Hyssop, Rue, and Agrimony: Herb Knowledge, Healing, Lore, and Ritual

On May 1st, the Flower Full Moon rises in Scorpio and peaks at 1:23pm EDT and is on the same day as Beltane — a rare alignment that hasn’t happened in nearly four decades. This is a day where the earth is blooming, but the cosmos are asking us to clear what’s choking our own growth. Scorpio exposes the truth. Beltane lights the fire. The Flower Moon shows what’s ready to blossom. Together, they create a portal for release, rebirth, and radical honesty.

Scorpio energy governs death, transformation, and what must be shed before rebirth. Beltane sits at the threshold between worlds. "Cut and burn" work on this day carries exceptional weight. These three herbs together form one of the most historically documented banishing and purification triads in Western folk magic. Let's go deep into the herbs Hyssop, Rue, and Agrimony as they are historically known as herbs to 'cut and burn' things from our lives so we can step into the new.

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HYSSOP

Hyssopus officinalis

Herbal Compounds

• Volatile oils: pinocamphone, isopinocamphone, beta-pinene, camphene

• Flavonoids: diosmin, hesperidin, apigenin

• Tannins and bitter glycosides (marrubiin)

• Rosmarinic acid (anti-inflammatory)

• Pinocamphone is the compound responsible for both its medicinal potency and its toxicity ceiling -- high doses are problematic, moderate use is well-documented as safe

Historical Lore

• Dioscorides prescribed hyssop for chest complaints, coughs, and as a cleansing herb in De Materia Medica

• Pliny the Elder documented it extensively in Naturalis Historia as a medicinal and purifying plant

• Hebrew tradition: The Old Testament references ezov -- translated as hyssop -- as the primary herb of ritual purification, used to cleanse lepers, homes touched by death, and in the Passover rite (Exodus 12:22, Psalm 51:7 -- "Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean"). Important note: the biblical ezov is almost certainly not Hyssopus officinalis, which is native to southern Europe and would not have grown in Sinai or Egypt. Leading botanical candidates for the true biblical ezov include Origanum syriacum (Syrian oregano/Bible hyssop, the most widely supported), Capparis spinosa (caper plant), and Majorana syriaca (Syrian marjoram). The purification symbolism and spiritual lore carried forward authentically into European tradition through H. officinalis -- but the original plant identity remains genuinely uncertain and is worth knowing

• Avicenna (Canon of Medicine, 11th century) used it for lung congestion, phlegm, and as a warming herb

• Culpeper (Complete Herbal, 1653) assigned it to Jupiter and called it excellent for the lungs, quinsy, and jaundice

• Medieval European monasteries grew it as a primary medicinal and spiritual herb

• Hildegard von Bingen (Physica) praised it for purifying the blood and lifting the spirit

Magical Uses

• Purification above all else -- one of the most extensively documented purification herbs in Western magical and religious tradition

• Used in ritual cleansing baths, floor washes, and smoke cleansing

• Hung over doorways to prevent evil from entering

• Used in uncrossing work -- removing hexes, curses, and negative attachments

• Excellent for cutting etheric cords and cleansing the auric field before new intentions are set

• Traditionally scattered around a space that needs spiritual clearing

• In Hoodoo tradition, hyssop bath work is done specifically for spiritual cleansing of sin and heaviness

• Associated with purification, protection, and consecration

• Planetary ruler: Jupiter (Culpeper) -- some traditions assign Moon

• Element: Fire (Cunningham) -- some traditions assign Air given its respiratory and purifying nature; both exist in the literature and are tradition-dependent

Physical and Medicinal Uses

• Respiratory: expectorant, antispasmodic for coughs, bronchitis, and catarrh -- well supported in European herbal medicine and confirmed by Germany's Commission E

• Digestive: carminative, helps with gas, bloating, and sluggish digestion

• Antiviral: rosmarinic acid shows activity against herpes simplex virus, confirmed in multiple studies including research published in Phytomedicine (2008)

