Forgiveness is powerful medicine. A full moon  is a wonderful time to let go but this ritual can similarly be enacted on the waning phase of the lunar cycle or at the dark moon. Our life yet to come begs us to make peace with our past. Prior to the ritual, think carefully about who you need to forgive or what you would like to move on from permanently. Taking the time to chew through this is key. This is not designed as a splatter effect as you roll off everyone who has ever crossed you as the moon bleeds in the sky above.Always start with forgiving yourself - or at least add yourself to the bottom of the list. Co-opt that mean voice in your head that perpetually reminds you where you went wrong. All too often we continue to punish ourselves for past mistakes or missteps, for bad behaviour, for fuqing up in no uncertain terms. We all make mistakes. Yes. Every single bloody one of us. If you are truly ready to know better and thus do better, the time for the balm of forgiveness is now.In ritual space – whatever that looks like for you according to the constraints of time, space, work and means – clear your head and settle your body with a series of circular breaths. I would include a candle to honour the element of fire, a chalice of water to honour your oceanic emotional body, a feather or incense to honour the airy element at play and bring the mental body into the frame and finally a symbol of earth – stone or shell or flower – to ground the ritual.Take a representation of the person you will be permanently consigning to your past; this may be a photo, a doll or a symbol that represents them to you – be as creative as you like but know that you will be sacrificing this poppet. In the case of not having that to hand, select something to represent the other.At the precise peak moment of the desired moon phase, declare who and what you would like to forgive and move on from in your life. You may like to visualise forgiving them in person or you may simply direct your energy to the poppet. Sit with this energy until you feel its tendrils spread through your body. Note well any resistance or unwillingness and allow it to show you what still sits like a thorn in your side. Work with it to achieve your desired result.When you feel the forgiveness coursing through you – and you will feel it, like a river – dispose of the poppet. Earth signs tend to bury things, fire signs tend to burn things, water signs tend to throw things into moving water, air signs concoct a melange of the above according to their mood de jour – though throwing it is an effective option.Watch as the eclipse rebirths the moon, so too may you be reborn emotionally into your new present. Leave the past where it belongs. So may it be.Always make notes about your ritual practices: the preparation, the sequence, the astrology, any signs or visitors, any unusual or unprepared additions. Look to the metaphors, the hidden meanings, the information your practice gifts you.Ritual c. Kerrie Basha 2018