When it comes to using intentional energy to get more balance and purpose in their lives … people in my audience often have a 💥BURNING question: (yeah I know right)
Does a letter burning ritual really help let go of the past?
So last night I was watching an old episode of Vera – Castles In The Air. She’s an older british detective working with her younger offsider Joe. Now when Joe was a young cop he arrested a fellow for assault and was a bit of prig about it when the fellow got sent to jail.
Now eight or so years later the fellow turns up as a bystander in a murder investigation but it comes to light that while in jail he sent Joe a letter and Joe still has it and he’s still brooding over it.
Joe eventually shows it to his wife to read but not to Vera. (Mind you they have both told him he’s not responsible for the past but obviously it had a distinct impact on how Joe grew as a policeman.)
Late one night Joe was at Vera’s farmhouse waiting for a taxi to collect him and had fallen asleep in a chair. When the taxi arrived she went to wake him and saw the letter in his coat pocket. She read it then proceeded to light it before putting it on a plate to collect the ash. She put the ash into the envelope and returned it to his pocket with a grin, before waking him fully.
The Message Here Is…
So the message in this story is that Joe wasn’t letting go of the past between him and this fellow. By holding onto this letter he was holding on to the anger and mistakes he felt he’d made, even though they had met, he’d apologised and they agreed they were both too young at the time.
By burning the letter Vera was releasing the energy of the letter so it could dissipate completely and Joe would have to let it go.
Now I know this is just a show on telly but it’s stories like this that show how we hang onto the past, often without even realising it.
And this is why I don’t believe that keeping a journal or notebook is necessarily a good thing.
When you write in a journal that you intend to keep and look back through over time you’re holding onto elements of what you write about.
If you’re writing for therapy the idea is to dig deep into your thoughts and feelings to process and release them.
That writing needs to burn as a completion of your session.This is what I call a letter burning ritual.
Now your session may be just one day or you may be writing over a period of time to identify patterns of thought and behaviour and that’s ok too. But there needs to be a limit placed on these longer sessions and I would recommend no more than 30 days before burning it.
(Pssssst…. You can 📌 pin this article for reference to your “Mindset” or “Journaling” board!)
A Burning Ritual As Part of a Balance Session.
I became familiar with this burn after writing technique during my training in Rekindled Ancient Wisdom. As part of the balance session practitioners write notes in a specific way. These include the issues or goals the client wants to work on, issues that arise intuitively, the scan lists that test up to be balanced and more.
The final part of the balance process is for the client to burn the paper notes. It’s fascinating to watch the smoke from the paper. Sometimes it just won’t light, or its dark and unpleasant. Other times it burns really clean and quick. This letter burning ritual really does make a difference in releasing old issues.
So, there you have it! … a letter burning ritual really does help let go of the past so you get more balance and purpose in your life.
If you’re ready to combine chakra steps with a mindset practice that focuses on you – with ease, every day – I have something to help you start
And, remember… If you’re ready to combine chakra steps with a mindset practice that focuses on you – with ease, every day – I have something to help you get started