The last full moon of 2019 is upon us and has been very busy in stirring up some intense emotions and patterns. This is a wonderful, and most appropriate, time of the year to purge these old ways. Set some time aside in the evening to contemplate some of the least healthy thoughts and behaviors you have. What have they taught you? Are you willing to let the oppressive and complicated comfort of their familiarity go? Pull them to the surface of the mind and recognize them as teachers who invited you to have deeper self-awareness but who are no longer needed. I am a huge fan of fire ceremony this time of year, partly because its chilly, but mostly because the intensity of the flames casts a saffron light into the wintery shadows that ignites rich vision even in the darkest of times. Establish a fire ceremony to honor the lessons of old belief structures and place them (via the breath, a written letter or simply a well-intended thought) within the transformative heat of the fire where they will shapeshift into a thick smoke that is feathered up to the power of Spirit. In this sacred and mysterious releasing, we shed the energy that binds us to toxic patterns and clouded vision. As the fire and smoke settle, they bring a quiet contemplation, and with the last flicker of heat on a wooden ember, we feel completion, closure, a warm, sleepy peace that only the winter moon can bestow.
PS. I know many of you do not have access to a place of fire, but you can create a fire ceremony within the seeing heart. Prepare an area of meaning and intention in your home (or even a salt bath with candles) and take an inward journey to a sacred space that is designed from your intuition. See the fire, say the intentions, witness yourself casting your wishes to the flames, imagine the smoke and embody a sense of warm sleepy peace that only the winter moon can bestow.
