I spent my birthday weekend in a three-day intensive on conscious dying. The idea was to learn some tools to help me once my father passes. But I ended up gaining far more than that. The facilitator, Melinda Allec, held our feet to the fires of transformation, where we confronted our fear of letting go and unwillingness to forgive.

Melinda taught us about fire ceremony, a shamanic technique for purification. The fastest way to transform, she said, is by working with the element of fire – which is a spark of our life-giving Sun. Fire ceremony allows you to get rid of any fears, negative thoughts or old patterns that no longer serve you.

The Sun enters fiery Leo this Thursday, the 22nd. And, Jupiter, Pluto, Saturn, Uranus and Mars line up in a no-nonsense T-square from the 24th through the 31st. This cosmic window of change is a perfect time to use the element of fire to burn up the past and harness your mind’s power to create something new. The only valid use of the brain, as Melinda noted, is to see beauty and solutions. Everything else belongs in the fire.

Take a mid-size ceramic bowl and line it with aluminum foil. Fill it three-quarters full of epsom salts. Pour about a quarter cup of 91% rubbing alcohol over the salt. Take any burnable object from nature (a small piece of sage is ideal) and blow your fear and negativity into it, while simultaneously blowing in what you want instead – what it’s transforming into. Then light it and add it to the bowl. Pray to Spirit to burn away the past and leave you cleansed, as the fire instantly brings new neural information into your luminous energy field. Repeat this process as necessary until the fire burns down (never leave until the fire is completely out, and do not add additional rubbing alcohol while the fire is still smoldering).

Melinda’s teacher, Alberto Villoldo, says that “all the windows of the mansion will fly open” by December 2010, and that we must have all our skeletons out of the closet by then and know in our bones that fear is an illusion. Ceremony is the path to that goal. Do fire ceremony every time your monkey mind assails you with fear of lack or terror of the unknown. We’re headed into uncharted territory, as our brains rapidly evolve. Time is becoming more fluid, and thoughts and words instantly create reality. Make sure you’re creating something of beauty.

Contact me for a reading (current prices still apply through the end of July) to find out what the incoming energies trigger for you, and how you can use them to propel yourself into a new way of being.