Following the Lamp and Reading the Ashes

From Goat and Candle, October 2001
http://www.goatncandle.freeservers.com/oct01/divine.htm

It defies the exacting eye of science; it is rendered a secret sacred treasure by innumerable mythologies; it is a symbol of destruction and divine presence, hearth and elemental fury, fertility and the blackened sterility that births new life. Fire is an ideal medium for divination, for it is at once a symbol of power, manifestation and majesty, and a thing of beauty that draws our gaze and embodies the primal promises of life and the pyres of the worlds beyond. And, certainly, the divine spark within us all, the lamp that burns without oil, calls us to utilize our full potential and recapture the unfettered sight of our youthful days, when our dreams and our goals were one and the same. The various forms of divination are the means to that radiant end.

Pyromancy is basically simple fire gazing, divination through analyzing the flames of an object as it burns, or allowing the flames of a burning object to induce an altered state of consciousness. This core method, coupled with intuition and symbolic thought, is often effective, but it should be remembered that, via the laws of magick, specific magickal emphasis can placed upon the object to be used. For instance, in ages past, a replica of an enemy's castle might be constructed and ignited. If it burns quickly and evenly, the battle will be short and the enemy will fall. But if the flames gather at the front of the miniature edifice and it burns slowly, it should be assumed that the fortress is well defended and the battle will be arduous, if undertaken at all.

This would be easily adapted to modern quandaries. If three elements of a situation seem to be drawing you simultaneously - say, three different job offers at once - and you want to determine which is the prospect that will work out for you and endure, divide a piece of flammable material into thirds. Charge each third with the appropriate energy and cast the material into an open flame. The third which lasts the longest before being consumed is your best bet. As an interesting footnote, divination through interpreting shadows, specifically those cast by open flames, is called sciomancy. If you're looking for a final note of closure after engaging in pyromancy, this method would provide that desired exclamation point.

The creative coupling of fire and the written word emerges in the form of spodomancy, which is divination by fire through the use of messages or sigils written on paper. A question can be put down in words or rendered as a sigil on various forms of paper (and you can certainly experiment with symbolic meaning here - for instance, velum for questions of love, parchment for questions of achievement, newspaper or pulp paper for matters of communication, etc.) and cast into a fire. The flames are then scrutinized in terms of intensity, shape and form for suggestive value. But most often the ashes are the substance to be examined. Just as we consume foodstuffs for nourishment, fire consumes that which burns for sustenance. Ashes can be read like tealeaves, and for this undertaking, a good dream symbol dictionary or tasseography (tea leaf reading) guide is a must.

A variant of this requires the production of a great deal of ash. Sacred woods can burned, the symbolic values of the woods chosen to match the criteria of the query. In the evening hours, once the ashes are cool, they should be spread in a thick layer over a set outdoor area, whether a clearing in a wooded area or a second floor balcony. The querent then analyzes his or her reason for divination and reduces it to words or sigils, and traces the words or sigils in the ashes. The ashes are then left overnight to the elements and, if in a rural setting, to any visiting power animal or curious critter. The results are then assessed in the morning.

Lampadomancy is an ancient tradition, the elements of which have spawned a thousand and one tales of adventure and romance. It is divination through the observation of flames specifically from a candle, torch or lamp. This includes lynchomancy, divining the future through studying the flame at the base of the candle's or lamp's wick and the actions of the wick during burning. Ironically, in ancient times, only children could engage in lynchomancy, as their vision and imagination were untouched by incredulity and cynicism (and isn't that the sort of prescience we all long for?). In fact, an early form of lynchomancy, practiced by the Greeks presaged the use of the triangle by ceremonial magickians. Four candles were used. Three were placed in a triangle with the fourth placed in the center. The triangle was believed to attract the proper spirits who would act upon the fourth candle which was the true divinatory tool.

Just as autumn's chill touch is being felt, comes capnomancy, using the patterns of smoke made by the burning of various materials for the purpose of divination. Once the age of the burnt offering had passed (divination using this source of smoke was called extispicy), laurel leaves were a common choice (so common it had a specific label: daphnomancy), as were various herbs and incenses (the use of sacred incenses was specifically referred to as libanomancy) as well as certain tree barks and seeds.