• Anti-inflammatory: topically used for bruising and muscle soreness

• Nervine: mild calming effect, used historically for anxiety and grief

• German Commission E approves it for catarrh of the upper respiratory tract

• Used in steam inhalation for sinus congestion

Safety

• Safe for ingestion in culinary and medicinal amounts

• Avoid in pregnancy -- can stimulate uterine contractions

• Epilepsy caution: pinocamphone content means very high doses can be convulsant -- this caution applies specifically to the essential oil used internally; the whole herb in normal amounts is significantly safer

• Do not use the essential oil internally

• Topical use: generally safe

• Magical use: fully safe in all forms

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RUE

Ruta graveolens

Herbal Compounds

• Furocoumarins: psoralen, bergapten, xanthotoxin -- these are the primary compounds responsible for phototoxic risk

• Alkaloids: graveoline, rutacridone, arborinine

• Flavonoids: rutin (first isolated from rue in 1842 -- the flavonoid is named after this plant), quercetin

• Volatile oils: 2-undecanone, 2-nonanone

• Rutin has been extensively studied for capillary strengthening and anti-inflammatory action and is used in modern pharmaceutical contexts -- extracted under controlled conditions, not from plant ingestion

• Furocoumarins require UV light activation to cause phototoxic burns -- meaning skin contact in complete darkness or indoors away from UV sources carries lower risk than outdoor contact. This does not make rue safe for topical use but explains why the risk is specifically tied to sun and UV exposure

Historical Lore

• Dioscorides considered rue one of the most important medicinal herbs of the ancient world -- used for eye complaints, headaches, sciatica, and as an antidote to poison in De Materia Medica

• Pliny the Elder documented rue among the most extensively referenced plants in Naturalis Historia across multiple books. He references workers using it to preserve eyesight -- an interesting correlation given that rutin does support vascular integrity, though this is a modern observation rather than a confirmed historical mechanism

• Avicenna used it extensively for neurological complaints and as an antidote herb in Canon of Medicine

• The Ebers Papyrus references protective plant formulas consistent with rue-like plants

• Italian and Spanish folk medicine -- rue (Ruta) remains one of the most actively used protective herbs in Mediterranean folk healing to this day

• Romani tradition: rue is a primary protection and hex-breaking herb, worn and hung in homes -- well documented in ethnobotanical literature

• Hildegard von Bingen noted its power but cautioned its strength

• Culpeper (Complete Herbal, 1653) assigned it to the Sun and called it an herb of grace -- powerful against poison, plague, and evil

• "Herb of Grace" -- rue's most famous folk name, referencing its use in holy water aspersion before Mass in early Christian tradition, referenced in Shakespeare's Hamlet and Richard II

• The English word "rue" meaning sorrow and the plant name share a long folk association -- used intentionally by Shakespeare and others -- though they follow separate etymological paths (hreowan in Old English versus ruta from Greek rhyte). The connection is a meaningful and ancient linguistic convergence rather than a shared root

• In Neapolitan and Southern Italian magic, rue is central to the cimaruta -- a silver charm crafted in the shape of a rue sprig, used for protection against the malocchio (evil eye). This tradition is extensively documented by ethnobotanists and is among the most well-evidenced folk magic uses of any herb in Europe

Magical Uses

• Banishing and hex-breaking -- one of the strongest documented herbs for this purpose in the Western tradition

• Protection: worn, hung, or scattered to create a barrier against psychic attack, the evil eye, and harmful energies

• In Italian folk magic, a sprig of fresh rue hung by the door is a living daily practice still observed today

• Cutting cords and banishing: particularly potent for severing unwanted ties, clearing residual energy from ended relationships, and removing attachments

• Used in ritual smoke, floor washes, and charm bags -- for magical use only given its safety profile

• Carried for mental clarity and protection during divination

• Associated with grief transmutation and the processing of what must be released

• Planetary ruler: Sun (Culpeper) -- Mars in some traditions

• Element: Fire

Physical and Medicinal Uses

The following is historical record only and is not for modern self-administration. Rue was used historically for eye complaints, headaches, sciatica, and menstrual regulation. Its abortifacient properties were documented across ancient Greek, Roman, and medieval European traditions. Rutin extracted from rue under pharmaceutical conditions is used in modern medicine for vascular support -- this is not achievable or safe through plant ingestion.

