by Dr. Alberto Villoldo: A fire ceremony to honor the solstice is a perfect time to contemplate our relationship to Spirit. What is Spirit and what is a ceremony? Why do we use fire and ceremony?
The answers to these questions are complex and multidimensional, so there are many answers. And any answers or understanding we get today will probably change when we ask the question again next time. This is the nature of the great mystery. We can’t know it. We can only experience it. When we experience something and we are conscious, we are changed forever. The most important aspect of the Shamanic path is that it is one of direct experience. We know we cannot speak of these matters, we must do them. Our understanding of Spirit and the ceremonies we use to engage Spirit will change and evolve as we deepen and grow our medicine. This is a dynamic process and there is only one rule we must follow: That we actually do it and not sit around talking about it. As we do it, our experience of Spirit and ceremony morphs, and in the process we remember more of who we really are.
A ceremony is an intentional event to celebrate and honor something sacred. We gather at our fires to step outside of the limitation of our ordinary lives and ordinary time. In ceremony, we step into sacred time and experience the infinite. In ceremony, we grow our light bodies and feel our connection to all things. We realize that everything is sacred and that all of life is a ceremony. To experience this, we must step outside of our ordinary world. We live in a culture that has taken the spirit out of everyday life; out of all matter. Rocks, trees, plants mountains and rivers have become inanimate objects to use as resources for our comfort and survival. Our job as medicine people is to reanimate the world, to experience the living nature of everything. When we call in the directions, we are engaging with the life-force in all things.
We gather at the fire because we walk the path of fire. Fire is an element. It is alive. It has the power to transform energy and matter in a very short time. We use fire to transform instantly what would take long periods of time to process on the literal. Fire consumes our heavy energy and transforms it back to light carrying our prayers with it. Fire has such power that even a small candle or match can have more energy than we will ever need in a single ceremony or a single lifetime. It is not important how big your fire is or how your ceremony looks, but the intent you put into it. Our fire ceremonies are stepping stones toward having every moment of our lives be our conscious creation. Conscious creation with the divine is the highest form of the sacred. As we strengthen our medicine bodies, we become more conscious creators. Connect with your fire and feel the fire feeling you.
Remember, when we call Spirit, Spirit comes. Call Spirit as you have never called Spirit before. Call Spirit with the burning and longing in your heart to connect to your true love. Call Spirit as you would want your beloved to call you. Call Spirit as if your life depends on it. Don’t hold back. Now is the time.
