Fire Blessing Ceremony

“When you sit together, listen to the fire. It is sacred. It is the spirit of the wood, the days of the Sun, the days of the wind, the days of the rain and sleet and hail, it is the sacred Earth brought to us to give us those days back. There is history in those flames. There are stories of the Earth, which will not be told again in the same way. The spirit of the tree is giving its body and is leaving the Earth now. Watch the fire, there are people there. Some you know, some are spirits you have never known. They are there to explain things to you. They are the messengers of the spirits of the trees. They must send them to you, because we don’t have the patience to understand the way trees speak, the way they form their words and the gestures they make are too foreign and might frighten you. So they send their messengers. Feel and understand their meaning.”

And as another Midewiwin Elder shared, “There will be one who will catch the way on the wind and offer the Fire Dreaming Ceremony in the traditional way. This ceremony is only offered by the Ancestors every 100 years and will be made available on one ocassion, to those who answer the call.”
After our purification ceremony, we wrap ourselves in our shawls, shields, and blankets and move to the Sacred Circle to sit in silence and watch the fire until dawn. During the evening we may fill and pass our Chooch’s (sacred pipes) to offer our prayers of gratitude. We may sometimes drum and rattle quietly to pay tribute to the tall ones, land and fire. One by one we wait and honor what the trees bring to us.
The fire is tended, in such a way that when the fire reaches its peak, no more wood is placed on the fire. And we watch as it moves to embers towards morning.
At dawn the Firekeepers move the embers to the purification circle and we join them. The songs we sing honor the spirits of the trees who came to help with the prayers, visions and dreams. We give thanks for their words and honor their journey back to Creator. We share the messages they presented to us. And as we leave the circle, we offer tobacco prayers to the embers as a symbol of thanksgiving.
AHO