Rue is not recommended for modern self-administered medicinal use in any form.

Safety -- Critical

• DO NOT INGEST. Toxic in medicinal doses. Abortifacient. Can cause kidney and liver damage, convulsions, and death in sufficient quantity

• DO NOT apply to skin before sun or UV exposure. Furocoumarins cause severe phototoxic chemical burns -- blistering and lasting skin damage. Risk is UV-activated, making indoor handling lower risk but not risk-free

• Gloves are strongly advised when handling, particularly for those with sensitive skin

• Pregnancy: absolutely contraindicated in any form beyond very light aromatic exposure

• For ritual use: rue is fully appropriate for smoke work, charm bundles, and ritual burning. Wash hands thoroughly after handling. The magical use is where it belongs in modern practice.

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AGRIMONY

Agrimonia eupatoria

Herbal Compounds

• Tannins: agrimoniin (a potent ellagitannin unique to this plant), pedunculagin

• Flavonoids: luteolin, apigenin, quercetin, kaempferol

• Bitter principles: agrimophol

• Polysaccharides with immune-modulating activity

• Coumarins in very low amounts

• Vitamins: C, K, B complex

• Terpenes: alpha and beta-pinene, limonene

• Agrimoniin has attracted modern research interest for antioxidant and antimicrobial properties -- see species note below

Important Species Note

Agrimonia eupatoria (European agrimony) and Agrimonia pilosa (Asian agrimony, known in TCM as Xian He Cao) are related but distinct species with overlapping but not identical properties. Some research -- particularly anti-tumor and anti-parasitic studies -- is conducted on A. pilosa and should not be directly attributed to A. eupatoria. When reading modern research on agrimony, the species distinction matters and is worth checking.

Historical Lore

• The genus name Agrimonia likely derives from the Greek argemone -- a word used for plants that treated eye ailments. The species name eupatoria honors Mithridates Eupator, King of Pontus, a legendary figure in ancient herbal medicine history

• Dioscorides used it for liver complaints, snake bite, and as a wound herb

• Pliny documented its use for eye complaints and liver disease

• Anglo-Saxon herbalism: Agrimony appears in the Lacnunga (10th century, housed in the British Library as Harley MS 585) in the Wið Færstice charm -- Against Sudden Stitch -- as both a wound herb and protection plant against "elf-shot," the sudden mysterious illness believed sent by supernatural forces

• Culpeper (Complete Herbal, 1653) assigned it to Jupiter and Cancer, praising it for the liver, kidneys, bowels, sleep, and protection

• Traditional Chinese Medicine: Agrimonia pilosa (Xian He Cao) is a significant TCM herb used to stop bleeding, expel parasites, and tonify -- this is a close relative, not the same species

• Medieval European: extensively used as a wound herb and strewing herb in homes

• German folk medicine used it prominently for liver and gallbladder support

• Irish folk tradition: known as mur-droighin and used in healing charms and protection workings

Magical Uses

• Reversal and returning: agrimony's most distinctive magical quality is its ability to send back what has been sent -- it reverses hexes and returns negative energy to its source. Well documented across Hoodoo, British folk magic, and broader European traditions

• Sleep protection: historically placed under the pillow to induce deep unbroken sleep and protect against nightmares and psychic disturbance

• In the Anglo-Saxon Lacnunga, agrimony appears in charms against supernatural illness -- one of the earliest documented uses of a plant for psychic protection in the British record

• Banishing and completion: where rue cuts and hyssop cleanses, agrimony completes the circuit -- sealing the working and sending the severed energy away

• Used in uncrossing and reversal spells across multiple traditions

• In Hoodoo tradition: agrimony is used to reverse jinxes and return them to their source

