Fire and Ice: An Alter for Letting Go

Cat Maynard
Jan 2
4 min read

There’s a moment in early winter when everything falls quiet. The air sharpens. The trees still. Time itself seems to exhale. In that hush, you can finally hear the things you’ve been carrying — the memories, the missteps, the growth, the grief, the love. All the pieces of a year that shaped you in ways you didn’t always see.

Winter isn’t just a season. It’s a pause. A clearing. A threshold between what was and what’s coming next.

This ritual is for looking back with honesty, softening your grip, and choosing what to carry and what to release. It’s simple, beautiful, and intentionally impermanent. A reminder that nothing needs to stay the same in order to have mattered. This is a place to reflect, release, and step into the season with a lighter heart.

The Winter Ice Altar Ritual

What You’ll Need

A shallow, flat-bottomed dish or tray (metal or silicone works best)
Water (½–1 inch deep)
Three candles
Small symbolic items to freeze (details below)
A lighter or matches
A safe outdoor space or a fire-safe bowl
A few quiet minutes

To Open

Find a small pocket of stillness. Spread your materials in front of you. Take one slow breath in, one slow breath out.

Hold each object you’ve gathered — one at a time — before placing it into the dish. Let its meaning rise gently in your mind: the memory, the habit, the hope, the lesson. This isn’t about decoration. It’s about naming your truths.

If you work with color correspondences or elemental associations, you’ll find some guidance in the “Amplify” section below. Take them or leave them — your intuition is your anchor here.

This ritual is not about perfection. It’s about intention, clarity, and release.

Building Your Ice Altar

1. Choose Your Representations

Let each item you place be symbolic, not aesthetic. You’re creating a map of your year.

For releasing:

A knotted piece of twine (old patterns or cycles)
Dry leaves (what has run its course)
Ash or soil (what needs to return to the earth)
Small slips of paper with words, names, or habits you’re done carrying

For carrying forward:

Evergreen sprigs (resilience and continuity)
A small crystal or stone (clarity, stability)
Seeds (intentions for the coming year)
A token or charm (personal meaning)

Let each choice feel intentional, even if it’s simple.

2. Arrange Your Items

Place them gently in your dish — not rushed, not overthought. Let your hands move slowly. Let the space between objects matter as much as the objects themselves.

Think of the arrangement as a quiet story: what you’re honoring, what you’re releasing, what you’re becoming. Nestle your three candles into place: left, right, and center.

3. Add Water & Freeze

Pour in enough water to create a thin, even layer. Watch the ripples settle. Let the water hold the shape of your year for you. Freeze. When the altar is solid, remove it from the dish. You are holding the year in your hands — suspended, stilled.

4. Light the Altar

Set your ice altar outside or in a fire-safe bowl. Light the candles one by one, with a breath between each flame. As the candles burn, the ice will shift, crack, melt, and release. Some items surface quickly. Some stay embedded. Let the melting teach you something.

Let the release be slow. Don’t rush the moment. Just be present.

To Close

When the candles have finished burning (or when you feel complete), sit with what remains. Look at what melted away first. Look at what refused to let go. Look at what stayed steady. Then whisper or think quietly:

“Thank you for what you brought me. I release what no longer serves. I welcome what’s meant to come.”

Let the ice finish melting naturally. Return organic items to the earth or dispose of them with intention. Let this ritual mark your crossing into winter — softer, lighter, clearer.