Two fires meet on the calendar this week. The sun stands in Leo, the sign that never apologizes for being seen, and the church remembers Mary Magdalene, the woman who broke open a jar of oil worth a years wages and poured every drop out in front of a room that thought she should be ashamed. She was not ashamed. That is the whole spell.
What You'll Need
- A small jar or bottle, glass if you can, to stand in for the alabaster box
- A base oil — olive oil is the old, honest choice and keeps the anointing tradition intact
- Something solar to dress it: cinnamon, dried orange peel, or sunflower petals
- A citrine chip or small piece of amber, if you have one
- A slip of paper and a pen
- A candle in gold, orange, or red
The Spell
Name what is in your box. On the paper, write down the thing you have been keeping sealed. Not a wish list — the one thing you shrink around the most.
Dress the oil. Add your cinnamon, orange peel, or petals to the base oil in the jar. Drop in the citrine or amber if you have it. Cap it and warm it between your palms until it takes your heat.
Speak it plain. Holding the jar, say aloud what you named on the paper, with no apology in your voice. Something like:
"I have kept this sealed long enough.
I am done being ashamed of it.
I pour it out, and let it be seen."
Anoint yourself. Dab the oil at your wrists, the base of your throat, and your third eye, the way Magdalene anointed feet she had no business touching in front of that room. Let it be a little bold. That is the point.
Carry it forward. Fold the paper and tuck it under the jar, or burn it in the candle flame if you would rather release it than keep it. Keep the jar somewhere you will see it, and dab a little more whenever you feel yourself shrinking back down.
Why It Works
The named shame is the anchor — you cannot pour out what you refuse to name, so the paper does the work of making the sealed thing specific instead of a vague, formless weight.
The oil carries the anointing itself. Cinnamon and orange bring the solar heat of Leo season into the jar, while citrine and amber are both stones that hold and radiate light rather than absorb it.
The anointing of your own body is the turn. Magdalene anointed someone else without shame in front of witnesses — dabbing this oil on yourself is the same act pointed inward, a small physical reminder that you do not need permission to be seen wanting something.
Important Notes
- This is a working about permission, not perfection. You do not need the room to approve of the pouring.
- Keep the jar somewhere you will actually see it day to day, not tucked away and forgotten.
- If you burn the petition paper, do it safely in a fireproof dish and let it burn all the way out before you leave it.
And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Luke 7:37–38, KJV