• Associated with protection during sleep and dream work, justice, and energetic completion

• Planetary ruler: Jupiter (confirmed across multiple sources including Culpeper)

• Element: Air (Cunningham)

Physical and Medicinal Uses

• Liver and gallbladder: gentle bitter tonic supporting bile production and liver function -- one of its most consistent uses across European traditions and supported by modern research

• Digestive: excellent for diarrhea given high tannin content, and for leaky gut and IBS -- used across European traditions

• Wound healing: topically as a poultice or wash for slow-healing wounds and skin ulcers -- agrimoniin shows antimicrobial activity in modern studies

• Urinary tract: used for cystitis, urinary gravel, and incontinence in European herbalism

• Throat and mouth: gargle for sore throats and mouth ulcers -- tannin content is particularly well suited here

• Blood sugar: preliminary modern research suggests possible blood sugar modulating effects -- evidence is early and should not be overstated

• German Commission E approves agrimony for mild inflammation of the oral and pharyngeal mucosa

Safety

• Safe for ingestion for most people in normal amounts

• Constipation caution: high tannin content can worsen it -- avoid if this is an active concern

• Blood sugar medications: preliminary research suggests possible interaction -- monitor if diabetic and using therapeutically. Clinical evidence for this interaction is not yet strongly established but the caution is reasonable

• Pregnancy: avoid therapeutic doses -- historically associated with uterine stimulation

• Coumarin content is very low -- a general awareness note for those on anticoagulant medications is reasonable but the interaction is not strongly supported by clinical evidence at normal herbal doses

• Topical use: safe and beneficial

• Magical use: fully safe in all forms

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THE TRIAD: TOGETHER IN RITUAL AND HEALING

COMBINATION SAFETY

These three herbs together are not contraindicated with each other -- no documented toxic interaction between hyssop, rue, and agrimony in combination.

Individual cautions stand:

• Rue: do not ingest, phototoxic topically in UV light -- critical

• Hyssop: essential oil not for internal use, avoid in epilepsy and pregnancy

• Agrimony: general awareness with blood sugar medications and anticoagulants, avoid therapeutic doses in pregnancy

• All three: avoid therapeutic ingestion doses during pregnancy

Healing tea blend of hyssop and agrimony is safe for most adults. Rue is never added to any ingested preparation.

Ritual Use -- Beltane / Full Flower Moon in Scorpio

These three herbs form a complete three-phase banishing and purification arc:

Herb	Ritual Function	Phase
Rue	Cuts the cord, severs the tie, banishes	The Cut
Hyssop	Purifies the space left behind, cleanses the self	The Cleanse
Agrimony	Returns what was sent, seals and completes	The Seal

Ritual Smoke Bundle / Burn

• Combine dried rue, hyssop, and agrimony into a loose ritual burn blend or tie loosely into a bundle

• Because rue is included, do not burn indoors without excellent ventilation -- furocoumarins in smoke can be irritating to mucous membranes

• Ideal use: outdoor ritual fire or a heat-safe cauldron

• Speak your intentions in three parts as each herb's smoke rises: first naming what is cut, then calling in the cleansing, then releasing and sealing

• On Beltane specifically, passing the smoke around yourself or your space nine times (a Scorpio number) is traditional in some folk practices

Ritual Floor Wash / Space Clearing Water

• Steep hyssop and agrimony together in hot water (a strong tea)

• Add rue water -- make a separate cold infusion of rue overnight, strain

• Combine the two liquids

• Use to wash thresholds, doorways, windowsills, and floors

• Do not use this wash on skin without testing -- the rue content makes it inadvisable for direct skin application

• This is a powerful home clearing wash appropriate for Beltane

Charm or Sachet

• Dried hyssop and agrimony can be combined in a sachet

• Add rue only if the sachet will not be against skin for extended periods -- or wrap rue separately within the sachet so it is present energetically but not directly contacting you

