Seeing the Fire Spirits

In our fire ceremonies, no matter when we hold them, one thing connects them all—that is how the fire spirits show themselves in the always changing flames. I love watching the flames dance and move across a night backdrop, and the images that manifest themselves are the fire spirits showing themselves.

Sometimes they are in the shape of animals, sometimes of shamans in full costume, and other times they take on eerie, monster-like shapes.

It is hard to notice these unless you take pictures of the fire, catching a kind of “freeze frame” of when the photo was snapped. If you take dozens of photos of a bonfire I think you will be surprised at how many shapes appear that we didn’t realize at the time. The photos are also good objects for meditation and relaxation as you focus on the images that appear, just as live flame is also helpful for meditation.