July Full Thunder Moon: Cutting the Cord with Past Emotional Hurts

This ritual is designed to help you release any energetic ties to something hurtful in your past that you still carry with you even though it is no longer serving you. You will need a piece of string or twine, a pair of scissors, and something to ground you afterwards. I recommend really focusing on creating a safe sacred space before you start this ritual, and having your circle be a strong container for your powerful emotions. Feeling safe is incredibly important as you surrender your emotions and allow them to flow through you and out of you as you cut the cord.

I led this ritual for my in-person Pagan group back in 2019, online for The Temple of Flower and Flame yesterday, and will again for my in-person group tomorrow. I have also performed this ritual solitary as needed over the years – it doesn’t have to be July or the Full Moon for you to perform this ritual. Do it when you have need. This is an incredibly powerful ritual. I have adapted it for solitary practice, but if you have the chance to do this with others as witnesses, they can help create that container of safety and bear witness to your magick.

Cast the Circle

I cast this circle of love around,
Proclaiming this as sacred ground.

With fires of passion, love, and mirth,
The groundedness and
Strength of Earth
With healing waters,
Wellsprings flow,
The playful winds around me know
Like light and love within this space,
Divinity is every place.

I call on powers young and old,
With grateful praises
I extol,
Love in this place
And all around,
The love within this sacred ground.

So mote it be.

Call the Quarters

North

We call to the North, to the element of Earth, to be with us this evening. Please keep us grounded, so that we know our roots are firmly planted in the sweet-smelling soil, even as the storm rages around us. Element of Earth, hail and welcome!

East

We call to the East, to the element of Air, to be with us this evening. Please keep us flexible, like the tree that bends with the wind but does not break in the storm. Element of Air, hail and welcome!

South

We call to the South, to the element of Fire to be with us this evening. Please show us the spark of love within ourselves, as brilliant and just as powerful as a flash of lightning. Element of Fire, hail and welcome!

West

We call to the West, to the element of Water, to be with us this evening. Please wash us clean with your healing and purifying rains, nourishing our hearts and our spirits. Element of Water, hail and welcome!

Aphrodite Invocation 

(Greek phonetic and English translation)

Kalo teen theya Afrodeetee!
theya tees agapees,
theya tees lagnee-as,
theya tees ekstasees eroteekees.

A, sponsoras tees enafsmas           tees deemee-oor-yee-as      keh too paloo,
parakalo, mas embneh-ee na sin-neh-chee-soo-meh afto poo theloomeh,
na deemee-oor-yee-soomeh neya technee ke kata-skefs-meh,
keh na epee-tee-choo-meh ta oneera mas.

Makaree ee agapee-sas,
agree-a keh pro-sta-tef-tee-kee,
peh-ree-stee-chee-zee teen pareya mas.

I invoke the goddess Aphrodite, the goddess of love, passion, desire, and sexual rapture. O patroness of the spark of passion and creation, please inspire us to pursue that which we desire, to create new art and inventions, and to strive for our dreams. May your fierce and protective love surround our circle. Hail and welcome!

The Thunder Moon

The July Full Moon is known as the Thunder Moon, so named for the many summer storms that grace this season. I love thunderstorms. I love the feeling of the pressure drop before the storm sets in, the swirling winds proceeding the torrential downpour, the brilliant flash of lightning, and the sound of the sky being rent in two.

There is great power in the thunderstorm. You can feel it in your bones. Creative and destructive power inextricably twined together. The rain feeds the plants and helps them grow. The wind prunes dead limbs from trees. The lightning creates a new state of matter, plasma, in an instant, so fast it breaks the sound barrier. And then it’s gone, leaving the soundwaves to catch up to the flash we perceived by our eyes.

For me, thunderstorms have always been a metaphor for love. There’s romantic and sexual tension, a build-up of charge, a coming together, and a release (and that’s just the sexy part). “Colpo di fulmine” – the Italian phrase for “love at first sight” – literally translates to “bolt of lightning.”

There are other aspects to a thunderstorm, too. The nourishing rain feeds the Earth like nourishing love feeds our souls. The moment that lightning strikes, the cloud and the ground have the exact same electrical charge – a moment of understanding between two totally different beings, just like humans in love. This makes you think about Mother Earth and Father Sky a little differently, huh?

And just like love, the storm is beautiful. The patterns of light streaking across the skies is like staring into your lover’s eyes. The rumbling boom of the thunder is felt deep in the chest and ripples out of you. The rain caresses your skin, sometimes gently and other times not. The wind whips around you, messing up your hair but leaving you with an incredible feeling of lightness.

But a thunderstorm can also hurt you. You can get caught in a flash flood. The wind can bring down trees and wreck your home. You can be struck by lightning, which for all the love metaphors, would not be a pleasant experience. 

Like the wind pruning the dead branches of the trees, the thunderstorm strips away that which we no longer need. And that can be painful. Sometimes unbearably so, especially when it comes to matters of love.

Tonight, we will take a look at our past relationships, and symbolically cut the cord with a relationship that no longer serves us. And we are going to do it with the utmost compassion to ourselves and to everyone gathered in circle here tonight. 

Cutting the Cord

When doing any sort of deep personal work, compassion for yourself and others is essential. In order to grow, we have to go through the process of self-reflection, which, unless you’ve led an absolutely perfect life (and spoiler – no one has), you’re going to have to deal with some shit. It can be a painful process, but like the quote by Anais Nin says:

“There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

This process is necessary, however painful it may be, for us to grow into our truest selves, for us to love with all of our hearts, and for us to be at peace. 

Because love is such a powerful force, our personal relationships have both the power to heal us, and to hurt us, the most. Perhaps your lover betrayed you. Maybe your friend abandoned you when you needed them. Maybe one of your parents made you feel broken for being who you are. I’ve had all of these things happen in my life. 

