We’ve talked about how to enrich the soil of our minds by learning the right fertilizer (primal language) to use. The next step, as in any good garden, is to provide an adequate drainage and irrigation system that allows your desires to manifest. If there is no release, there can be no growth! Your desires will drown in old habits, bad feelings, or negative memories. To keep the garden of your mind healthy and productive, we need to find avenues of release and we have to allow this discharge to take place! Think of your life as a great big house filled with all sorts of clutter. One day a magickal elf knocks on your door and says, “I heard you wanted a new lawn mower. Too cool! You deserve it, you do! I have it right here. But, since you already have something in the space where you wanted to put it-well, I won’t be able to give it to you.” See ya, lawn mower! To get what you do want, you must let go of what you don’t want. Although the premise of release works universally, I’ve noticed its greatest impact (where we can see the necessity of letting go most clearly) in the arena of personal relationships, particularly when folks say, “I just can’t seem to find the right person. Where is the man (or woman) of my dreams?” Many times, these people are holding on to old, dead relationships or memories of hurtful moments in human interaction. If they seriously close the door on old patterns and open doors to new ones, sure enough, the right person comes along! Throwaway those “nesting gifts” that remind you of lost love, good love gone bad, or whatever. Change your phone number, block your e-mail, try a new hairstyle, build a spiritual garden, buy some new clothes, apply for a new job, tear down a building on your property, clean out the basement and the attic, wear a different scent, move your furniture around so it doesn’t remind you of “them.” Heck, burn the darned bed and all the sheets if necessary! Even better-move! (That’ll keep ya busy and force you to release a lot of junk.) Or, less drastic, find a new hobby: try skydiving, horseback riding, swimming, golf, or bowling; shop at stores you never tried before; take a class at a local college; or get interested in a different cuisine. Work on affirmations, spells, and rituals that are life-affirming and geared toward positive change. Do a thorough house cleansing and a personal ritual cleansing. Pick a new activity where you will meet exciting and vibrant people, and live! Live! Live! Live! Let go of the past, because the past isn’t really what you thought it was in the first place. (Star U0rs and the Scream trilogy have at least taught us that much!) Even perennial plants don’t last forever; they have their proper cycle, too! Just ask my daughter. Mter a devastating breakup, she did many of the above-listed activities and changes, and in one month-you guessed it-she found the love of her life. he’s now married to the man of her dreams, a truly lovely individual that any mother-in-law would be proud of In essence, my daughter concentrated on what she did want in her life new experiences, people, places, and things), and she was so busy, she let go of what she didn’t 15 want-and without the severe, elongated emotional pain one so often experiences after a bad breakup. Let’s go back to my lawn mower example. I need to remove both physical and emotional clutter, clearing the way to receive the machine that I desire. In my shed, I have an old gaspowered lawn mower that is more finicky than a Capricorn maintaining a prize rosebush. This machine works only for my father, who doesn’t like the beast because of the amount of time it takes him to get it started and keep it running. Even with the best maintenance (my father is that Capricorn), this mower was the most cantankerous hunk of metal, gears, and gas ever to be built on the face of this planet. It refused to work for anyone else in the household (no kidding-which became a major pain when my father fell seriously ill). So, I wheel this monstrosity out to the curb and slap a sign on it: FREE-RUNS BUT STUBBORN-GOOD FOR PARTS. And away it goes. I’ve done this before, by the way. Ever tried it? Instead of trashing something, I put it on the curb with some sort of fun sign. I’ve gotten rid of more junk this way-free, without hurting the environment one little bit, and making someone delightfully happy in the process! Anyway … I’ve honestly cleared physical space in the shed (meaning I didn’t trick anyone into removing the old mower-bad karma-yet I gave someone who might want it the opportunity to take it; this is good Pagan recycling). Then, I review my mentaVemotional standpoint on receiving my new lawn mower. Obviously, I need it (or I’ll be fined by the borough for having unruly vegetation-you think I jest!). Second, I deserve having a new lawn mower as much as the next guy or gal; no issue there. Thankfully, neither politics nor religion has entered into the ownership oflawn equipment. Since my feelings tell me whether I’m on track with the receiving end (I feel good about getting a new lawn mower), I’m all set when that imaginary magickal elf (the process of quantum physics in action) comes knocking at my door with my brand-new lawn mower. I don’t think about how I’m going to pay for the machine. I’ve kept money totally out of my visualization process on purpose, because money, for a lot of people, can