The rite of gathering around the fire is as old as fire itself!
Starting an estimated 350,000 years ago, when the earliest homo sapiens and neanderthals began making fires.
So as long as there have been people, there have been fire gatherings.
I’m sure you too have enjoyed relaxing around a fire, perhaps comforted by the warmth and the smell of woodsmoke in the midst of winter… or making merry around the campfire, with the sound of the ocean…
The ritual use of fire dates back at least ten thousands years, and is in every culture: Celtic, Iranian, Zoroastrian, Egyptian, Maori, Aboriginal…
Fire is the mediator between earth and heaven. The communicator between the material world and the spirit world.
Wood or fat is burned, representing the earth element and this material plane. Often there will be resins or molten fats as a residue, representing the Water element. Smoke and incense are released, the Air element, rising up to the heavens.
In this way, fire is alchemical and sacred.
It helps us transmute our three-dimensional challenges, purifies and blesses them.
It’s the reason we have candles in churches and on our altars at home.
In Ancient Greek traditions, fire had a yin and a yang aspect. Vesta was the goddess of the hearth and represented the cosy yin fire we long to gather around with, with the family. The yang fire of the blacksmith’s forge was associated with the god Hephaestus, symbolic of creativity and manufacturing.
In the Wiccan and Pagan traditions of Britain, witches gathered around the fire on full moon and at the major festivals or ‘Sabbats’ of the year, like Bealtane.
The word ‘witch’ comes from the word wicca, which is Anglo-Saxon for ‘wise one’ or ‘sorceror’.
Witches were part of a coven, were male and female, and often worked in normal jobs, such as greengrocers, doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers, accountants… people from all walks of life.
Eleanor Ray Bone, nurse and high priestess of a coven in 1964, recounts that rites included:
—dancing inside ancient stone circles, like the Rollright Stones
—being naked, or ‘skyclad’, a symbol of putting aside worldly things
—walking, then breaking into a trot, then a run around the fire
—drawing a circle around the fire with a sword, for protection
—jumping over the fire to honour the sun as a source of life
“The craft is a fertility cult: we worship the life source,” said Eleanor Ray.
“We try to help those who are in trouble or have problems which they cannot solve for themselves. Many people write seeking our help. All letters requesting help are answered. Frequently, we simply refer people to marriage counsellors.”
“In this age of science, one might think there was no place left for witches. But the sun still rises in the morning and sets in the evening; at night, the moon watches over us. Season succeeds season, and there is new life in crops, animals, humankind. And if the sun no longer rose and set, if there were no sun, of what use would science be? The life source would no longer be there.”
In her lifetime, Eleanor Ray Bone initiated hundreds of priests and priestesses, who would then ‘hive off’ to form new covens. She died in 2001, and her grave is in Garrigill public cemetary in the UK.
Today, we still dance around the fire, to honour the sacredness of life force, and to celebrate the seasons and all of nature.
What are the benefits of fire dance?
Sister, you’d be so welcome. Come join us, in one of our forthcoming fire ceremonies.
Or if you’re not near us, but hold a women’s circle… why not invite us!
Let’s make more fire dances happen, all over the world, and restore this ancient rite for our health, and the fertility of the world.
Sources:
Wikipedia, Fire Worship
Life.com, The Wonderful World of Witches
History.com
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