Sometimes, no matter what we tell ourselves, those feelings don’t just go away. Sometimes even when we think we are over it, that it no longer affects how we live in the world, we get a stark and unpleasant reminder that the wound we thought was just an old scar is actually still infected and festering.

I want you to think about a relationship that you’ve had trouble letting go of – one that still affects you, even though you don’t want it to. It can be a past romantic relationship, a toxic friendship, or a painful relationship with a family member. It doesn’t have to be a relationship with a person, either. It can be something more abstract, like your relationship with negative self-talk, your former religion, or sexual shame.

As you think of this relationship, I ask you to hold compassion in your heart, both for yourself and for the other person or entity in the relationship. Be kind to yourself – you dealt with it the best that you could at the time. Be kind to the other – we never know what someone else’s lived experience is truly like. I’m not justifying or excusing their bad behavior – There is no good excuse for disrespecting someone else, and someone else’s circumstances don’t take away the pain you feel.

When you invoked Aphrodite here tonight, you asked for Her fierce and protective love to surround this circle. I want you to feel that now. Feel that love surround you like a hug. Feel the support from your friends in circle or outside of it. We are all here for each other, and we are here to bear witness. No matter what pain you’re in, no matter what you’ve gone through, remember that you are loved and you are worthy of all good things.

As you prepare to cut the cord with this relationship, you have to be truly ready to let it go. Take the cord in your hands, and I want you to really think about this relationship. Pour all of your anger, all of your grief, all of your frustration and sadness, all of your regret – All of whatever you feel like is holding you back from moving on – into the cord. If you want, you can even tie a knot in the cord to symbolize releasing that emotion into it.

You can scream, you can cry, do whatever you need to in order to get the emotion out of you and let it go. This is a safe space here. 

Whenever you are ready, hold the cord between your fingers in one hand, and cut it with the scissors in the other (if you tied a knot in your cord, cut directly into the knot). After this ritual has concluded, I suggest that you burn or bury the pieces of your cord as the final act of sending it out of your life.

You don’t have to say anything when you cut your cord, but you are more than welcome to say anything you need to.

“I release you from my life!” 

(Cut cord.)

Take a deep breath. In…. and out…. Feel yourself firmly planted in the ground. Feel your roots reaching down into the Earth, anchoring you, replenishing you, holding you. Feel the energy of the Earth begin to cascade up your body – the strong, resilient energy that keeps trees anchored in storms – moving up from your feet, to your ankles, up your legs, swirling around your pelvic bowl, traveling up your spine into your stomach, nourishing your heart, relaxing your arms and your hands, soothing your throat, tugging your mouth into a calm smile, relaxing your eyes, and pooling at the top of your head.

As the energy from the Earth reaches your crown, you feel it pouring out into branches of light, reaching up into the Sky. In the Sky, you feel a gentle rain fall on your branches – the tender drops after the raging storm has passed. You feel this revitalizing rain from the Sky flow down your branches, into your crown, and throughout the rest of your body.

As you inhale, feel the Earth energy go up your spine to the crown of your head. As you exhale, pull the nourishing Sky energy down the front of your body to your feet. Repeat this for several breaths, until you feel grounded and centered, held in harmony by the Earth and Sky.

Now, focus your attention on your heart. Feel it beating in your chest. Feel it ache. Feel the lightness that we just created by letting something go. But most of all, feel the love there. The love you have for yourself, for your family, for your friends, for the world. That love is the key to everything. Yes, love can hurt. But love can also heal. 

Choose one thing that you really, truly love. It can be a person, a pet, an activity, an ideal – whatever you love most in the world. Fill your heart with that love. Feel that small spark of love grow into a brilliant, radiant glow filling your whole body. Feel it radiating out of your chest into the world. You are surrounded by love.

Love is your greatest strength. Shine it as brightly as you possibly can in the world, and the world will be made all the better for it.

As you continue down your path, please be kind to yourself. You just did a really big and courageous thing. You took a brave step forward in your life. Practice self-compassion. It’s completely normal and okay if emotions come up, be it later tonight, in the next week, or even the next year. We are in a constant state of evolving into our best selves. What we did here tonight is just a step in your larger journey. May the blessings of Aphrodite go with you, this night and always.

Afrodeetee, parakalo, mas peri-loo-zeh meh tees ev-lo-yees, tees agapees!

Aphrodite, please shower us with the blessings of love!

Closing

I want you to remember what you did here tonight. The next time you are sad, or anxious, or afraid, feel the strength you showed tonight. The next time you want to close your heart, remember all the reasons to keep it open. The next time you think you are alone, know that you are never, ever alone.

Afrodeetee, sas ef-cha-ree-stoo-meh yee-a tees ev-lo-yee-es agapees-sas!

Aphrodite, thank you for your blessings of love!

Etsee tha eene.

So mote it be.

Gratitude to Aphrodite

Thank you, Aphrodite, for being with us tonight. Thank you for your blessings of love and passion. We honor you. Blessed be.

Sas ef-cha-ree-stoo-meh, Afrodeetee, yee-a tees ev-lo-yee-es sas agapees ke pathoos. Sas tee-ma-me. Ev-lo-yee-teh.

Release the Quarters

West

Thank you West, and the element of Water, for healing and nourishing us this evening. Hail and farewell!

South

Thank you South, and the element of Fire, for showing us the spark of our passion. Hail and farewell!

East

Thank you East, and the element of Air, for your flexibility and acceptance of change. Hail and farewell!

North

Thank you North, and the element of Earth, for grounding us this evening. Hail and farewell!

Release the Circle

We know that love is all around,
Though our circle now may be unbound.
Let us celebrate, joyous here,
Spreading love both far and near. 

So mote it be.