As we approach Independence Day, identify something in your life that makes you feel like you may be a captive or at least kind of tied up. From what are you yearning to be free?

In the 1972 film 1776, Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams sing “The Egg.” This is when they decide the eagle will be the new nation’s national bird. Create an altar today featuring a symbol of what is holding you captive. Find an illustration in a magazine or online or draw what you seek to be free from. As you set out your elemental symbols, see each elemental power taking some action to drive away that which is holding you captive. Light a blue candle and visualize an eagle swooping toward you. It’s coming to free you. Ask the eagle for help:

Great eagle, bird of freedom,
Bring me freedom from _______.
Carry it away, out of my
aura, out of my life.
As you fly, let me breathe
freely and live!

Extinguish the candle.