The Spirit Release of a Familiar Ritual is a ritual to release the spirit of a vampyre's familiar. The ritual is earth-based and the vampyre performing the ritual should be grounded to the earth. This Ritual is best performed outside in an area as unpopulated by people as possible and should take place within three days of the familiar's death. This is one of the few Major Rituals that does not have to be performed by a High Priestess, but should instead be led by the one who has lost his or her feline. To honor the bond between cat and vampyre, everyone attending the Ritual should bathe and dress in beautiful robes/clothes before they come to the circle. The ritual is based on records of Freya's farewell to her familiars, Kaia and Kaira.
Basic supplies
- 1 green candle
- Lighter or matches
- Lighting strip (matches)
Additional supplies
- Physical representations of the cat (pictures, favorite toy, special food and etc.)
- Sweetgrass (for clearing negative energy)
- White Sage Smudge Stick (for driving off negative energies, spirits, and influences)
- Green bowl filled with cream
On the table in the center of the circle should be representations of the cat: pictures, their favorite toy, an offering of a special food they liked, etc., as well as a braided rope of sweetgrass and a white sage smudge stick. Inside the circle in front of the earth candle there should be placed a green bowl filled with cream.
After the circle is cast, the leader should light the sweetgrass braid. Walking deosil or clockwise around the table, they should waft the smoking braid through the air saying: “_______________(insert the name of the deceased cat), with equal parts love and sadness I call you to me one last time.”
The vampyre should continue calling their feline until they feel the cat’s spirit presence. At that time it is appropriate for the vampyre to pause the Ritual and reassure the little cat spirit that they are still greatly beloved, and will never be forgotten. These words should be very private, unique to each cat, and though they are not a scripted part of the Release Ritual, they are necessary and important. After the vampyre feels they have reassured their cat’s spirit, they should then light the smudge stick and continue saying:
“As a child of the Goddess, I know that when a being dies, the soul lives on. That dying is only a way of forgetting pain and suffering - that it is a pathway to travel back to the Goddess to be renewed and made strong - to rest and to one day be ready to return to this realm, for it is spoken by the High Priestesses thus: Arrayed in a new body another mother may someday give birth so with stronger limbs and brighter mind the old soul shall take the road to earth again. But for this belief to be made reality, you cannot languish here. You must depart this realm to join Nyx in the Otherworld.” The vampyre should walk to the northernmost part of the circle and stand with the smudge stick in front of the lighted, green earth candle. Breathing deeply of the cleansing sage, she should smudge herself, from toe to head, and then using the smoking sage as a wand, the vampre must trace our sacred pentagram in the air before her three times as she recites:
“Small friend, I thank you for the years of love and laughter you gave me. Small friend, I will hold your memory in my heart always. Small friend, I ask you now to forget your broken shell and your worries for me. I bid you in the name of Nyx to pass from this realm, to go beyond, to rest and to enjoy frolicking in the meadows of the Goddess.”
The vampyre should then pour the bowl of cream in a circle around the earth candle saying, “With this offering to the earth and with love and the fullness of my memories, I release you and bid merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again!”
The vampyre and those in attendance must then visualize a shining door just outside the northernmost part of the circle. As one they need to imagine the glowing door opening to reveal a beautiful meadow filled with waving grass, and the small, bright spirit of the cat leaping joyfully through the door, which closes softly behind her.
The Ritual is then complete and often one of the vampyre’s close friends will close the circle, allowing the vampyre the opportunity to spend those moments grieving and remembering