Burn baby burn continued
On Sunday I decided to initiate spring for myself and my family with a ritual fire. I say ritual fire to give it the sense that I was bringing the intention of getting rid of bad energy by making mantra offerings. I started the fire at 8:00 in the morning and found myself huffing and puffing away trying to get enough fire wood to burn. I was just using the brush from my backyard, our christmas tree, and some other seasonal ornaments made from pine and cedar. This was part of the ritual as well, send back the spirit of the christmas tree into the cosmos. It all sounds sort of funny but I think it was a good way of creating a sacred space.

At certain points I would throw on some pine boughs and the smoke would pour into the sky. The sun was brilliant and with the smoke plummeting out of the blaze I could peer at the sun and think that is what negative energy does to you, it blocks out the sunlight. Attention and intention allows you to see into that haze and clear out the smoke.
It was sort of like a fire puja but without too much ritualization.

A nice added element of the "ritual" was a pot of burning incense. My brother brought over some sage that burned for about an hour that added an amazing smell to the whole affair.
At the end of the fire, around noon, I felt very tired and sort of cleansed. It is certainly something I will do again.