• This sachet can be placed under your pillow on the full moon night (agrimony's traditional use) for protective dream work and continued energetic clearing while you sleep

Ritual Bath (Modified for Safety)

• Hyssop and agrimony can be used as a full ritual bath -- strong tea strained into bathwater

• Rue: float a sprig or two in the bath for symbolic presence but avoid prolonged skin contact -- or keep rue at the edge of the bath space, not in the water itself

• This is a deeply traditional uncrossing bath format

Healing Uses Together

These three together create a synergistic blend for:

• Respiratory support: hyssop leads, agrimony supports with anti-inflammatory flavonoids -- a tea of hyssop and agrimony for chest colds, bronchitis, and lingering cough is well within traditional and modern safety parameters

• Digestive support: agrimony's tannins and bitters combined with hyssop's carminative action -- good for sluggish digestion, post-illness gut recovery

• Do not add rue to any ingested formula

Hyssop and Agrimony Healing Tea Blend

• 1 part dried hyssop

• 2 parts dried agrimony

• Optional: a touch of honey, a slice of ginger

• Steep 10 to 15 minutes covered (to preserve volatile oils)

• Good for respiratory complaints, digestive support, and taken during times of emotional clearing -- the physical and energetic healing work together here

Dangerous Combination Notes

• Rue + blood thinners: rue has some coumarin-adjacent compounds -- do not combine with warfarin, aspirin therapy, or other anticoagulants even topically in large amounts

• Rue + pregnancy: absolutely never, in any form beyond light aromatic use

• Agrimony + diabetes medications: monitor blood sugar if using therapeutically

• Hyssop essential oil (not the herb itself) + epilepsy medications: avoid

• These three herbs together are not contraindicated with each other -- they do not create a toxic combination. The only concern is rue's standalone toxicity profile, which is managed by keeping it in ritual/external use only

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THE CUT AND THE BURN

A Full Flower Moon Ceremony in Scorpio - a simple ritual and a complex ritual. You choose your path here.

Beltane, May 1st

Simplistic but Powerful

BEFORE ANYTHING

Take a piece of paper. Write down everything you are releasing. Be honest. Be specific. Set it aside.

THE TEA

Begin here. Ground yourself first.

Hyssop and agrimony -- equal parts, one heaping teaspoon each in hot water. Cover and steep 10 to 15 minutes.

Sit with it. Hold the warm cup. Read what you wrote on your paper. Let yourself feel it fully before you release it.

This is your internal preparation. The herbs are already beginning their work.

THE BATH

The cleansing

Make a strong tea of hyssop and agrimony -- a few heaping tablespoons of each steeped in a quart of hot water for 20 minutes. Strain and pour into your bath.

Place a sprig or small bundle of rue at the edge of the bath -- present but not in the water against your skin.

Soak and consciously let the water pull everything named on your paper from your body, your energy, your skin.

When you drain the water, watch it go. That is intentional. What you released leaves with it.

THE BURN

The cutting

Outside or at an open window with your cauldron or fire safe bowl.

Burn the paper you wrote on.

Add rue to the flame. Add hyssop. Add agrimony last -- it seals and completes.

Say only this if you want words:

"It is done. It is released. It is sealed."

Watch it burn completely.

THE JOURNAL

The turning

After the burn, before you sleep, open your journal.

One page only. Two questions:

What did I release tonight?

What am I making space for?

Write without editing yourself. Let it be messy and honest.

SLEEP

Tuck a small pinch of agrimony under your pillow.

Let the full moon and the herbs finish the work while you rest.

