5 Simple Birthday Rituals
1. Enchant Your Birthday Cake
This one is obvious. The tradition of making a wish before blowing birthday candles is probably the most common act of magick. Everyone does magick without even knowing! This year, at your birthday, do with intention. You’ll have better results.
Step by Step Guide
Before blowing the candles, close your eyes.
Formulate your wish in a simple sentence at the present tense, using only positive verbs. Here’s an example: “I am hired at my dream job”.
Visualise your wish into your mind’s eye. See your wish coming true. How does it look like? How does it feel? Involve your five senses.
Now, imagine that your whole cake is surrounded by a golden light.
Blow the candles while repeating your wish into your head. Trust that you have been heard. The Universe has your back!
As you eat the cake, continue focusing on your wish.
For better results, do not throw your birthday candles. Instead, place them into a safe container on your altar. Light them again while focusing on your wish. Let them burn out completely.
2. Give Your Birthday Cake as an Offering.
After your birthday party, make an offering with the remnants of your birthday cake. Alternatively, if you have a lot of guests, keep a piece aside. This is something I never have done since I always eat everything (but I will do it next year for sure!). If, like me, you like cake too much, keep that in mind: the best offerings are the one that we value the most. And since you shared it with friends and family, your birthday cake is already charged with good energy!
How to Make an Offering
Call the entity that you are working with (it can be a God, a Goddess, an Angel, a Spirit Guide, or simply The Universe).
Place the cake in a small dish or in your offering bowl. Put it on your altar.
Describe your cake. Tell the entity that you are offering it in token of your love and gratitude. Read a short prayer if you feel like it.
Take a small bite of the cake to symbolically share it with the entity. Say thank you again.
Leave the rest of the cake on your altar for the rest of the day. The next morning, leave it in nature or compost it.
3. Perform a Birthday Tarot spread.
This is the Sunflower Birthday Spread by Barbara Moore. I made this page in my Bullet journal to write down my reading.
As I wrote earlier, your birthday is a perfect time for divination since you are in a crossing point between the past year and the next. For my part, reading the Tarotfor my birthday is an old tradition. Each year, I do the same Tarot spread, using the Mystic Faerie Tarot Deck that I received as a gift from my mother at 15 years old. The Sunflower Birthday Spread depicted above comes from A Guide to Mystic Faerie Tarotwritten by Barbara Moore. If you already know her work, you will notice that this spread is very similar to her Astrological Spread (that can be found in her book Tarot Spreads) except that there is a Signifier card in the center.
How to Read it
This spread is made of 13 cards. The central card is a Signifier: it represents where you are right now. There are many methods to select the Signifier, but for this spread, simply draw it as if it were a regular card. Draw the Signifier first, then draw the 12 others.
Read each card separately. Then, include the central card for more insight.
Some positional meanings might be repetitive, but it’s a good thing! The repetitive meanings add up for a more detailed reading. Look at the interactions between the cards and you will surely learn interesting things.
4. Honor your Higher Self.
According to the renowned occultist H. P. Blavatsky, the Higher self is “Atma the inseparable ray of the Universe and one self. It is the God above, more than within, us”. In other words, we all have a Higher Self; it is the purest part of us, made of unconditional love, that connects us to the Universe. Your birthday is a great time to connect with it and honor it. Here is a simple ritual to do it. You can find it in Witch School First Degree: Lessons in the Correllian Tradition by Rev Don Lewis-Highcorrell.
Ritual to Honor Your Higher Self
A candle of your favorite color
Your chalice (or favorite cup)
A Representation of your Higher Self (Tarot/Oracle card, drawing, printed picture, statue, etc.)
Ground yourself. Breathe deeply. Light the candle and concentrate on the flame.
“O Higher Self, I call to You”.
Imagine that your Higher Self is in front of you. Its appearance doesn’t matter. Choose whatever appeals to you.
Talk to your Higher Self out loud. Say:
“I attune to my Higher Self. We are One. O Higher Self, I ask for guidance. Help me to see and understand the lessons of my life. Give me clarity and courage to learn them. Help me to learn them with ease and joy. I rededicate myself to the purposes for which I came into this life. Please guide me through them.”
Take the chalice. Imagine a white bright light shining from it. Say:
“O Higher Self, please accept this drink in token of my love.”
Drink the liquid. Visualise the white light entering you along with the liquid. You are now filled with warmth and joy.
Meditate for a few minutes. Imagine your Higher Self strong, healthy and happy. In this way, you are strengthening your bond to it.
“O Higher Self, I give you my thanks and my love.”
Snuff the candles and incense. Record your experience in your Book of Shadows.
5. Practice Gratitude.
When you are done, light a candle on your altar. Read your list out loud. Thank the Universe, the Goddess, your Guides, or whatever you believe in for their help.
A birthday is a time of celebration. Even it we don’t always receive gifts, we still receive a lot of things: birthday wishes, free drinks, birthday cakes and family dinners. After receiving all those things, take the time to say thank you.
A Simple Gratitude Ritual
For a few minutes, sit quietly with your journal.
Write down all the great things that you received for your birthday and during the past year. Make a list of at least 10. It doesn’t have to be material things and even the smallest count.