This is an exact copy of the printed instructions in your ritual box. For a more analog experience, reference the print-out instead!

Welcome to your Close the Portal ritual. 

As the year draws to a close, we find ourselves at a powerful threshold —a time to honor what has been, release what no longer serves, and prepare to step forward into the new. This offering is meant to guide you through that sacred process with intention, clarity and sovereignty. Everything you need is within.

This practice invites you to harness the collective energy of endings and embrace the magic of letting go— with compassion and acceptance, with grief and finality. It is a symbolic funeral for what has passed, and a creation of space for the light and promise to come.

Created under the New Moon in Sagittarius at the start of the month and designed to culminate with the New Moon at month’s end, it is imbued with Jupiterian expansion, optimism and abundance.

Close the Portal now, and meet the new with grace and power.

Ritual Ingredients

*Hand-batched Ali simmer pot

*Everyday Magic signature votive candle

*Spruce, Juniper + Cinnamon herb bundle

*Everyday Magic Matches

*Rainbow or Golden Obsidian heart 

*Wooden coffin

*Floral paper

*Two black chime candles

*String

*Obsidian Blade

*Wax Seal

*Cascarilla

Ritual Time: Approximately 2.5 hours |

Instructions

1. Before engaging in shadow work or cord cutting, it is essential to bring life, light, and warmth into your space. This energy will guide and protect you as you move through this transformative practice.

The simmer pot is full of cleansing, protective and warming herbs for this very purpose — cardamom, clove, bay, blood orange, ginger, pine, nutmeg, allspice, juniper. Bring to a boil in a small pot, reciting the following incantation— 

By fire’s warmth and water’s flow,

With simmered herbs intentions grow.

Blood orange wakes the spirit’s fire,

Invoking hope through light’s attire.

Juniper’s breath, a shield of air,

Pine’s green heart, a healer’s prayer.

Let nutmeg ground where winds may weave,

Allspice mend what we must grieve.

Cardamom guides in wisdom’s name.

Bayleaf balms grief, releasing blame.

Through clove’s embrace and ginger’s spark,

We weave the light through shadowed dark.

2. This baby version of the Everyday Magic signature candle was created specifically for this ritual. Its iridescent flame serves as a bright tether to the land of the living, cloaking you in light and connection as you wade into the liminal. A gentle reminder that magic is ever-present and that you are not alone in this uncertain place. In your ritual space, light your candle and recite the following:

By this flame I call the light 

To lead my spirit through this night 

Bring warmth, bring love, bring hallowed glow

Illuminate the path I go.

With fire’s spark, the portal’s near,

Let spirit’s wisdom gather here.

Grant me through the shadows sight

As I embrace this ending rite

Life and warmth, in you I see,

A sacred flame, so mote it be.

3. Infused with the essence of winter's magic, this handcrafted herb bundle combines the protective energy of spruce, the cleansing properties of juniper, and the warming spirit of cinnamon. Together, they create a sacred smoke perfect for clearing negativity, welcoming renewal, and sealing your space with intention. Over a fire-safe vessel, light your herb bundle and guide the rising smoke along the corners, windows and doorways of your ritual space. Recite the following:

Through spiral wisps, the past unweaves,

From portals wide to hidden eaves.

Let shadows part, let binds release,

In sacred stillness, summon peace.

Let walls unbind their whispered wounds

Let thresholds gleam like glowing moons

From earth below to heavens high,

Cleanse all within, let echoes die.

By rite and word, by fire’s decree,

All that remains is sovereignty. 

4. With your space now prepared, gather the coffin, gold foil, black chime candles, and string. Begin by lining the bottom half of the coffin with the foil. Tie the candles together with the string, securing them about halfway down their length and leaving a couple inches of space between them. To fasten the candles onto the foil, gently melt their bases and press them into place. Light both candles. 

5. Place the floral paper before you and hold the obsidian heart in your hand. Take a moment to reflect on the past year. Meditate, revisit old journal entries, or scroll through your camera roll. As you do, write down any feelings, experiences, or memories you wish to release. If there are older burdens that you’re ready to let go of during this ritual, include those as well. Do not leave candles unsupervised at any point of this ritual. 

6. Sit with your list. As you focus on each item, gaze into the flames and notice what comes up for you and where you feel it in your body. Allow your obsidian blade to be intuitively drawn to these pain points. When the emotion feels fully realized, visualize the energetic cords connected to these feelings and sever with clear intention, releasing them one by one. When the string catches fire recite the following — 
From flame to ash, the cord is gone,

Through light and will, my path is drawn

In sovereign fire, I rise, restored,

Through Obsidian’s cut, I move toward more.

To the flowers I inscribe

All I wish to set aside

This coffin holds what I resign,

Transmuting pain through sacred sign.

I retrieve the gold—it’s mine to keep,

Treasure reclaimed as I release.

With wisdom gained and well-earned peace

I walk forward, free.

7. While the candles burn down, transform the floral paper by a method of your choosing, rendering it unrecognizable from its original form. You may tear it into small pieces, burn it in a fire-safe vessel, submerge it in water until the ink dissolves, or obscure its surface in another way. Once the flames extinguish themselves and the paper is transformed, place the remnants into the coffin. Add to the coffin any small tokens, symbols, or items that represent your intention or what you wish to release. These could include crystals (such as the obsidian blade used in this ritual), dried herbs, feathers, mementos, keys, photos, letters, ticket stubs, receipts, or other meaningful objects—so long as you are ready to part with them. Make sure everything in your coffin can be safely disposed of depending on your disposal method, this may be an appropriate time to remove the foil. When all your offerings are gathered, seal the coffin by melting the wax stick over the clasp. Finally, mix a small amount of cascarilla with water and use it to imprint the sealed coffin with a sigil or symbol of your choice, finalizing the ritual.

By wax and word, this seal is made,

The past unarmed, by sigil stayed.

The weight of years, the ties that bind,

Unwoven here by vow and mind.

This sacred vessel, a hallowed tomb,

Where endings dwell and beginnings bloom.

What’s cast aside will haunt no more,

Its echoes fade to time’s closed door.

With love and light 

I close this rite 

My soul unbound, my vision clear,

I welcome now the dawning year.

8. Complete your ritual and evening in silence, if possible. Reserve a cup of your simmer pot liquid for bathing, and return the remainder to the earth with gratitude. Cleanse your ritual space by wiping down the surfaces and sprinkling the remaining cascarilla around doors, windows, and thresholds to seal and protect. 

9. Immediate disposal of your working is recommended. Suggested disposal instructions are based on your rising sign:

Air Rising - leave at a crossroads, by the train tracks or at the station, at the steps of a church, the outskirts of a graveyard, at the top of a mountain, at the library — in a section that reminds you of your pain. 

Fire Rising — burn in a bonfire, submerge in candle wax, drown in smoke, fire inside clay, offer to the desert, scorch it in the sun.

Water Rising - release into a rushing river, lay to rest near a stream, set at the base of a waterfall, bury it in the snow or a lakebed, throw in the ocean at high tide, lose in the fog. 

Earth Rising - bury in the soil, deposit in a cave, return to the forest, throw in the compost, tuck into a crack of rock wall or underneath a large stone.

10. Bathe by the light of the Everyday Magic candle, pouring the reserved simmer pot liquid slowly over the crown of your head, allowing it to flow down your body. Hold the obsidian heart under the water, anointing it as the talisman of your ritual—the keepsake of your year, and the embodiment of what you have chosen to carry forward.

11. For the night, place the obsidian heart under your pillow to mend open wounds from the cord cutting. Afterward, let it reside with your most powerful magical tools, serving as an ally for future cord-cutting and releasing work.