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The Full, Rich, Ceremony

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

What to Gather

The Herbs

• Dried hyssop -- loose and/or bundled

• Dried agrimony -- loose

• Rue -- dried, handled with care (gloves recommended during preparation)

• A small separate bundle or loose pile of rue set aside for the fire

The Tools

• A fire -- even a small contained cauldron fire, a fire bowl, or bonfire if space allows. Beltane fire is traditional and central to this ceremony

• A heat-safe cauldron or vessel for the burn

• A bowl of clean water with a hyssop and agrimony infusion already prepared (steep ahead of time, strain, let cool to comfortable temperature)

• Small slips of paper and something to write with

• A black or deep red cord, ribbon, or thread -- one length for each thing you are cutting

• Scissors or a ritual blade

• A white or beeswax candle

• Salt -- preferably black salt for the cut work, or sea salt

• A small dish or offering plate

• Optional: mugwort or wormwood added to the fire blend for deepened vision and ancestral connection appropriate to Beltane's thinning of the veil

Yourself

• Wear something you can move freely in

• Remove jewelry that carries significant attachment energy if comfortable doing so

• Come having eaten lightly

• Arrive having spent at least a few minutes in silence beforehand

TIMING

• Begin at dusk or after dark when the moon is rising

• If you can see the moon, position yourself to face her

• The full moon in Scorpio asks you to go where it is uncomfortable -- honor that by beginning when the night has fully arrived

PREPARATION OF SPACE

Before the ceremony begins, take your hyssop and agrimony infusion water and walk the perimeter of your space -- indoors or outdoors -- sprinkling or sweeping it along all thresholds, corners, and edges. Move counterclockwise for this portion, as you are clearing before you create.

As you walk and sprinkle, speak aloud or whisper:

"I clear this space of all that does not serve. I call in only what is true, what is ancient, what is mine. The threshold is open. The work begins."

Return to your center space. Light your candle.

Place your three herbs before you:

• Hyssop to your left -- the side of release

• Agrimony to your right -- the side of return and completion

• Rue at the center -- the cutting place

Take three slow breaths. Feel the earth beneath you. Feel the moon above you. Feel the fire -- whether lit or waiting -- as a living presence in your space.

PHASE ONE: THE RECKONING

Sitting with what must go

This is the most uncomfortable phase and the most important. Do not rush it.

Sit with your paper and cord. In silence -- or with only the sound of the fire or wind around you -- name what you are cutting. These are not small things. On a Scorpio Full Moon, at Beltane's threshold, you are not here to release minor inconveniences. You are here for the deep ones:

• The relationship pattern that has followed you for years

• The belief about yourself that was never yours to carry

• The grief you have held so long it feels like identity

• The cord to a person, a place, a version of yourself that must now be released

• The wound that has become a home

For each thing you are releasing:

• Write it on a slip of paper. Be specific. Name it fully.

• Tie a length of cord loosely around your wrist -- one cord for each thing named

• Hold the rue in your hands (gloved or with a cloth if your skin is sensitive) and speak the name of what you are cutting aloud

The rue has been doing this work for thousands of years. It understands severance. Let it hold the weight of the naming with you.

When all cords are tied and all names spoken, sit in stillness for a moment.

Feel the weight of them.

This is important. Do not move to cutting until you have truly felt what you are releasing -- what it has cost you to carry these things, and what it will cost you to release them. Scorpio does not allow shallow water here.

PHASE TWO: THE CUTTING

Rue leads

Take your scissors or ritual blade.

Hold the rue in your non-dominant hand -- or if you have laid it before you, rest your hand near it, in acknowledgment.

One cord at a time, speak:

"I name what I have carried. [Speak the specific name -- the pattern, the person, the wound, the belief] I carried it as long as was mine to carry. It no longer belongs in my body, my spirit, my life. With rue I sever this cord. It is cut. It is done. It is released."

Cut the cord.

Let it fall. Do not pick it up. Do not look at it long.

Move to the next cord. Repeat for each one.

When all cords are cut, gather them together with the slips of paper on which you wrote each name.

Place them in or near your fire vessel -- do not burn yet.

Set the rue down at the center.

Breathe.

PHASE THREE: THE BURNING

The fire receives

This is the Beltane element speaking. Fire is not destruction here -- it is transformation. What burns does not disappear. It changes form. It returns to the field of all things, no longer bound to you.

Add your rue to the fire or cauldron first. As it catches:

"Ancient herb of severance and grace, you have carried the cut. Now carry it to the fire. What was named is now released to flame."

