How to Do a Cord Cutting Ritual

A cord-cutting ritual is a fundamental work for most witches. It’s valuable after a breakup, when leaving behind a toxic family member, or moving on from a negative boss. To help you with your ritual, we’ve outlined three ways to cut the ties between you and another person.

Cord Cutting Visualization

So, let’s start with the easiest cord-cutting ritual – visualization! You can either go into a more formal meditation or visualize cutting the cord between you and another person. As you would with every ritual, cleanse your space and cast your circle or visualize a bubble of light surrounding you. Then, close your eyes and bring to mind the person you’d like to cut your attachment to.

Visualize a cord that ties the two of you together. Notice what that cord looks like and what its qualities are. Then, visualize a tool to cut that cord and cut it. Sit in that space for a while and take note of any messages or impressions you receive. It’s sometimes helpful to tie a color or name to the visualization. And then, when you’re done, close out the ritual as you would every other magickal practice.

Cord Cutting Spell

You can also combine the visualization above with an actual tool, such as a pair of magickal scissors or a boline, a ritual knife. I like to use a long slip of paper and write my name on one end and the other person's name on the other end. Then, using my magickal scissors, I cut the piece of paper in the middle. When combined with a visualization and a powerful intention, this is an effective ritual for cutting ties with toxic people.

Cord Cutting Candle Spell

You’ve probably seen cool candle spells for cord cutting on TikTok so, of course, we had to give you directions to create your own. You will need supplies for this, but it’s also fairly simple. Again, start by casting your circle and cleansing your space. Then follow the steps below:

Step 1: Gather your supplies. You’ll need two chime or small birthday candles and a piece of twine to create a loop. You can choose colors based on your intention, but white candles work in a pinch.

Step 2: Place your candles apart from one another and place the twine around the candles. Move the candles away from each other enough to create some tension between them. It’s safest to place each candle in a small candle holder.

Step 3: Set your intention and focus on severing the cords between you and the person you want to cut the cord with.

Step 4: Light the candles and watch as they burn. They will likely burn through the twine as well. (Do not leave burning candles unattended! We suggest having some water nearby to extinguish an out-of-control flame in an emergency.)

Step 5: Pay attention to how the candles burn, the flames, and how the twine burns. 

Below are some basic interpretations of your work:

A tall, strong flame indicates the magick is working!

A low flame may indicate that you need to do more work to cut the cord between the two of you.

Short, weak flames may tell you that your timing is off.

A steady flame is a positive sign.

Blue flames may suggest that a spirit or angel is near.

Dancing flames indicate that the magick will work, but there will be some resistance.

Flickering flames can be interpreted based on their direction – North, South, East, and West.

A popping or crackling flame is usually a sign of resistance.

A dual flame may indicate that another energy, deity, guide, or angel has joined in the work to help you cut the cord.

When a flame goes out on its own, the work is done.

Quick, uneven burning indicates that you may not have appropriately grounded before starting.

Quick, even burning indicates that the spell is working, but if it burns too quickly and feels out of control, you may need to re-evaluate your work.

 

In the end, trust your intuition regarding all of your spell work. After all, YOU are the magick.

(In October 2024, Morgan did an episode about cord cuttings on her podcast, Busy, Gritty, Inked, and Witchy. You can watch that below, or head to Inked Goddess Creations on YouTube.)