A variation of this method is the Halloween tradition of foretelling the future by placing hazel nuts close to a raging fire and assigning each a name, goal or the like. If the nut exploded, the forecast was good, if it merely smoldered and caught fire, the outlook was poor.

And let us not forget an oft-overlooked form of botanomancy - divination through utilizing various forms of plant life. Burning leaves provide an excellent fount for capnomantic smoke, moved about by the seasonal winds of change. What better use for those vexing autumn leaves than as a medium for foretelling what the lighter half of the year will bring.

- Frater S.P.R.V.

Fire and You

by Andy
http://www.widdershins.org/vol3iss7/i9807.htm

This is fire. Fire is dangerous. Keep that in mind when fire scrying. Light your fire in an open area, leave space around it. Indoors is okay, but leave a window open nearby for ventilation. Also be aware that your fire alarm will probably go off if you are indoors and don't turn it off.

Take a large bowl, or cauldron, that won't burn. I use one of those big silvery metal salad bowls. It has taken on a nice burnished, rainbowy look from all the fires. Put the bowl on the floor or on a low altar. Leave at least two feet of room all around it. Put a towel under it if you don't want what is beneath it to be scorched. You can surround it with large rocks to keep it from being knocked over if you are going to have people moving or dancing around it or if your bowl has a round bottom. Make sure that any animals and small children are safely occupied elsewhere.

Pour in a cup of rubbing alcohol. Light it on fire with a long match or already lit long candle. The fire won't roar up instantly, but it will do it quickly enough that you will be grateful for the length of the match. Lighters (the short ones) are a good way to get burnt. I use one of those long barbecue lighters both for safety and reliability in the often windy conditions of outdoor rituals.

One cup of rubbing alcohol will probably get you 10 minutes of flame. Plenty of time for a good vision. Let the flame burn out naturally. Do not refill the bowl while the flame is burning. I lit myself on fire once this way. I was careless and did not respect the flame. It reminded me of respect, completely destroying a Lughnasad ritual in the process.

The flame will probably be between two and two and a half feet high. The higher the alcohol content in the rubbing alcohol the hotter the flame will be. Ninety-nine percent fires will also leave more ash and be more likely to set off the smoke detector. Start with the seventy percent until you get comfortable with it. The first time, it will look much bigger than you expect. Practice before using it in ritual. Start with one half cup and work up.

In case of emergencies, probably a spill, don't panic. Look at the fire to see if it will actually light anything else on fire. Unlike wax/oil fires, you can put rubbing alcohol fires out with water so keep a lot handy. The alcohol will float at first, but then go out. Smothering with a damp towel also works. Just drop the towel over fire. Ninety-nine percent alcohol will produce more interesting fires, but seventy percent will hurt less if you are burned. A bottle of burn cream or a fire extinguisher, even though you will probably never use them, will greatly reassure the pyrophobes around you.

When I first started doing scrying bowls, everyone told me I had to put Epsom salt in the alcohol, but no one knew why. Epsom salt makes the flames more even and less wild. When using ninety-nine percent, this can produce the occasional ring effect (a ring effect is like a smoke ring of fire), but overall, the effect of Epsom salt is minimal. Using sea or table salt produces random flashes of gold color late in the burn. Using boric acid, instead of a salt, will give a much more pronounced effect turning much of the fire bright green. Epsom salt and rubbing alcohol are both in the pharmacy part of a large grocery/drug store. Boric acid will be by the contact lens stuff (it is a cleaner). Sea salt is by the food.

For the salts, use as much salt as you do alcohol. For the boric acid, put in as much as you have alcohol, then add more until it gets thicker and souplike. Mix the stuff well and let it sit for a while before lighting. Additives usually decrease burning time. None of the additives are good after burning. They will be smelly, crusty, and you will actually have to scrape out some bit of the boric acid. Throw this stuff away after each use.

Here is a list of all the things you will need or may want for the fire scrying: A metal bowl, rubbing alcohol, a damp towel, a pitcher of water, a long candle, matches, or lighter, burn cream, fire extinguisher, Epsom or other salt, boric acid.

