![]() Some scry into the Fire and do other types of Fire divination for personal spiritual guidance. Some PSG Community members do personal healing work at the Sacred Fire at times other than large Community events there. Community members gather to share news, announcements, discussion, music, drumming, and meditation. The Sacred Fire is respected as a spiritual presence embodying the Community Spirit as well as a sacred area.Įach day’s morning meeting is held in the ritual circle around the Sacred Fire. Community members often feed the Fire dried flowers, sweet smelling herbs, paper talismans, and other spiritual offerings. In instances of heavy rains, the Firekeeper and crew usually place a portable free standing canopy over the Fire or use other methods to protect the Fire and keep it burning.Ī variety of individual, small group, and large community rituals, meetings, workshops, meditations, and other activities take place around the Community Sacred Fire during the gathering. Throughout the entire week of the gathering and through all types of weather conditions, the PSG Firekeeper and crew, assisted by other Community members, continue to watch over the Sacred Fire to make sure that it continues to burn day and night. As they cast in handfuls of dried sacred herbs, they speak blessings upon the gathering and the Community. Then, PSG coordinators of various aspects of gathering Community life come into the center of the ritual circle and encircle the Sacred Fire. As the wreath blazes and burns, gathering participants cheer and welcome in the Summer. We cast this wreath into the Fire to signify the turning of the Wheel of the Year. After the Sacred Fire ignites and grows in intensity, my husband, Dennis, and I walk clockwise around the Fire and carry a large wreath of evergreen boughs used to celebrate Yule six months before at our Winter Solstice celebrations in Wisconsin. ![]() The Firekeeper, assisted by a small crew of other Community members, ritually kindles the Fire as the rest of the Community chants and our Community drummers make rhythms. The Fire is located in the center of our main Community ritual circle area.Įach year, one of the elders in our Community serves as the PSG Firekeeper. On the evening of the opening day of the Pagan Spirit Gathering, we light the PSG Community’s Sacred Fire during our Opening Ritual. We harvest the Mugwort in a special ceremony at Lughnassad time during our Green Spirit Festival in early August. The Mugwort we use is from the Mugwort Circle, a tall hedge and ritual circle around our Maypole at Circle Sanctuary Nature Preserve in Wisconsin. In creating each year’s Sacred Fire, we also include dried stalks of Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), a ritual herb long associated with Summer Solstice celebrations. This kindling a new fire from remnants of a previous one is an ancient Pagan practice representing continuity with the past in the on-going spiral journey of life. Before the Sacred Fire is lit, we add ashes and charred wood from the previous year’s Community Sacred Fire. As was done by Celtic, Germanic, Scandinavian, Baltic, Roman, Greek, and other old European Pagan peoples, we use Oak wood as a fuel for our Sacred Fire. Called the Sacred Fire, it represents the Spirit of the PSG Community and its celebration of the Sun at Summer Solstice time. Some of these traditions are forms of ancient Pagan practices, while others are more recent in origin.Ī Community Summer Solstice Fire has been part of each PSG since it began in 1980. ![]() They are sources of illumination and inspiration that are an integral part of celebrating Summer Solstice and creating Community.Ī variety of traditions involving sacred work with Fire have developed over the years at PSG. The Fires of PSG symbolize Sun, Summer, Community, Culture, and Celebration. The Pagan Spirit Gathering, also known as PSG, is one of America’s oldest and largest celebrations of Summer Solstice and Nature Spirituality. Sacred Fires and Sacred Flames have been an integral part of the Pagan Spirit Gathering since it began in 1980. Originally published in Winter 2009 pp.22-24 ![]()
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