Fire Ceremony
My elder says that he never met a belief of his that was
not a lie and therefore he has no beliefs that he has to
cling to and defend with his life. He also speaks of our
thoughts being our prayers. What we think about is what
we project out into the ethers and is what returns to
us. So if I “believe” the world is a scary place and
that no one can be trusted and that I am alone, I will
pretty assuredly create that reality for myself and it
will be reflected back to me by the environment. Much of
what we believe and feel comes from faulty thinking that
we have the power to change. One of the gifts that
two-leggeds were given is the ability to discern and
choose for ourselves.
In this ceremony we work with the ceremonial fire to
release old beliefs, patterns, relationships, self-
concepts or other things that impede our growth and
forward movement. Once free of these self-imposed
limitations we can consciously choose our beliefs and
behaviors taking thereby taking full responsibility for
our choices. In this way our lives can “grow corn” (Will
Rockingbear) and we can observe ourselves living our
dreams.
A riddle my teacher tells goes like this: There are
three cats on the fence. One thought about jumping off.
How many cats are left on the fence? Three.
This is where we move from simply talking about what we
wish were different in our lives into the realm of
action. When we find ourselves coming to the same
impasse time and again, dealing with the same problem
over and over we have the opportunity to choose thoughts
that align us with what we want to be occurring in our
lives. The fire ceremony offers us a way to literally
burn away the thoughts, habits, beliefs, or behaviors
that no longer serve us by asking the fire to take them
for us. We can watch them be consumed by the fire. We
then fill the void with the desired, thoughts, beliefs,
or behaviors by consciously choosing them anew each
time. When the old thought or habit surfaces we simply
have to remember that we put it in the fire. Without
taking action we are always in a state of readying
ourselves but never being the change we want to see in
the world. Change must begin within us and radiate out.
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