Fire Gazing

The Wiccan Garden
http://www.angelfire.com/on/wicca/Fire.html

This ancient technique can produce surprising results. Sit before a roaring fire. Ask your question. Gaze into the flames while the fire burns down. Within the flames, or in the sparkling, glowing coals below them, images of the future may appear. Interpret them with symbolic thought. It's best to limit gazing time to about five minutes, but there's no need to check your watch. Allow the images to come to you for an appropriate time.

Burnings

Write a question concerning the future on a small piece of paper. Place it face down on a flat, heat-proof surface. Light one corner of the paper with a match. If the entire paper burns, the answer is yes. If only part of the paper is destroyed, the answer is no.

Candles

To perform any of the following rites, choose a room not usually subject to winds or drafts. Night is the preferred time, and it's best to lower the lights. Use white candles except where otherwise indicated.

Light a candle and place it in its holder. Sit or stand before it and search for signs from the flame itself and its wick. If the flame seems dim, it may be best to hold off on plans for the time being. An extremely bright flame is a sign of good fortune, but if it quickly grows smaller, the luck will be temporary.

If the flame waves about, bad weather may be coming, or a great change in circumstances is foretold. A spark visible in the wick indicates the imminent arrival of good news. If the flame turns in a circle or seems to form a spiral, danger is forecast. Finally, a halo around the flame indicates an approaching storm.

Another method of reading candles involves watching the manner in which the molten wax drips down the candle sides. Place the candle in a holder. Ask a yes or no question while lighting the wick. Watch it for some time. If the wax drips only on the left side, the answer is no. If on the right, yes. If equally on both sides, no response is possible. If no wax drips down, ask again later.

A rather unusual form of candle divination involves the remarkable properties of fresh lemon juice. Obtain a clean, non-ball point or felt-tip pen. (The type used for calligraphy). Since neither an ink-filled pen nor a pencil can be used, a sharpened, short stick may be substituted.

Squeeze the juice from a lemon into a small bowl. Lay three, five or seven pieces of paper on a flat surface. Dipping the pen into the lemon juice, (write) a possible future on each piece of paper with the juice; the juice here acts as the ink. Since lemon juice is invisble and difficult to write with, reduce these futures to just a few words.
Allow them to dry.

Light a candle. Place the slips of paper into a bowl. Mix them with your left hand, then choose one at random. Hold the chosen piece of paper close enough to the flame to heat it but not enough to burn it. The heat will reveal the future written on the paper as the lemon juice darkens. This will determine the possible future.

Smoke

One method is known as "smoke reading." Light a candle. Pass a plain white card through the flames three times while asking a question. (do this quickly to avoid setting the card on fire.) Interpret the resulting carbon deposits left on the underside of the card with symbolic thought.

There are many older techniques. For example, build a fire outside in a safe place while asking a yes/no question. Watch the smoke. If it rises straight and lightly into the air, a positive answer has been received. If, however, it hangs heavily around the fire, the reverse is true.

Ashes

Collect ashes from dead fires or the fire place. Outside, in a place where the wind usually blows at some time, scatter the ashes to a good depth in a rectangular shape on the ground. While asking your question regarding the future, use a finger to write the word yes in the ashes to the right and no to the left. Leave them undisturbed overnight.

In the morning, study the ashes. If both words are clearly legible, no answer is possible at this time. If one has been erased by animal tracks, the wind or by some other force, the remaining word reveals the answer to your question. If both words are gone, again, no answer has been given.

Secret Visions from the Flame

by Andy
http://www.widdershins.org/vol3iss7/i9806.htm

The old witch added a whitish powder to the fire and waited as the flames grew strangely green. "I see forms taking shape... visions... A tree! No, it is a wheel! A wagon wheel, on a wagon with horses!" She turned back to her guest and asked in a knowing voice: "Are ye planning a journey, perhaps?"

For as long as there has been fire, people have seen visions in it Shamans would see visions of a good hunt in the campfire and then use its ashes to paint the visions on the cave walls to bring them about. Perhaps the oldest form of divination, fire scrying is one of the most primal (and beautiful) methods a witch has for "seeing the unseen". It is not an easy form, to be sure, but it can produce clearer results than any other method if done well.

