Remembering Rituals: Cleansing, Offering, and the Flame That Remembers Us

There is something in fire that calls us back to the beginning.

Before there were books or buildings, there were flames. Across caves and coastlines, deserts and dense jungles, our ancestors sat with fire—not only for warmth or survival, but for something far deeper. Fire has always been more than heat and light. It is portal, presence, and witness. It is the spirit that consumes and transforms, revealing the essence beneath illusion.

In this entry of Remembering Rituals, we return to the flame. To the rituals of cleansing and release. To the ancient memory that lives in every flicker.

Fire as Sacred Presence

Fire is universal—and yet its meanings are anything but simple.

Across cultures, fire is:

• A purifier that consumes the old and clears space for the new.

• A messenger that carries our prayers and offerings upward.

• A living being that must be tended, fed, and honoured.

• A gateway between the seen and unseen, the living and the ancestral.

Its spiritual power is not metaphor. It is visceral. Rituals involving fire cleanse not just space, but soul.

The Symbolic and Energetic Meaning of Fire

In many spiritual and esoteric systems, fire is a fundamental force of transformation.

• In alchemy, fire is the element that breaks down material form. Through calcinatio, it purifies the soul by burning away ego and illusion.

• In astrology, fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) are associated with inspiration, drive, passion, and will. Fire initiates and expresses—it is both desire and illumination.

• In Human Design, fire maps most closely to the energy of the Solar Plexus (emotional wave) and the Heart (will center). It is the pulse of transformation, clarity, and courage.

• In many Indigenous teachings, fire is one of the sacred elements of life, a keeper of memory and a sacred being to be respected and not taken for granted.

Let us now walk the earth through fire’s pathways.

Indigenous and Ancestral Fire Rituals of Cleansing

Turtle Island: Smudging and Tobacco

Among the many First Nations across North America, fire is central to ceremony.

• Smudging involves burning sacred plants—sage for clearing, cedar for protection, sweetgrass for blessing, tobacco for offering. The smoke is not just symbolic; it is a physical embodiment of prayer, rising to the sky.

• Tobacco ceremonies offer communication with ancestors and Spirit. It is placed in fires or given back to the earth. In many traditions, tobacco was the first gift given to humans and is used to open sacred dialogue.

These rituals are acts of relationship—with land, spirit, and self.

West Africa and the Diaspora: Nyabinghi Fire

In the Rastafarian tradition, sacred fire is a witness to both suffering and sovereignty.

• Nyabinghi ceremonies involve drumming, chanting, reasoning, and firekeeping through the night. The fire is a witness to the struggle for liberation and a beacon for the return of righteousness (Ithiopia).

• The fire may be fed with words of truth, herbs, or sacred wood. It is never merely physical; it holds ancestral presence.

Zulu Nation: Incwala Ceremony

In Zulu cosmology, the Incwala (First Fruits) ceremony involves a ritual lighting of sacred fire.

• It marks renewal and the turning of the seasons.

• Participants pass through smoke for cleansing, aligning with ancestral blessing and collective unity.

The fire is both a purification and a celebration of divine order.

Global Rituals of Fire and Purification

Vedic India: Agnihotra and Homa

Fire offerings are among the most ancient practices in India.

• Agnihotra is a daily ritual performed at sunrise and sunset using cow dung, ghee, and sacred mantras. It is said to cleanse the atmosphere and balance inner energies.

• Homa rituals (larger fire ceremonies) invoke specific deities and intentions. The fire becomes a divine mouth receiving offerings of herbs, seeds, and sacred intent.

These rituals balance cosmic forces and align the individual with universal rhythms.

Celtic Lands: Beltane and Samhain Fires

In pre-Christian Europe, fire marked the turning of seasons.

• Beltane fires were leapt over for fertility and joy. Cattle were driven through twin fires for health.

• At Samhain, fires were used to guide the spirits of the dead and protect the living from wandering souls.

Fire here is both boundary and bridge—between the world of the living and the dead.

Japan: Goma Fire Ceremonies

Practiced by Shugendō monks and Shingon Buddhists:

• The goma fire ritual involves feeding a sacred flame with wooden prayer tablets, oils, and mantras.

• The flames are believed to consume karmic impurities, obstacles, and illusions.

• The fire deity Fudō Myōō is invoked as a protector and remover of inner stagnation.

Mesoamerica: Copal Ceremonies

Among the Maya and Aztec traditions:

• Copal, a tree resin, is burned as incense over fire in sacred rituals.

• It is an offering to gods, a tool of divination, and a purifier of space.

• The scent is considered the breath of the divine, carrying messages between worlds.

Fire Rituals from Sacred Lineages Around the World

Sámi Fire Offerings (Scandinavia)

The Sámi people, Indigenous to Arctic Europe, offer fat, birch bark, or antlers to sacred fires to honour nature spirits and ask for guidance during hunting and migration.

Polynesian Umu Ti (New Zealand)

In Māori tradition, umu ti (earth ovens) were not only used for food but were part of seasonal and spiritual rituals. Fire from the earth carried messages to Papatūānuku (Earth Mother) and Ranginui (Sky Father).

Mongolian Ovoo Offerings

Nomadic Mongolians gather stones in sacred mounds (ovoo), often burning incense or wood near them as an offering to spirits of the land and sky. The smoke is considered cleansing, connecting the earthly and the celestial.

Modern Reclamation: Returning to the Flame

In contemporary spiritual practice, fire is being remembered again. Whether it's full moon burn rituals, candle magic, or ancestral altars lit with intention, fire is reawakening.

To light a candle and speak a name.

To burn a letter and release the past.

To circle around fire and offer silence.

These are not small acts.

They are acts of restoration.

Inquiries to Tend the Flame

• What does fire mean to you—not as a tool, but as a being?

• What parts of your life are ready to be burned, transformed, or released?

• What stories were once told around the fire in your lineage?

• Can you make a fire (or light a candle) and sit with it—not to do, but to listen?

Let us remember that fire is not a metaphor. It is real, alive, ancient, and sacred. When we tend to it with reverence, it does not just warm us. It remembers us.

And when we gather again, let us begin with fire.