A Love Uncrossing Ritual for the October Libra New Moon — by The Serpent Cast

Sophie Saint Thomas, co-host of The Serpent Cast — a sex and spirituality podcast she shares with VICE/Broadly astrologer Annabel Gat— is a sex writer, a witch, and a Scorpio with more than one David Bowie tattoo. You can read her sex writing in GQ, Glamour, Allure, Playboy, and more. The Serpent Cast comes out every Tuesday morning on iTunes. Previous guests include Bri Luna of The Hoodwitch, Jacq the Stripper, Vanessa Cuccia, creator of Chakrubs, and so many magical more.

As a new cycle around partnership is blooming, we need to be solid and secure in ourselves—not look to others for answers during October 8’s new moon in the partnership-oriented air sign, Libra. Making time to hear your inner voice and allowing yourself not to feel frightened by the “newness” that is taking place, and instead, to allow yourself to be excited is critical for making the most of this new moon. Things are moving at a strange pace, thanks to Venus retrograde in Scorpio. Scorpio is a sign, like Libra, that’s much to do with partnering, especially intimacy—deep intimacy. And, if Venus retrograde is asking us to look to the past to lead us on our onward journey— a crossroad is here, and you’ve seen this path before, will you make the same choice?

New moons are all about having a clean slate, and if we’re carrying around a Scorpio-sized grudge, we cannot have what Libra wants—partnership. If we project our past experiences on to our new partners, how is that really fair? Libra is the sign of justice, as you know! Let go of the past and invite new partnerships in with this uncrossing love spell.

What you’ll need:

• Pen
• Paper
• White candle
• White flowers
• A bathtub
• Salts, ideally uncrossing bath salts from your local occult shop, but regular sea salt will do
• Yourself, the most potent ingredient to any spell

Step 1: Write out an intention letter stating what obstacles you wish to remove from your love life. Is it a toxic ex? A present bad situation? Or simply self-doubt getting in the way of you enjoying the love you deserve? Intention letters are important because we can’t cast spells until we know what we wish to manifest.

Step 2: At night, after cleansing your space, a light saging will do, facing the new moon, sit and meditate upon what you wish to remove from your love life. As you do this, hold the white candle in your hand. It can be as small as tea candle, or a larger candle from the grocery store or a seven-day pull out candle from your local occult store. Think long and hard about all the negativity you wish to release. Cry if you need to. With each breath, envision the old patterns or person breathing out of you, and into the candle.

Step 3: Once you set the candle aside, draw a bath, and as the water is running, run the bouquet of white flowers over your body. Fill the bathtub with your uncrossing salts. Pluck the petals off of the flowers and fill the bath with the flower petals. Light the white candle, encased with all you wish to release.

Step 4: In the dark of the new moon, lit by the candle, that contains all your fears and hurt and past, slowly enter the bathtub. Imagine everything in your intent letter coming to life. The ex shall leave you alone. Your hurt and pain are being drawn out by the salt. Your patterns of self-doubt are burning away with the candle. Sit in the bath for as long as you please, until you feel ready to get out.

Step 5: Drain the bathtub and watch the water swirl down the drain along with everything you shall leave behind. Collect the white flower petals and set the rest of the white candle on your love altar (if you don’t have one, any table that makes you feel safe and comfortable will do).

Step 6: Collect the flower petals from the bathtub. Under the dark of the new moon, leave them at a crossroads or drop them into a body of water such as the ocean or a river. If you live in an urban area or away from water, the closest crossroads you can safely and easily walk to will do wonderfully.

Step 7: While practicing fire safety, let the white candle burn until there is nothing left. Know that with the candle, the flowers, the bath, and the salts, you have left behind what you stated in your intention letter. If you keep a journal, write down how the spell felt and the steps you took.

In a month, at the next new moon, write and reflect on all that has happened and changed since your Libra Uncrossing Love Spell. What have you learned? What have you left behind?

Get your horoscope for the new moon in Libra here.