Fire and Candles

[Fae Oonagh]

The Romani spent many long hours sitting around the yag at the atchen'tan—-the campfire. It's hardly surprising, then, that they can use that fire for divining. Gazing through half-closed eyes, seemingly dreamily, into the glowing embers, they are frequently able to make contact with ... what? Their inner sight? The universal unconscious? To connect up with others' thoughts via Extra Sensory Perception? Whatever the label you care to use the Gypsies themselves don't attempt to explain it. As with so many things, they just accept it as part of their natural selves.

Any number of people can read their own fortunes in the same fire, for the formations of the embers appear differently to each person, and are also interpreted by that person in their own individual way. This is the sort of divination that, although someone else can do it for you, it's far better you do for yourself. If you are doing it for someone else (a client), then sit with that person on your left; their right hand held between your own two hands as you gaze into the fire. Spend a few moments attuning to that person before focusing your gaze into the fire itself.

It may be that, no matter how long you gaze into the fire, you can see nothing that seems to have any real meaning to you. This is not necessarily an unfavorable sign but simply means that the forces at work are presently changing rapidly and have not settled into any sort of a complete picture. Give up and try again later. Don't fire-gaze for longer than ten minutes at one time.

Interpretation:
How to interpret what you see? You represent the client, so those symbols closest to you will be the ones which most affect the client.

Time is judged by position: any symbol near the top of the fire is in the present; the lower down the fire it appears, the further into the future it will be.

Those symbols on the left of the fire are more likely to be negative symbols, while those on the right are more likely to be positive.

Also the way a symbol faces may well have a specific meaning. Symbols facing you (as the client), will have a direct effect; facing away, an indirect effect.

Don't expect all the symbols to look exactly like the things they represent. You will have to use your imagination a great deal. you will find that there is usually just a suggestion of, say, a bird or a rabbit. Use the symbols simply as a focal point and go with your psychic feelings.

One final tip. If the fire has died down a lot simply throw a handful of salt onto the fire. It will cause it to flare up again long enough for you to complete your reading.



~Fire Gazing and Candle Scrying~
Provided by palenoon

This timeless technique can produce surprising outcomes. Sit comfortably at a roaring fire. Ask a question. Gaze into the flames while the fire burns down. Peer within the flames or glowing embers and images of the future might appear. Interpret them by accepting the images as symbolic images. The meanings of certain images are only decodable by you. For example an image of a cat may mean love, friendship, and seership to you but to another it represents evil, stress.


~Paper and Flame Scrying~
Write a question concerning the future on a small peice of paper (color paper too can add to your spell) Place it face down on a flat nonflamable surface. Light one corner of the paper with a match. If the entire paper burns, the answer is yes. If only some of the paper is chars, the answer is no.

~Candles~
To perform any of the following rites, choose a room not drafty. Night is the preferred time and it's best to be in a dimly lit room. Generally white candles are used. 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 maybe 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 around, bad weather may be ahead, or a big change in the future may be 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, then 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 wax drips down the sides of the candle. Place the candle in the holder, ask a yes or no question, while lighting the candle wick. If the wax only goes down the left side of the candle the answer is no. If the wax goes down the right side of the candle the answer is yes. If the wax goes down both sides or doesn't drip at all then begin again later. A rather unusual form of candle divination involves 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 used instead. 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 invisible 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 head it but not enough to burn it. the head 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. Quickly pass a plain white card through the flames three times while asking a question. 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 hands heavily around the fir, the reverse it 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 had 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.