Winter Magick: 3 Balancing Rituals Using Snow

In cold climes throughout the winter months, something incredible happens. The atmosphere cools and droplets of moisture in the air freeze into millions of unique hexagonal crystals. Wafting gently to the earth, they cling together to form a cold, insulating blanket of snow.

A Medium for Magick

Snow is a beautiful medium for practicing winter water magick. Pantheist and pagan author J.C. Artemeisa calls snow “water with a twist,” sharing that snow and water hold many of the same associations—goddess energy, healing, purification, and our emotions.

In snow’s crystalline form, these correspondences take on a temporal quality, encouraging us to set long-term intentions, indulge in stillness and quiet, or transmute energies just as water becomes snow and vice versa. Author and spirit worker Althaea Sebastiani particularly associates the snow and cold with the opportunity to rest, reflect, and prepare.

Enter the Crone

Winter and snow also represent goddess energy in its quietest, most powerful form, often called the Crone. This aspect of goddess energy is depicted as the wise elder, rich in knowledge and experience. She uses snowy winters to gently examine her inner landscape and crystalize her intentions for the future, content to quietly create and contemplate. She spins and weaves, embracing the warmth of both her hearth fire and those gathered around it with her. As nature rests, the Crone reminds us to do the same.

[Listen to “Susan Cross, Fieldnotes From a Crone.”]

Despite this reminder, our modern world doesn’t follow the same rhythms as the earth. Though nature slows down in the winter, we humans often find ourselves busier than ever prepping for and recovering from winter traveling and holidays. This rush can leave us full of restless energy that leads to stress and anxiety we may have trouble shedding once things slow down again.

Fortunately, snow’s dual energies of quietude and preparation make it excellent for magickally rebalancing our energies.

3 Favorite Rituals Using Snow

Enchanted Snow Bath

Gather clean, freshly fallen snow in a bowl and press your hand into it just enough to leave an imprint. Clearly picture your intentions for the snow, such as cleansing after an illness or dispelling anxiety.

Allow the snow to melt and add it to a bath or foot soak, or anoint yourself with it using a washcloth or sponge. Visualize both the snow water and your energy glowing, breathing deeply as the energies merge. Picture any dark or faded areas in your energy filling with the snow’s illumination. Once you feel cleansed and refreshed, gently pat yourself dry. If possible, return the snow water to the earth.

[Read: “5 Cold Therapies for Healthy Aging.”]

Negative Energy Snow Burial

As snow falls and melts in a cycle, it helps break down and transform decaying plant matter into nourishment for the earth. Meanwhile, nature’s season-long pause gives the earth time to use those nutrients to support growth in the abundant seasons to come.

We can use this energy to do the same for ourselves. Write down things that are no longer serving you on compostable paper (bonus points if it’s embedded with seeds!). The list can contain anything you want to change, from a nail-biting habit to setting boundaries in your relationships.

Bury the paper face-down in the deepest snow you can find, as close to the earth as possible. As the paper decomposes and becomes nutrients for the earth, it will help clear energetic obstacles and make it easier to build an abundant future.

Snow Sigils

Like many who grew up in a snowy climate, I’ve been drawing pictures in the snow from childhood. Little did I know the power those snow sigils could have!

This ritual is very simple, which is part of what makes it powerful. Simply draw a symbol, sigil, word, or even sentence in the snow with your finger, wand, broom handle, or stick. Then, let nature take its course.

Your writings will be covered by more snow, blown by the wind, or will simply melt. As the writing is dispersed, so is the energy you put into it. This is an excellent tool for manifestation, though it may take a bit as snow moves softly and slowly.

Enhancing the Snow Magick

Though these rituals are meant to be as simple as possible, don’t be afraid to spice them up with personal flair. Feel free to add rock mandalas, salt circles, sprinklings of herbs, or even water-safe crystals to any and all of these rituals.

Get a snow energy boost with this recipe for snowball truffle energy balls.