have its own emotional baggage, which adds unnecessary complications. We want a cut-and-dry scenario here. Instead, I simply concentrate on the item. The universe will work out how I’m going to get what I want and won’t bother me with the finances. (Isn’t it a relief to know that there’s actually a powerful force on this planet that doesn’t want your money?) To be more specific: as I remove the old machine from the shed and push it along its last journey across my property, I concentrate on visualizing my new lawn mower and how won16 eriUl it will feel. I take a deep breath and allow myself to connect with the source (that which :-.!:lS the universe), and I remember to smile. I imagine I’m pushing not the old lawn mower _4 to the trash but the new one to make the yard look beautiful. I look at the green grass and ~joy the spicy aroma from my herb garden as I walk past, physically pushing “the stubborn ::Ie” out of my life. I simply let myself shift into Mother Nature as I trundle along, visualIZing myself delightfully tan, my arms and legs getting stronger, and my over-fifty paunch ~dting away under the gloriously blue summer sky. I smile broadly at that one. Then I say, “I am grateful for my new, green Scotts Elite 16-inch push reel lawn mower or better; it always works; always a blessing,” and I smile again. (Because when you are grateful about something, on t1y grateful, you are in a happy mind place.) When I did this, a beautiful butterfly flitted on:r the old lawn mower-a signal in my mind that my desire was well on its way (I personally use animals, plants, birds, insects, and my physical garden as interpreters of what the uniH:rse is trying to tell me about my life). In essence, by the time I pushed the old lawn mower o the curb, I’d mentally and physically released the cranky machine and acknowledged the receipt of my new one. Instead of kicking that nasty, grumpy lawn mower and declaring its foul nature, I said, “I’m grateful for your service,” and I meant it. Mter all, I could have been living without any mower at all, cutting the grass with a pair of kitchen shears. In this way, I honored what it did manage to accomplish and let it go at that (this actually works with nasty people, especially crappy employers or friends of betrayal, too). Then I walked back to the empty spot in the shed, imagined my new mower sitting there, and said, “Welcome, new lawn mower!” (Another big, happy smile!) Okay, so the lawn mower isn’t like the love of your life, and the procedure to obtain it was pretty simple. It’s not like I had to legally divorce the old lawn mower, but you get the idea (although you might like to set your husband, wife, or partner on the street corner with a sign that says FREE, STUBBORN, USE FOR PARTS, this isn’t legal and is certainly not moral). The point here: I released (drained) and honored (irrigated positive energy) the old and welcomed the new, shifting into the joy of Mother Nature as I did it. My magickal ritual wasn’t performed in the formal way that you’ve read about before. Here, my ritual was the process of doing-wheeling that old machine out through my yard (which is actually sacred space) and actively meditating (visualizing) what I desired-all done in the arms of Mother Nature. Whenever I thought about how soon I might get the new mower, I switched mental gears, smiled at the universe, and said, “Thank you for my new lawn mower,” then changed my thoughts to something else, because the biggest destroyer of getting what we want is actually our own minds and our myriad secondary thoughts on any situation. In essence, you only need to make your request once; however, your request can be altered by subsequent thoughts. If this mower is what I truly want, and I don’t want to change my mind, then I need to keep my thoughts clear of any doubt or worry. In traditional Witchcraft and other magickal disciplines, you’ll often see three-, seven-, or nine-day spells. As a rule, the bigger the problem or request, the longer the duration of the working. This type of timing is to assure the mind (yours) that you are actually doing something constructive, and the repetition helps to solidifY confidence in yourself and cement your own belief. Likewise, offerings to the gods, another traditional practice, are simply the act of releasing, accepting, and welcoming. You are physically giving something away in order to make room to receive what you want. Honoring the gods by saying thank you is also a release-and-closure function. When you thank someone, you are basically ending the subject with an act of honor. The words thank you indicate an automatic closure and affirmation that your desire has come to pass. Did I get my mower? Yep! Took two weeks. No expense. I named my new lawn mower Elf, put a garden talisman on it, got a great tan, and walked off ten pounds. Sweet! {(gar- tar-I(: Review your request from the primal language exercise. What do you need to release to receive your desire? What physical steps or actions can you incorporate in your life to clear the way for your success? Remember to honor what has to leave-being grateful for the good is a powerful act of closure! Remove any doubts in your life about what you do and do not deserve. Be sure to clearly accept and welcome, through your words and actions, the changes you are working for. And don’t forget-smile, smile, smile!