Then add the cords and papers. Watch them burn. Do not look away. This is not a moment to be on your phone or lost in thought. Witness the burning. This is one of the most ancient human acts -- bearing witness to what we release to fire. Your ancestors did this. The Beltane fires have held this work for millennia.

As they burn, you may speak freely -- whatever arises. Grief is welcome here. Anger is welcome here. Relief is welcome here. Scorpio holds all of it.

When the papers and cords have burned:

Add loose hyssop to the fire and speak:

"Hyssop, ancient cleanser, herb of holy purification, move through the space these cords have left. Let no shadow remain where they were tied. Purge and purify. Make clean what was bound. I am clean. I am clear. I am free."

PHASE FOUR: THE CLEANSING

Hyssop works

Now take your bowl of hyssop and agrimony infusion water.

Begin with your hands -- wash them in the water. Let the water carry away the residue of the cutting.

Speak:

"I wash my hands of what I have released. These hands are free to build what comes next. These hands belong to the life ahead of me."

Then bring the water to your face -- not fully washing, but touching. Your forehead, your eyes, your throat.

If you are outdoors and comfortable, you may pour some over your feet -- the place where you stand on the earth, the place from which you move forward.

As you do this, feel hyssop doing what it has done in sacred rites for thousands of years. You are not the first to stand at a threshold with this herb and ask to be made clean. You are part of a very long line of humans who knew that some things require more than intention to release. They require water. They require herb. They require witness.

"I am purified. What was cut is cleared. What was cleared is consecrated. I stand clean in the light of the Full Flower Moon."

PHASE FIVE: THE SEALING

Agrimony completes

Now take your agrimony -- hold it, or add it to the dying fire or a small separate burn.

Agrimony is the completion. It returns what was sent. It seals what was opened. It ensures that what you have released cannot return to you, and it sends back any energy that was not originally yours to carry back to its source -- with neither malice nor attachment. Simply: returned.

Speak:

"Agrimony, ancient keeper of return and completion, seal this working. What I have released is released fully. What was never mine is returned to its source -- without anger, without attachment, simply: returned. The circle is closed. The cord is cut. The fire has received. The cleansing is done. It is sealed."

Sit with the agrimony for a moment. Feel the completion of the circuit.

PHASE SIX: THE TURNING

What grows after the burning

Beltane is not only death and release -- it is the fire that makes the field fertile. After the cut and burn, something must be planted. Even if it is only a seed of intention, a whisper of what you are calling in now that space has been made.

By the light of the full moon, speak what you are turning toward. Not what you are leaving -- what you are becoming. What you are calling in. What the cleared space is for.

This does not need to be elaborate. It can be a single sentence. It can be a feeling rather than a plan.

"In the space made by this fire, I call in ____________. I am ready. I am open. I am new."

Thank the herbs by name. They are ancient allies and they have worked hard tonight.

"Hyssop, I thank you for your purification. Rue, I thank you for your clean cut. Agrimony, I thank you for completing the circle. I honor you. I release you. I am grateful."

Thank the moon. Thank the fire. Thank the earth beneath you.

Walk the perimeter of your space again -- this time clockwise -- with the remainder of your hyssop and agrimony water, sealing and blessing the space.

Extinguish your candle by pinching or snuffing -- not blowing -- sealing the work inside the space.

AFTER THE CEREMONY

• Drink a warm cup of hyssop and agrimony tea -- let the herbs work on the inside as they have worked on the outside and in the spirit

• Eat something grounding -- root vegetables, bread, eggs. Come back into your body.

• Sleep with a small agrimony sachet under your pillow -- let it continue its protective and completing work through the night of the full moon

• Do not speak about the specifics of what you cut for at least three days. Let the working settle. Let the severance be complete before it is examined.

• Notice the days following. What shifts. What people or patterns fall away. What feels lighter. Scorpio full moon work often has a tail -- the transformation continues beyond the night.