On the Dark Moon, or on a night when your anger burns clean and bright, place a black candle upon your Altar. Set a mirror behind it (clear or black) and a glass bowl of clean water before it.

Light the black candle and stand before the flame.

Place both hands over your heart and say:

“Ancient Ones,
Guardians of the Crossroads,
Spirits of Justice and Right Order,
Bear witness.
I stand before you not as victim,
but as one who survived.
I stand before you not in weakness,
but in Sovereignty.”

Take a breath and gaze into the mirror.

Then speak:

“The harm was theirs.
The choice was theirs.
The consequence is theirs.
I refuse to carry another’s debt upon my back.”

Pass your hands over your body from head to foot as though gathering and collecting unseen burdens.

Cast them toward the mirror.

Then say:

“I return the shame.
I return the guilt.
I return the silence.
I return the weight that was never mine to bear.
As the river returns to the sea,
as smoke returns to the sky,
so too shall every deed return unto its source.”

Raise your hands and continue:

“I call upon the Powers that govern balance.
I call upon the Spirits who witness truth.
I call upon the Ancient Laws that bind deed to consequence.
May what is hidden be revealed.
May what is false be unveiled.
May every mask crack beneath the weight of truth.
May every action find its rightful harvest.
Not through my hand,
but through the turning of the Wheel.
Through Fate.
Through Conscience.
Through the ancient law of return.”

Touch the surface of the water.

See the ripples.

See your reflection there.

Then say:

“I release the burden of vengeance.
I claim the power of justice.
I release the burden of carrying their darkness.
I claim the power of carrying my own light.
I release their fate to the Gods,
to the Spirits,
to the Ancestors,
and to the turning Wheel.”

Sprinkle a few drops of water upon your brow, heart, and hands.

Anoint thyself.

Then speak these final words:

“What was sent returns.
What was hidden is revealed.
What was broken is restored.
I call my power home.
I call my Spirit home.
I call my life home.
So it is spoken.
So it is woven.
So it is.
So it was.
So it shall be.”

Allow the candle to burn for a time, then extinguish it.

Cover the mirror until dawn, or until you feel is appropriate. When you uncover it, a new light will shine.

Walk away knowing that justice no longer rests upon your shoulders alone.

You are supported.

You are free.

Lux in Tenebris Lucet