Basically you look into a fire and see the shapes there. Take the seeds of images that the fire gives you and apply all the visualization skills you ever learned to get a coherent vision out. If you are not a good visualizer, this method is not for you. Then you have to figure out what the vision means. Yes, you saw a wolf chasing down a cloud and eating it, but you were wondering if you should take that class at the community college. Finding an appropriate meaning is often the really hard part.

Those searching for visions should find a dark, quiet, and open area. Cast a circle to set up the ritual space. Then invoke the flames, lighting the scrying bowl at the end of the invocation. Detailed instructions on preparing and lighting the scrying bowl are in the side article. How you invoke depends on your relations to fire. Keep it simple if you are not a fire person, go all out if you are a closet pyromaniac.

I like to take a long candle (or long lighter), light it, and draw three invoking pentacles in the air with the flame. The chant of "Fire, Fire, Flames Grow Higher!" punctuates each pentacle, one word per point. Then I bring the fire to the center in front of me and say: "From the fires of the stars, to the fires of our souls, Fire be with us. As you burn in the sun, giving us all light and life, burn for us here and now. Burn through the veil that separates the worlds and let us see that which is unseen." Then I focus my mind on what I want to know and light the bowl with the fire.

Use as little light as possible while casting and invoking. That will help set the mood and will make it easier to see the flames. Any colors you may see will be enhanced by the darkness. Fire is finicky. If the invoking flame keeps going out or the bowl just will not light, don't force it. Let it go and try again some other time. You don't want to see the visions that come from unwilling flames coerced into life with the repeated application of flammable liquids and mechanical aids.

Sit comfortably and stare into the fire. Watch the flames and see what shapes they make. Open and shut your eyes repeatedly. Try to make out the pattern the fire leaves behind your eyes. At first your mind will say it is just the shape of the fire, but put that aside. Picture the shape that it is most like. See the form it takes. This is not easy. It is the same process you use to see the shapes in the clouds (something we, here in Seattle, have a lot of experience with). When you get a vague image, go with it. Let the shapes change as your vision focuses. Open your eyes again and get a new form to help the vision continue to grow. Shapes can change and the vision can move. Just let the flames shape the images they will. With practice, you will move from an image to a movie in your mind.

For instance, I just did a bit of test scrying into the candles I've lit to write this by. I saw the flame which made a circle in my mind. Rays came out of the center of the circle and turned into clock hands. The circle turned into a clock face. As I realized what it was, the hands started turning backwards. It probably means I should have started writing this article earlier or something....

After you have your visions, thank the now departed fire, open the circle, and try to make sense of what you have seen. Think about what you saw and ask what it means to you. In my sample, I had a clock moving backwards. Clocks mean time to me. Backwards brings to mind the past or a while ago. Since what I wanted was something for my article, it probably meant I should have started writing this earlier. Or maybe I should rewrite what I did a while ago. Another interpretation occurs to me, the hands were going counterclockwise, or Widdershins. Anyway, that was my vision. I could go for another one for clarification, but that could also just confuse things more.

With practice, anyone can see the visions in the flames. It is interpreting the visions that separates the oracles from the players - with - entrails. Just as anyone with a book can do a tarot reading, it takes skill and work to figure out what it means. I find most symbols to be too personal to give a general meaning list. If you are doing a reading for yourself, whatever you think the symbols mean is probably what they mean. If you are reading for someone else talk to them and ask lots of questions. If they don't know, suggest what you think, but their meanings are probably the best. If you have trouble coming up with meanings, a book on interpreting dreams will have most of the common symbols and their meanings listed.

The final thing you need is honesty with your vision. Many "life is a bowl of crystals" tarot readers often reinvert inverted tarot cards because "there are no bad things, just challenges." This neuters the readings. Life has bad things in it, to believe otherwise denies the Dark Goddess. Sometimes you have to eat your own young, figuratively speaking, and it is not pleasant. If you see your yourself being burned at the stake, go with it. Mentally forcing it to be you, as May Queen, being tied to a maypole will invalidate the vision. Not everything you see will be happy. That is why Cassandra, the ancient Greek prophet, considered her visions a curse.

Puzzled, for she wasn't planning a journey, the woman went home. The next day, at the supermarket, she hit another car in the parking lot. It was a Jeep Wagoneer. "Damned visions! Always right but never right enough!", she muttered as looked about, hoping no one had seen her.