To Sever a Pact with a Spirit Familiar

This rite is to be used when the relationship between practitioner and spirit familiar must come to an end. This ritual releases both parties from obligation, closes spiritual doors, and affirms your authority over your practice and space.

Prepare your working space with: a candle, protective herbs ground into a powder to form a boundary[1], your pact-cord (or a symbol of your bond with your familiar), an iron key, and either a small bowl of water or vinegar or a fire-safe dish lined with sand.

Lay a Summoning Circle and reinforce it with a protective boundary of your ground herbs or other protective measures. Light the candle and place your pact-cord or bond token before you. Say:

By thread and thorn, by root and flame,

The bond we made I now unname.

No harm I send, no ill I weave—

But from this pact, I take my leave.

Touch the pact-cord or token with the key. Feel the force of your will cutting or dissolving the tie. Then say:

Spirit once known, spirit once near,

You are released—you shall not hear

My call, my craft, my voice, my fire.

The bond is broken, the pact expires.

If you would like, destroy the pact-cord by burning it in the fire-safe dish. If not, place it in the water or vinegar to neutralize it’s charm. As you do, speak:

As this charm breaks, so breaks the spell,

The cord is cut, and all is well.

No debt remains, no tie holds fast—

Our kinship now is in the past.

Bury the pact-cord or token in the earth near a tree, at the boundary of a cemetery or near running water. (This can be done at any time you are able. It does not need to be done in the same sitting as the rest of the rite. Just keep the token somewhere safe until you are able.) As you cover it with earth, say:

You may go, with thanks or none,

But by my will, this rite is done.

I bar the gate, I shut the door—

We are bonded nevermore.

Circle the area with your key, saying:

What’s yours is yours; mine is mine.

Bound and warded, sealed by sign.

By salt, by steel, by breath and flame—

I reclaim my path, my power, my name.

Spend a moment in stillness. Leave a small offering outdoors as a final gesture of closure to the spirit world.

[1] If outdoors, a circle of blessed chalk or ash will also work. If indoors, some may prefer the use of salt. Note that this is not recommended for outdoor rituals as it is harmful to plant life.