The Rite of Rectification and Release

Intercession for a soul

The Rite of Rectification and Release is a prayer for a departed soul's correction, understanding, and permitted movement toward a better condition. It may be offered for a relative, an acquaintance, the forgotten dead, or a group whose suffering moves the practitioner to intercede. Its center is the possibility of amendment under divine judgement.

The Temple's afterlife teaching describes differing conditions of souls and the consequences of spiritual development and conduct. Hades can provide instruction before reincarnation. The teaching on Tartarus distinguishes souls capable of correction from exceptionally rare incurable cases. The Gods know the condition of the soul addressed. The Zevist Doctrine of the Afterlife; Tartarus.

Prayer is therefore offered with care and hope. Ask that understanding be granted where it can be received, that remorse become amendment, and that a burden end when its purpose has been fulfilled. The living need not assign the soul to a particular domain before making this petition.

Plato's Phaedo provides an ancient context for correction after death. Its concluding account connects differing consequences to the soul's condition and includes the reconciliation required of certain souls who have injured others. The concern is the soul's actual transformation. Phaedo 113d-114b.

For a recent death, attend first to the Funeral and Genesia. This intercession follows those observances.

Experience before these rites

Before undertaking any of these necromantic rites, one must have at least three to four years of consistent meditation experience, have practiced beyond the intermediate level, and already be comfortable performing God Rituals. Years of practice should have brought familiarity with sustained concentration, meditation, and the opening and completion of a ritual.

The Hades Power Ritual may be performed beforehand to deepen the connection with the God who governs the realm of the dead and to prepare for these procedures. Allow a quiet interval before beginning the chosen rite.

Dreams when contacting the dead

When contacting the dead, one must attend to dreams and remember what is seen in them. To avoid creating false expectations, no more will be discussed on this page. Pay attention to your dreams.

The words and the inner action

The indented words are ritualistic incantations. Speak them with the image, intention, and feeling described in the surrounding instructions. Read each movement beforehand, enter its visualization, and then give voice to the words. Let the voice be measured and resonant, with a comfortable breath between phrases. After speaking, remain within the prescribed meditation before continuing.

For the Greek opening and optional blessing, speak the Greek text. The transliteration guides pronunciation; the English rendering supplies its meaning. Speak the other incantations in English as printed, replacing each bracketed name or purpose with the one you have prepared.

Imagination gives the will a definite object. In a rite for the dead, form the remembered person before you, or hold a name when the face is unknown. In communion with the Gods, attend to the divine presence and office being honored. Bring sincere feeling to that attention: gratitude, affection, reverence, compassion, or the courage to release. Give each feeling time to become clear without losing command of the mind.

During consultation, alternate deliberate mental address with receptive silence. Once the question has been sent, let the inner voice become quiet. Keep the person's image gently present while allowing room for an impression to arise. The ritual frame explains this practice and links the Temple's meditation teachings.

What is required

Choose the soul or group for whom you intercede. Hold the name, or use “A soul known to the Gods.” Clarify the purpose of the prayer: understanding, amendment, the loosening of a completed burden, and the guidance appropriate to the soul's condition.

A light or libation may accompany the rite. The burden and its loosening are contemplated inwardly. If a stone and loose cord are already part of your observance, they may accompany that image. Give the greater attention to compassion, truthful remembrance, and the will for correction.

1. Declaration

Settle into meditation. Visualize a spacious place illuminated by an even, clear light. Bring the deceased's remembered face before you. Hold their recognizable humanity, including the good you knew and whatever truth gives occasion for this petition. For an unknown soul, hold the name or a quiet, indistinct figure within the same light.

Feel your concern become a wish that the soul understand and grow. Stand inwardly before Zeus with the person held in that intention, then speak the common invocation.

Incantation

ΕΝ ΟΝΟΜΑΤΙ ΤΟΥ ΖΕΒ ΥΨΙΣΤΟΥ, ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΘΕΩΝ ΤΕ ΚΑΙ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΩΝ
En Onomati tou Zev Hypsistou, Patros Theon te kai Anthropon.
In the Name of Zev Most High, Father of Gods and humanity.

Incantation

Zeus Most High, I bring before you a plea for [name / a soul known to the Gods]. Let truth govern my remembrance and compassion govern my offering. Receive this prayer according to the soul's capacity for correction and the order of divine justice.

Remain still with the image before you. Direct the prayer toward the person's good while keeping the divine judgement clear in your awareness. Allow personal anger, guilt, or longing to become quieter so the petition can be offered with sincerity.

2. The Gods of judgement and passage

Visualize the soul standing in the dominion of Pluto and Persephone, within the truthful measure of Ma'at. Let the light reveal what can be understood. Attend to the possibility of a soul becoming willing to face the consequences of its own life.

Incantation

Pluto and Persephone, sovereigns below, regard this soul according to its deeds and its capacity to learn. Ma'at, sacred measure of truth, let the prayer stand before you in honesty. May understanding reach whatever part of the soul is able to receive it.

