VESPERINE
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← the book of spells

healing

Grief-Tending Candle

this isn't a spell to stop grieving. it's a spell that says you're allowed to, tonight, on purpose.


she wants

sit with a loss without rushing yourself out of it

she casts on

waning moon
Saturday


what you gather

  • ·1 white or silver candle
  • ·something that belonged to or reminds you of what's been lost
  • ·a small bowl of water

the working

  1. Iset the object beside the candle, and the bowl of water in front of both.
  2. IIlight the candle.
  3. IIIspeak the incantation once, aloud or silently, whichever you can manage.
  4. IVsit for as long as feels right. Cry if it comes. Don't if it doesn't.
  5. Vwhen you're ready, pour the bowl of water outside, or down a drain, letting it carry what it can.
  6. VIsnuff the candle. You can return to this working as many times as you need.

she speaks

"This is grief, not weakness. I am not required to be finished with it by any date. I sit with it. That is the whole working."

she expects

A held space, not a cure — this working offers company for grief, not resolution. It is reflection, not therapy, and it is not a substitute for support if grief has become unbearable to carry alone.

she warns

This is not mental health treatment. If grief has tipped into despair you can't move through, please reach a real person — a therapist, a grief counselor, a crisis line, someone who can sit with you in person.