Hyssop and Rue is a cleansing bath spell — a waning-moon ritual bath that uses bitter herbs, salt, and water to strip the residue of a hard season from the skin and carry it down the drain and past the threshold. The old wives kept hyssop by the door and rue in the hedge, herbs the ancients trusted to scour a body of more than dust; under a waning moon, their bitterness turns kind. This working does not soothe — it strips, coaxing loose the weight you carried without ever naming it, like tarnish lifting from silver.
Correspondences for This Spell
- Colours: white with light blue
- Herbs: sage, rosemary, hyssop
- Crystal: selenite, clear quartz, black tourmaline
- Day: Monday
- Planet: the Moon
- Element: Water
- Moon: waning moon, to clear away
For the wider system of colours, herbs, and hours behind cleansing work, see the correspondences guide.
What You Will Need
- A small handful each of hyssop and rue, fresh or dried
- Three fistfuls of salt — sea salt or plain rock salt
- A few drops of a cleansing oil, such as hyssop, rosemary, or a plain carrier oil
- A tub of warm water, no hotter than blood
- A private, dim bathroom where you can dry undisturbed
The Best Time to Cast
Work this bath under a waning moon, and if you can, on a Monday — the Moon’s own day. As the moon shrinks toward dark it draws power outward rather than in, which is exactly what a clearing rite asks for: you are subtracting, not gathering. Bathe in the evening, once the moon has risen, so that water and sky pull in the same direction — away, and gone.
The Working
- Draw the bath as the moon wanes, the water no hotter than blood.
- Cast three fistfuls of salt across the surface and let them dissolve.
- Bruise hyssop and rue between your palms until they weep green, then scatter them upon the water.
- Add three drops of oil and stir the bath widdershins with your left hand.
- Lie back until the herbs cling to you, and breathe the bitter steam.
- When the water begins to cool, pull the plug and stay in place until the last of it has gone.
- Rise without rinsing, and let yourself dry in the dark air.
The Incantation
Bitter green and blessed brine,
take the season, it is thine.
What was heavy, what was worn,
loose it now and leave me shorn.
Down the drain and past the door,
this that clung shall cling no more.
Variations & Substitutions
- Sensitive skin or pregnancy: rue can irritate the skin and should be avoided in pregnancy — replace it with a second handful of rosemary or a few sage leaves, both true herbs of cleansing.
- No bathtub: steep the herbs and salt into a strong infusion in a jug, then pour it slowly over yourself at the end of a shower and let it run to the drain.
- For deeper clearing: set a piece of black tourmaline or selenite at the water’s edge as you soak (keep porous selenite out of the water itself) to anchor the banishing.
A Word on Intent
Cleansing is gentle magic, but it is magic still, and the Wiccan Rede holds: an it harm none, do what ye will. This bath is worked on yourself alone, by your own consent — cleanse no one who has not asked for it. You cast nothing at another person here; you are reclaiming your own skin and your own quiet. Let whatever you release go without malice, wishing no ill back down the drain toward its source.
Related Cleansing Spells
Record how the water felt and what lifted in your Book of Shadows, and find more rites like this one in the Grimoire.