Because the ancestor world has a mythic connection with the underworld, it is an ancient magical practice to seek the ancestors' help in consigning one's cares to the chthonic powers—the powers of Earth. In the care of Mother Earth, negative energies can be decomposed, transformed, and diffused for the benefit of the planet.

With these principles in mind, here is a ritual you can perform to enlist your ancestors' help in banishing some small part of your personal sorrows, whether they amount to some addiction, bad memories, disease entities, or other negative things.

On the Day of the Dead, or at other times when you put yourself in communication with the ancestor world through reminiscence or ritual, find a simple stone. A black stone is ideal, but any stone will do. Light a candle, and if you want to first perform a ritual for invoking the ancestors, you can do that now. (You may reference the Rite for Honoring Your Ancestors in my book, By Candlelight). Continue with the following invocation:

[Describe the nature of the problem or illness.]

You, who know the powers of the underworld,
please take some portion of my sorrow with you,
down to the powers of Earth, to be transformed to good.
Here, I direct my sorrows into this stone,
which will be buried in the Earth.

Now, hold the stone in your hands, and imagine the negative energies flowing through your body, and out through your hands into the stone. When the stone feels thoroughly warmed, continue:

As this stone is given over to the Earth
and the powers of the Earth,
in the darkness of the Earth
my sorrows shall be transformed.
There, negative energies shall be released
to be metabolized by the Earth,
for the Earth can well absorb them,
and the Earth can well contain them,
and the Earth can well transform them,
as it changes everything
To good and growth.

Now, bury the stone in your backyard or some other outdoor location. Because the ritual states that the bad energies are directed to the chthonic powers for energy conversion, the stone will do no harm to the  immediate area where it is buried—it simply returns to being a stone.

Excerpted from Llewellyn's 2009 Magical Almanac. For current-year calendars and almanacs, click here.