Embrace Your Inner Beauty Ritual

"Love is at the heart of everything we do.
It is the magical essence that nourishes and animates all things."

~Sarah Bartlett

"Our inner beauty, that magical, numinous energy that radiates from us a bit like our charisma, is a force that can be hard to fathom. Yet here is a way to allow it to radiate more brightly, and to feel this energy flowing all around you. Time to unleash your inner 'beauty box' and welcome it into your life.

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This hidden place resonates with one ancient myth concerning Psyche and Eros:

‍When Aphrodite's son Eros fell in love with the mortal Princess Psyche, who was thought to be even more beautiful than the goddess of love herself, Aphrodite became enraged. Fuelled by her anger, she set Psyche four seemingly impossible tasks, with the last requiring Psyche to descend into the underworld to capture some of Persephone's beauty in a small box.

Although Psyche managed to fulfill the arduous task and return to the human world, she could not overcome her curiosity and peeked into the box instead of delivering it directly to Aphrodite--but the only thing inside was the essence of death. Psyche perished at once. Zeus, however, took pity on her by making her immortal and reuniting her with Eros. She became the personification of 'soul', depicted in ancient Green iconography as a butterfly.

Similarly, there is an inner 'beauty box' hidden away in the depths of you, but this box is yours to open and will allow you to radiate your unique beauty.

This ritual is best performed on the evening of a waning moon (yes, waning as you are releasing energy from deep within you).

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You will need:

~ a box
~ 4 moonstones
~ 4 dried pomegranate seeds

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The ritual:

1. Begin by placing the four seeds in a row and form a second row beneath them with the moonstones.

2. Say,

"With north, south, east and west of me,
With stones and seeds my beauty's freed,
From hidden depths of treasures deep
That bring to light my pure mystique.
Moonstones release my love of self,
For that's the beauty of this wealth;
Pomegranates free my soul,
For that's the beauty I unfold;
Now with the spell my magic's cast
And all around me love's held fast."

3. Place the stones and pomegranate seeds in the box until the new crescent moon, then take out into the countryside or your garden and freely scatter both stones and seeds to liberate your 'inner beauty' into the outer world."

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This ritual is excerpted from Sarah Bartlett's work, "The Little Book of Love Magic: Spells, Enchantments and Rituals to Honour Love in All Its Forms. In which she seeks to "honour love's divine magic through spells, rituals and enchantments that will nurture your innate intuition, cultivate self-love and promote sensual well-being. Allowing the magic of an open heart to strengthen true bonds and do powerful healing work."

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"Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul."

~Saint Augustine