The Twilight Path

My Ritual Bath

To this water I add
Salts of the sea to purify my corpse.
Cinnamon for the scent of cleansing.
Myrrh as the ancients used to wash the dead.

Let the light of candles, red, black, purple and white
Illuminate my darkness, give me light.
Shroud my corpse in smoke of myrrh.

Scrub this flesh of clinging dirt from past, fear and loss.
Let this bath remove the past and prepare this body to be cleansed for birth.

I have set now this alter, dark bowl, will hold my dead self cut away.
I face the west as light kisses goodbye, now in silence of darkness I welcome thee.
My witness stands in shadows to view the death of me.
I offer my severed corpse to the night sky, held high.
I offer my cuttings to the flames, like the Phoenix I shall arise.
I am born anew, thanks given now my spirits for your witness and your guidance.