Fire Reading The Gypsy Way © 1996 by Raymond Buckland
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.