Imagine Hekate's torch illuminating a path of instruction. Hold Anubis as guardian of its passage and Nephthys as the presence of care beside sorrow. Let compassion become strong enough to remain with a difficult truth.

Incantation

Hekate, illuminate every road of correction that stands open. Anubis, guard the passage. Nephthys, attend to sorrow and let it find its proper expression before the Gods.

Now contemplate completion under Kronos. Imagine a lesson gradually becoming understood, as a confused pattern resolves into something the mind can recognize. Direct your will toward the fruit of correction and the maturity to carry it onward.

Incantation

Kronos, elder power of completion, let consequence mature into understanding. Where a lesson remains, let it be received. Where its work is complete, let the soul become ready for the next condition.

Pause with the person still before you. Let patience enter the prayer before approaching the image of the burden.

3. The image of the burden

Visualize a knotted cord lying before the soul. Give it only the meaning relevant to your petition: fear that can be understood, ignorance that can be taught, hatred that can yield, or an attachment whose purpose may be complete. Keep the cord outside the body in your imagination. It represents the concern placed before the Gods.

If the deceased is someone you knew, direct the thought toward that particular person through the name and remembered face. If their condition is unknown, offer the image as a petition for whatever correction is appropriate to them.

Incantation

I offer this image of a burden before the Gods. May every necessary truth be understood. May every bond whose purpose is fulfilled be loosened in its proper season.

Imagine the torchlight resting upon the knot. Hold the intention that understanding can loosen what is ready to be loosened. Let one turn of the cord open, leaving space where there was constriction. Feel the relief you wish for the soul, together with the willingness that every necessary lesson be completed. The inward act expresses the prayer entrusted to the Gods.

4. The prayer of rectification

Bring the person's image into focus again. Direct each part of the incantation toward the corresponding transformation. Allow a silence between its movements so the words can become a sustained act of will.

First, imagine clear light reaching the person's awareness. Feel the earnest wish that truth become recognizable and that remorse acquire the strength to change conduct.

Incantation

Gods of truth, death, completion, and return, receive this plea for [name]. Give clarity where ignorance can be overcome. Give remorse the strength to become amendment. Let the soul recognize the consequences of its deeds and become capable of a truer course.

Remain briefly with that clarity. Then return to the loosened cord. Imagine the soul able to stand with greater freedom as understanding replaces what can be outgrown. Let your own compassion remain steady through this movement.

Incantation

Where fear has ceased to teach, let fear loosen. Where attachment has completed its work, let the bond fall away. Where hatred can yield to understanding, open that possibility. Let every step be proportionate to what the soul can receive and sustain.

Visualize a road becoming visible beyond the place of instruction. Hold Persephone's care at its opening, Hermes as guide, and Hekate's torch illuminating the crossing. Offer the readiness for a permitted next step.

Incantation

Persephone, if the season of ascent has come, reveal it. Hermes Psychopompos, where movement is granted, guide the traveler. Hekate, illuminate the crossing. Pluto, hold the judgement in your care. Zeus Most High, grant what accords with divine law.

Let the whole petition gather into one image: the soul able to receive understanding, accompanied by the Gods toward the condition appropriate to it. Feel hope without attempting to determine the judgement yourself.

Incantation

May this soul learn what can be learned, amend what can be amended, and receive the guidance appropriate to its condition. May every completed burden give way to a more truthful life of the soul.

Remain in silence with this wish fully offered.

5. Compassion and silence

Let the imagined cord and its details fade. Hold only the person within the care of the Gods. Gather any remaining sorrow into the simple wish for their good. A little libation may accompany the following words.

Incantation

I give this in remembrance and compassion. May the offering accompany the prayer, and may the prayer reach its rightful place before the Gods.

Keep the inward address gentle. Remain with the person for a quiet interval, then gradually yield the image into the divine light. Let the emotional effort of pleading settle into trust. If a duty among the living has become clear, remember it without leaving the meditation to plan every detail.

6. Release and closing

Bring the name to mind for the final address. Feel the difference between offering care and continuing to carry the soul's course as a demand of your own. Visualize the person accompanied by the divine guides, with the road ahead belonging to their care.

Incantation

[Name], I place this prayer before the Gods and entrust your course to them. I release you from every demand of mine. May you receive the instruction, correction, and guidance that belong to you.

Allow the image to move beyond the place of petition and gently recede. Withdraw your extended attention. Let the knot, the road, and the imagined setting dissolve while gratitude for the Gods remains.

Incantation

Hekate, close the threshold of this observance. Hermes, guide every permitted departure. Persephone, keep the season of return. Kronos, complete what is ready for completion. Pluto, preserve the order of the dead. Zeus Most High, let truth, justice, and mercy stand together.

Feel the body in which you now live: its breath, its weight, and its contact with the seat and floor. Open your eyes and become fully attentive to the room. Extinguish any lights used. Let the compassion cultivated here accompany the living duties that belong to you.