Fire ceremonies are truly enlightening on so many levels from the literal to the symbolic and energetic. My monthly full moon fire ceremony gathering is a lovely night filled with ritual, letting go and creating space for new energy to swirl in. People arrive from 7pm usually bearing gifts of some kind like sacred wine and as in the case last night sacred brownies and cookies. Everyone has a cup of tea and chooses a medicine woman card from a deck based on the tarot but with Native American images and interpretations. Many are astounded by the accuracy of the card picked in relation to whatever is going on in our lives. This gives everyone a focus and most of us share the information from the book so everyone feels a bit more connected.
Then we begin the fire ceremony. Everyone has a rattle that they have either brought or chosen from my bag of rattles. Everyone has a stick. First I open sacred space facing to the east, “The place of the rising sun and the eagle-condor, Apu Chin. Help us become visionary’s each new day rising high above the whole scene getting the bigger picture like the condor yet with clear focus on every detail. Help us soar and trust that out wings will carry us when we leap into the abyss of the unknown. Hi ya ya.”
We face the south, “Sachamama, Serpiente, help us let go of all the energies that do not serve us in one fell swoop the way you shed your skin. Help us birth again, renewed and teach us to walk softly upon the earth and live each day in beauty. Hi ya ya.”
We face the west, “The place of the setting sun. Otorongo, Mother sister jaguar, encircle us, protect us, help us mulch new energies and be rebirthed strong and powerful.”
We face the north, “Huaynakauri Royal Hummingbird, Ancient Ones, Ancestors come and whisper to us in the winds, pass your wisdom through us. Teach us to journey in stillness and drink from the sweet waters of life.”
We kneel to the earth, “Pachamama, pachamamasita, thank you, gracias madre for holding us so strong and steady in your sweet embrace, for taking all the energies we no longer need into your belly and transmuting it to light. Now let us heal you mother with our love. Hi ya ya.”
We stretch up to the heavens, “Inti tai tai, Mama Kia, Grandmother Moon Father Sun, Star Nations shine your beautiful golden love light down through us into the belly of the mother and back up again. Embrace us with your rainbow light connecting us to universes and galaxies and every living thing, creating unity the light that shines within us all. Hi Ya ya.”
Then we start chanting the Nitche Tai Tai chant which I first learned in The Four Winds. I have since chanted many other fire songs but Nitche Tai Tai is very simple for new comers to remember and it makes them feel included when they can immediately join in. Roughly it translates as “We honour you Mother of the Waters, thank you for nourishing our land.” Even though it is a fire ceremony we thank the water who provides the food for the trees we use for fuel. We are honouring the six directions and all the elements when we take the fire into our bellies and our hearts. I bless the fire that I built earlier while lighting it and once lit continue to bless the people who have come and the archetypes and mountain spirits by pouring oil on the fire.
Eventually I approach the fire and open my 2nd, heart and third eye chakras so I can take the fire in and then exhaling and pushing the energy out of each chakra, I release all the heavy blocked energy in each chakra. I blow into one end of a stick everything that I want to let go of personal to myself and in the other side I blow in what I want to attract and invite into my life. I place the stick in the fire. Then I circle my mesa over the fire cleansing it. After that everyone is invited to come to the fire. Someone holds space immediately behind the person praying at the fire so they have an extra private space in which to concentrate on what they are letting go into the fire.
Sometimes people have things written on paper that they put in the fire. I had a stack of financial papers wanting to change my relationship with money. After everyone has had a chance to go to the fire and release then we stop chanting and place the Pachamama stick in, one that everyone has blown their prayers for the earth into during the course of the ceremony. We invite in our ancestors to join us and then we chant again so everyone has a chance to return to the fire to place sticks in (last night we used pinecones), for our loved ones highest and best. I always put sticks in for my sons, family and various friends and clients. After everyone has finished we stop chanting and rattling and bring out the sacred wine. Some people might still be choosing cards if they didn’t have time before the fire.
The most magnificent thing about fire ceremonies is that they really DO shift things! I have met lovely people at these gatherings over the years. They are a great reliever of stress, something happens and the next day you feel lighter. You cannot explain it, but you know something has changed.
Full moons are a good time to create new energetic space for abundance to come in because it is the beginning cycle of another moon. We want to flow with the energies of the Mother Earth as easily as possible. Fire ceremonies help re-connect us to that Universal energetic flow while we honour the beautiful Pachamama.
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