When Things Have to Break

On the most recent full moon, I did a ritual of breaking.

The universe had shown me, clearly, that a phase of my life was over.

I had planned to break a clay vessel to symbolize the release of my past, and to welcome the alignments and growth I have called to myself.

I have a ceramic pitcher that I use to feed my plants with moon blood. It is a very sacred object for me. I felt called to use this pitcher to break the clay figure, to symbolize the power of my own life force and my vessel for healing to overcome the misalignments of my past.

I struck the clay figure with my pitcher. The clay figure, amazingly, showed no impact from the strike, but my pitcher broke.

In working magick, the ways that events unfold in ritual have a powerful meaning. The breaking of my sacred vessel sent a ripple of energy through my body. A sacrifice has been needed to close this chapter of my life. I must give away something sacred to me. I felt a moment of grief wash through me, and then I returned to the task at hand. With a large piece of quartz that we dug from the land here, I smashed the clay figure and placed it under the full moon to release the energies it held into the night to be transformed.

My broken pitcher remains on my altar. Have I used my own body, my own lifeblood and power, to break old patterns in the world? Have I broken my body in the process? Have I asked too much of this sacred vessel in the work of change? Is there another tool, another instrument, other than my own precious body and feminine power, that is calling to be invoked now? Quartz brings focus, concentration, wisdom and amplifies energies. Is it time to shift away from the pure feminine nurturing power that has been the source of my work, and become more focused, more strategic and wise?

Growing on our path requires us to examine ourselves, our intentions, the fruits of our actions. What fruits have I gathered? What crop do I hope to bring into the root cellar this harvest season? What must be left behind so that I can skillfully cultivate this harvest?

Sometimes things have to break to release their wisdom and their essence. The clay figure has released the stagnant, oppressive energies of the past. The ceramic pitcher has released the dream of being able to do my work from this one body, this one vessel. It has released the idea that I can just be nurturing and loving and everything will work out. That I can give my blood, my life force, and trust the world to receive my efforts with integrity. The pitcher has released my naive notions that being willing to bleed for others will protect me from harm. It will not. Instead, I am asked now to cultivate wisdom and strategy. To safeguard my own life just as I work to protect the lives of those I cherish, be they human, plant or animal.

Time and experience makes us wise, or it makes us bitter. We must choose. Quartz amplifies whatever energy we carry. May I choose to cultivate a harvest of wisdom, and to work for a world that creates bridges and healing, for myself as well as others.

For everyone who is experiencing various levels of breaking right now (and that may be all of us) may we find the blessings in the breaking.