The stone bears the sorrow. The water sets it free. Black transforms into light.
(Note: Semiphora's products are used in the ritual description. However, you may also carry it out using your own ritual supplies.)
A Ritual of Grief and Purification guides you through sorrow, pain, and cleansing. The Weeping Stone is the carrier of grief, a natural stone smoothed by water, which allows space for anguish and the weight of memories. The Hades Charcoal Soap acts as the stone's counterpart: it is black, grounding, and liberating. Once the pain has been faced, the soap cleanses what no longer needs to be carried. The ritual is intended for moments when it is time to descend into the darkness and rise again. It guides you to confront the shadows, process the unfinished, and move forward stronger and wiser.
Symbolism
The ritual is based on the archetypal arc of descent into the underworld: descent, confrontation, purification. It does not rush the wound to close but gives the emotion validation, form, and space. The Weeping Stone carries the weight of pain, just as the earth bears the water. The Hades Charcoal Soap represents release and rebirth; it is the black element that transforms sorrow into clarity through water.
The Ritual phases
1. Descent and Confrontation: The Weeping Stone
- Light a candle and take the stone into your hands during a moment of grief and pain. Allow the sorrow to become visible and make space for it in your mind. Do not block or be frightened by its rise and presence.
- If tears flow, let them drop onto the stone's surface. If you are in pain, squeeze the stone with the force of your agony. The stone carries what you cannot bear alone.
- Hold the stone in your hands for as long as needed. Without rushing. Allow the emotion to rise and grow with its own weight, and likewise, to subside at its own pace.
- When your grief is ready for the moment, dip the stone into water as a sign that you are ready to let go.
2. Release and Purification: Hades Charcoal Soap
- Take the Hades Charcoal Soap in your hands and begin washing, focusing on your breathing and the movement of your hands.
- Wash your entire body or a part of it, depending on what the situation allows. Do not rush.
- Feel in your body how sorrow and pain dissolve into the lather and wash away with the water.
- Rinse your skin calmly with warm water and feel the return of comfort.
3. Conclusion
- Take the stone into your hands again and feel how stable and enduring it still is.
- Wipe it clean and place it on your altar or memorial space. Direct your gratitude to the stone that carried what you could not carry yourself.
- Let the candle burn out peacefully or extinguish it.
- Wrap yourself in a soft blanket like the warmth of a womb.
Remember that the light can always be found again when you dare to walk through the darkness to reach it.
The ritual is easy to perform at home. It offers a moment to pause when life feels too heavy to bear alone. The ritual does not rush but gives permission to linger in the feeling for as long as necessary. Return to it when you wish to remember the part of yourself that remains steady amidst everything. You may also read the stone's origin story; you are not alone in your anguish.
