Release Technique: Burning

Since swamping is a release technique that I generally recommend doing only in sisterhood, I want to offer you another ritual that you can safely do on your own. It involves the element of fire and is intimately connected with this month’s manifestation practices: moon and seasonal rituals. And as you’ll see, you do not have to wait for a full moon or a new season to burn. You can do this practice weekly or even daily if necessary. So, let’s dive into the details.

Have you ever heard that nothing can ever be created nor destroyed, only transformed to something else? This is known as the first law of thermodynamics and it was initially set forth by the Frenchman Sadi Carnot in his 1824 book, Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire. As this principle evolved, it came to be understood that the total amount of energy in the universe is always the same; only the form that it takes changes.

For our purposes, let’s leave aside the science and explore this concept metaphysically instead. Consider that all of us are always building up some amount of negative energy in our lives. It’s inevitable, whether from large or small irritations or setbacks. Left unresolved, that energy would be toxic and lead to the type of dis-ease that we explored in the previous post. Imagine transmuting that negative energy into positive energy and put yourself in a receiving mode instead. That’s what happens when you burn.

Consider, too, how mother nature uses fire to clear out forests, making room for new growth. Forest fires often occur naturally to restore ecological balance, but prescribed burns are also used to avoid the risk of large, uncontrollable blazes. Dead wood is replaced by ashes, and as the ancient texts teach, we can then receive beauty for our ashes. So, as you adopt the alchemical process of burning in your life, you will see that what you release is transmuted into new growth that is much more beautiful than what you burned away.

I adopted a burning practice years ago when I began writing lists of what I wanted to transmute and setting them ablaze in my backyard chiminea, weather permitting. When I was away from home, which I often am in the summer, I would get out a kitchen pot and burn on a window sill or balcony if I happened to have one. More than once, I had the goddessly problem of setting off a fire alarm in my vacation home, although thankfully it was only due to a little excess smoke and not because I was actually burning down the house. Eventually I graduated to a small cast iron cauldron that I could use to burn, rain or shine, and I highly recommend adding one to your own rebirth tool kit.

The timing of your burns is up to you and dependent on how much negative energy you are dealing with at any point in time. But just as I’ll be encouraging you to set intentions each new moon (more on that in the next blog) it’s important to make burning part of every full moon. Why the full moon? Because it represents the peak energy of the lunar cycle, after which the moon begins to wane. As you burn under each full moon, you can imagine your negative energy waning right along with it, being replaced by positive energy that allows you to get a fresh start under the next new moon two weeks later.

What should you put on your burn list? You can begin by writing out the names of people in your life who no longer serve you. While it may feel harsh to release someone you know and perhaps even love, remember that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transmuted. If they are meant to be in your life, you can release them energetically, knowing the universe will bring them back to you in a different and better form.

You can also burn blocks and obstacles that you have identified or feelings that bring you down. It’s always a good idea to burn anger, frustration, anxiety, and fear, trusting that they will be transmuted to pleasure, joy, happiness, and confidence. You also might want to consider adding a catch-all phrase at the end of your burn list such as: I release all that stands in the way of my highest good, known and unknown, conscious and unconscious.

As I burn, I am always mindful to be thankful for the lessons learned from whatever I am transmuting. As Abraham-Hicks points out, when we know what we don’t want, we know what we do want, just as we need light and dark to identify form. In other words, it’s contrast that allows us to appreciate the good things in our lives, . So, get out a pen and paper and start writing. Then safely transmute it for your highest good and that of those you care about through the element of fire.