hands slowly and mindfully after each phase of your day to create new energy and release the strings or attachments to the past.
• Repeat to yourself, “It’s not mine,” whenever you feel some weather creeping up suddenly, and imagine it blowing (peeling, falling, melting) away.
• After a bath: Imagine the draining water taking away old energy, thoughts, and beliefs.
• Burn incense and/or clap, rattle and bell to clear away something old or prepare a space for something new.
• Release by burning photos, letters, or thoughts written down on paper—with gratitude.
• Amplify your drinking water by placing the words “Gratitude and Love” on your glass or on the jug, facing inward.
• Amp up your food with your thoughts of praise, gratitude, and love.
• Visualize stuck energy moving out through your feet into the earth.
• Place a thought-form of a person, thing, belief, or issue you would like to release on the palm of your hand. Wish it Godspeed and blow it into the wind, with gratitude.
• Release the (claw) grip of an issue or thing by imagining it softening, unclenching, melting, and/or sloughing off.
• Write a letter to someone as if you were going to send it, but instead bless it and burn it with gratitude.
• Create an altar to a food item (a thing, a belief, an issue) with which you would like to change your relationship.
• At bedtime, let go of the busy-ness of your day by recalling everything that happened—from your most recent moment (getting into bed) to the first thing you can remember doing earlier that day (like getting out of bed). Unwinding your day in this manner creates space for you to sleep better and dream more vividly. (I’m usually sound asleep by the time I try to remember what I had for lunch.)
• Practice any Softening Attitude described later in this chapter.
• Create a special ritual of letting go using one object that symbolizes your holding patterns.  Place it on a special altar to anchor your intentions. Wish it Godspeed and release it—with gratitude.

*Text and rituals excerpted from Your Spacious Self: Clear Your Clutter and Discover Who You Are [now in its second edition] by Stephanie Bennett Vogt, pp. 67-68.

Do you have a clearing ritual story?

Please share any story or experience you’ve had with a clearing ritual and I’ll  include it in future blog!

Photo Credit: Bing Images/Ritual