A Rite of Unbinding

In the Reclaiming and Feri traditions (and probably others) rites of unbinding are used to free up life force that might be tied up with unnecessary neuroses, events or distractions.

For obvious reasons, I'm intrigued by the language here. What if the rite of unbinding involved literal rope?

I think there would be a number of ways to approach this. Hence this post is "a" rite of unbinding, not "the" rite. This rite uses the same basic tech as a chaos magick sigil, in which the explicit aim is to encode the will into the spell, forget its conscious construction, and then release it to allow the unconscious to do its work.

A rite of unbinding

First - formulate your Will and determination to perform the ritual.

It is very important (for reasons beyond the scope of this entry) to formulate your will in the positive. For example, if you are doing a spell to have a cleaner house, avoid: "I will not leave the messy dishes in the sink for two days," in favor of "I will live in a clean and pleasant house." There are a couple of very simple reasons for this - mostly one of focus. The magickal self latches onto images, and couldn't care less about qualifiers like "not." If the shiny image in your sentence is "messy house" that's where the energy goes. If the shiny image is "clean house," likewise. (In theory, one could do a different rite of unbinding that literaly binds one with the bad juju and creates a means for escape, but that seems a longer and much more dangerous spell.)

If you decide to proceed, be sure to get tools and some safety equipment to hand - EMT shears, rope, water. Like lighting candles for your rituals? Not unless you have a priestess around, my friend.

If a priest/top is facilitating the spell, she should be made aware of the intention and should set it actively when binding the ropes.

Then, do the binding, deliberately setting your Will into the ropes as they go on. A priest/top can made the bondage as straightforward or elaborate as desired. For solo rituals, I find that crossing the legs and binding them with a simple two-column (or even one-column) tie at the ankles works just fine.

A period of meditation may be desired, but I offer a cautionary note - don't try to figure out what actualizing your Will "looks like" right now. In our example about the clean house - sure, you might get better at cleaning. You might suddenly come into enough money to afford a regular maid service. You could find the perfect service submissive. You could win a contest for a new house. You just don't know. Try not to get attached to how things will actualize, and let the Universe surprise you.

Raise energy. Sensation play is good for this - pain and pleasure can both be used to feed the spell. If you are doing the spell on your own, masturbation is probably the best way to raise energy (and also is a good way to honor the chaos magick roots of the spell). When the energy peaks, send it off with a breath to actualize your Work.

Rest a moment.

As you remove the ropes or have them removed, imagine that the spell is literally lifting away from you to work in its own mysterious ways. Feel your energy unbind from what had previously concerned you, knowing that change is on the way.