Fire Ceremony
I went to a fire ceremony yesterday evening and this is an account of it.
There were about 40 participants, and everyone was to bring two letters- each to God, one about the things that no longer served us, and the other, about the things we wished to manifest; an offering (I brought some snapdragons and another type of flower from my yard tied with ribbon); and a vegetarian dish. There was a large square fire pit, with flowers all along the perimeter and Manu, the leader of the ceremony instructed us to not wear shoes near the fire area. There were blankets spread out in all directions around it. He asked us, as we were in a ritual type of space, to think good things and talk about good things, and be present as the fire pit was made deeper. Sage was being burned around the fire pit.
Before the fire got lit, which was to be about twilight, but was late (but right on time, according to Manu) we engaged in a couple of activities. Firstly, there was a big sheet spread out that CJ, the lady whose house we were at, initiated the decoration of. Manu came down on her for not getting instructions from him first, which he apologized for to her later publicly, and acknowledged that his spiritual ego got inflated and that it started just right anyway as she drew a clock in the middle to signify being present. He told us a story about his teacher in India, who manifested watches, rolexes and etc. But the point was, he said, of WATCH, to watch our words, actions, thoughts, character, and heart. In doing so, we would be able to take care of each other well in our communities. We were each to write something on the sheet, a message for our community, ourselves, or the world along those lines.
Another activity was the taking apart of all the flower offerings, taking each petal and mixing it with grain stuff. Corn meal, oats, chex mix. We were to permeate this mixture with the chant OM SAI RAM, and it was to balance male and female energies.
I went back outside to the fire area, and I smelled lavender. There was lavender and sage in the pit. As a group we chanted the OM for a little while. Then the lighting of the fire consisted of the sheet being placed in and Manu making the remarks noted in the first paragraph, and explained about the sheet and it’s messages. Then it was placed in the fire pit, with the energies of all of us that contributed to the decorating messages of the large white sheet in markers.
We were told about the Hindu mythology of the Lord of the Fire and his female consort. The fire consumes things of which we are no longer in need, and also provides things that we do need. So hot, it is also a very good purifier. He showed us the chakra mandala which went with the ceremony, and noted all the different symbols from several different religions and noted the common denominators. He said if we all practiced what the religions said, we would be able to get along, as they all preach love. On top of the rectangularly folded sheet Manu added a red powder which symbolized feminine energy. He placed wood around our sheet in a square log-cabin-building configuration. He thanked everyone for coming.
Manu then invoked the Great Spirit of the Air above, the Spirit of the Earth below, the four directions and nations, all the creatures, two-legged ones, creepy crawly ones, four-legged ones, winged ones, all the elements, all the gods which of many names all end up in one unity, he thanked his guru Sali Baba… he invited the angels and beings to be with us during our fire ceremony…
Manu asked the women to sit in front and the man sat in back, he said God told him this when he was wondering how to prepare for so many people. Those in the front row would be tossing pinches of our offering into the fire as we prayed and chanted, and also the letters to God of the things we were releasing. Manu spoke to the importance of sometimes asking for help, as those in the back rows would have to ask for help in the front row doing for them what they in the back would not be doing. He told us a story of when he was a thirteen year old boy and was resisting his path of being a healer, and a man who helped him. There was a Blackfoot medecine man when he was on a vision quest in Cresstone. The man had said, come with me I will tell you the truth, and although Manu didn’t want to go, he made him go off into the forest with him. He took out a big knife and stabbed it into a tree trunk and said if you think i’m lying, take out the big knife and stab me in the stomach! He acknowledged those we have asked for help in our lives.
Offerings of bits of flowers mixed with grain in pinches were held up to the heart and then thrown into the fire along with the chant and response. We all got a bowl of the offerings, and we prayed. We prayed for: the children in our schools, that they would be taught well, and we prayed for their teachers.
Manu asked how we all came together… which for many was music. We prayed for art, music, writers, for doing what we love, supporting local artists. Manu went on a tangent about how it is when we want someone to do something differently. He talked about how children are told by their mothers, do not touch the fire, it is hot. We all know that we will burn ourselves if we put a hand in the fire, but children are told this, so they stick their hands in and get burned, because they do not know what hot is- they are figuring it out. He talked about letting someone metaphorically burn themself when they don’t know what it is that they are learning about. When they don’t know what a something is they first have to experience it. We must alllow people to experience things for themselves sometimes. When we tell someone how to or not to do something, this is a projection, and their thing turns into something else. Manu talked about how we should be more like a mirror than a projector, and bout telling truth coming from a place of love. We chanted all the names of God.
The women threw in the letters of the things we were releasing, and we chanted, and prayed. Then the men and women switched places.
Manu asked us about redemption. We were asked what it meant, and several people contributed definintions… to make right by God, was the one that stands out to me right now…
The men were asked to pray for forgiveness for what we have done to the earth. Manu told another anecdote about when he was in the jungle in Peru where his father is a medecine man, and how he journeyd to Iran, and Iraq, and he thought, maybe I should go convince this or that person to think differently… and God always pushed him back and telling him, start with YOU!! We must look to us first before we heal within the community. He brought our attention to the terrible acts we asked us to notice the Indian reservations, where all the problems of America are concentrated. We prayed for them, prayed for the medecine men whose messages must be heard, and for their prayers to be heard by everyone. We prayed for our elders, our ancestors, and we prayed for forgiveness for them.
We prayed for our mothers. We prayed for the Great Mother Earth, whom we have made sick. She has nourished our lineage since the beginning of time. We chanted the many names of the Goddesses. The men threw into the fire all of the letters to God for things we wanted to manifest.
We prayed for heaing for ourselves, and for all beings who are sick or suffering. We prayed for all those that have passed…
Manu poured honey into the fire for sweet words, he offered some food from the potluck into the fire… and thanked all the divine beings who came to our ceremony, some on horses, some on golden chariots, and that their path back ot where they coame would be covered with flowers. There was too many of us to walk around our consacrated fire pit, we each turned in a circle three times. I know I am missing many wonderful and important things, but this describes the fire ceremony to the best of my recollection, after which we feasted. I feel all my prayers being answered. There is something to doing this with many people and the feeling of community ritual. Our ancients were wise in the ways of Spirit.
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N. Lois Turtledove is a graduate student at the University of Colorado at Denver obtaining a Master's Degree in Humanities. She teaches yoga inside and outside the home, and is an apprentice in the ancient therapeutic art of shamanic practice. She understands that the only real enemy is the self, and the Self is the deepest source of nurture. She wishes freedom from suffering for herself and for all sentient beings.