PROCEDURE
- This is only practicable when the fire has been burning for a while, long-enough to generate embers, so this might be a good after-dinner activity. If, however, you want to sit by the fire early, and start setting the intention to divine by the embers, that is laudatory and be my guest, but you’ll probably be waiting a couple hours to get readable embers.
- When the fire has burned long-enough to have glowing embers, if there is more than one person wanting to participate in this, have them sit in front of the fire, or draw their chairs up to it as close as they can, without obscuring other participants’ views of the fire. All are going to be focusing their attention on the embers below, not the flames above. If you trust your own memory enough to remember everything you see, good for you, but all participants should consider having something with them to take notes. You’re going to be gazing at the fire for a while, and you will likely see a series of images forming and dissolving. You don’t want to forget any you’ve seen, and the sequence in which they appear could be important.
- Extinguish the lights, or turn off as many as you can. This step may not happen if you’re at a gathering where people aren’t joining you and want the lights on, thank you very much, but try to turn out any lights near the fire. If you’re doing your embers-divining outside at night, then this step likely isn’t an issue.
- When all are gathered and silent, throw either a little salt or a few cedar chips on the fire to liven-up the flames. It’s traditional, and also appears to be a sort of purification rite, preparatory to what you’re about to do. Do this right before you set your intention.
- SETTING THE INTENTION: This is a part of the ritual which I consider so important, I’ve put it in all-caps, bold and italic. Without it, you’re just watching the fire, not divining. Scientists in the area of minute-particle-physics have learned there is no such thing as a totally-objective experiment. The fact that an observer is present, observing the experiment, affects the outcome. Setting the intention is the dividing line between just a random occurrence and the embers responding to your specific request. If you’re embers-divining alone, or you’re in a group, but feel silly saying anything out loud, just think loudly and clearly in your own mind: “From this moment forward, (fill in the blank with the Spirit of your choice), show me my future in the embers before me. Do this until I stand and walk away.” If you’re willing to recite an intention-setting invocation aloud, either alone or in a group, here’s a relevant ditty I’ve composed on the spot: Spirits, speak to me this night. Show me my future in the embers’ light. When I stand and walk away, this obligation to me aside please lay.” So here you’ve set a clear intention that They send you images symbolic of your future via the embers, and you’ve set a time-limit, so They know when They can stop messaging. Because I often go over-board with such things, I have included a PDF with some proposed invocations you can use for daytime, nighttime, or group practice at the end of this lesson.
- Then watch in silence, and watch for at least half an hour. An hour would probably be better. You could do this even longer if you’re willing, but at some point, the fire may deteriorate to the point where no further embers-divining is possible. Make note of any images you see in the fire, but don’t speak them aloud. You don’t want to influence what anybody else is seeing in the embers, and if there’s somebody in the group who isn’t seeing anything, you don’t want them to feel pressured to make stuff up. As you gaze, you may find your mind naturally going into a meditative state, which is optimal for embers-divining. Put the thinking part of your brain in ‘park.’ Simply observe.
- Discourage jokes and laughing among the group while you’re doing this. If you’re doing this alone and someone is joking about it, mentally block them out. Admitting a light-hearted energy into the ritual creates adverse conditions which will actively interfere with your effort to embers-divine, and doom the procedure to failure. Only the most-focused will be able to overcome such adverse energy.
- If you’ve set the intention this divining session ends when you stand up and walk away, then when you seen enough (or declared defeat), you can simply stand up and walk away. But if you want a formality to officially end your embers-scrying session, then you can say a farewell, something like: Spirits I thank you for visiting me this day, and answering my prayer where the embers lay. May we meet like this again someday! But for now, I must walk away.
- You may compare notes with other participants afterwards. You don’t have to keep what you’ve seen to yourself. Indeed, if you’ve seen anything in the embers which baffled you, somebody else may have an insight which makes the meaning clear to you. Be prepared for someone to have seen something in the fire which totally escaped you. Artomancy-type divination methods can be intensely-subjective; everybody looking at the same thing may see something different. That doesn’t make anybody wrong. What you see in the embers is what you’re meant to see.