In any Druid handfasting the celebrant will usually make it clear that Druidry does not dictate just how long such a union must last. If the couple wish to vow their souls woven through this life and all those to come, they might be asked to think carefully about that for we might dislike each other next time around or find ourselves desperately or even dangerously unavailable but the choice is the couple’s. For the most part, people getting married within Druidry make their vows in truth and in freedom, for as long as love should last. It is within their personal marriage vows that couple’s pledge their commitment to work through the difficult times as well as the easy. Sometimes rites are needed to rededicate a commitment, to reframe a relationship; Druidry acknowledges the way we grow as individuals, and partners at times need to reunite with different vows.
There are times, nonetheless, when however hard people are working at a relationship, its course has been run, and the partners are going to be better off separating either temporarily or permanently. This is true for any and all of the kinds of unions that are made with vows in Druidic ceremony, and includes those built upon not soul-deep love but some inspired business venture or deeply felt friendship as well. Indeed, a Druid Rite of Separation might be used where no vows were officially made between the partners involved. What the rite will do is ease the pain and the healing, wherever emotional investment has been made, where profound connection has been forged. Rites guide us to process the anger and fear that is so often evoked. And where the emotions are not the problem, the rites ease the journey of honourable closure, so that everybody can walk on along their way.
On this page are examples and suggestions of how to craft such a rite.
Creating a Rite of Separation (Emma Restall Orr) – this article from Bobcat gives guidance and suggestions for creating a Rite of Separation which allows the participant/s to express gratitude for what has been gained from the partnership that is ending.
A Rite of Completion (Peter Neall) – a rite with the aim of allowing each partner to feel they have completed their partnership and can move forwards.