Fire Circle Rules & Etiquette

Prose Version

• Don't try to jump the fire. Really. Trust us on this.
• No glass or aluminum containers and no smoking within the ring of torches. They're ok at the small fire, but not on the sand within the ring of torches.
• Don't let trash hit the ground and don't throw it in the fire—use the trash cans for trash, the sand cans for cigarette butts, and the recycle bins for recyclables.
• Be aware of, and respectful of, the people sharing the fire with you. This includes things like not standing so close to the fire as to crowd the dancers and not standing right in front of the drummers.
• Do not step into the pit itself unless you are fire circle staff, and don't mess with the fire at all unless invited by the designated fire tender.
• Offerings to the fire—libations, small objects for sacrifice that burn clean—are welcome. Some items that burn clean: flash paper, cotton bags filled with herbs, wooden carvings, and paper cranes. Some that don't: rubber balls, glass bottles, lawn chairs, cigarette butts, aluminum cans, and shoes. Tobacco is sacred to some, but chemically harmful to others. Check with the fire keeper before you go to throw anything into the fire.

The Magick of Large Fire Circles
(The Poetic Version)

Fire. Drumming. Dancing. All are older than history, older than modern Homo sapiens. Putting them together is probably one of our oldest magickal activities. You may have held fire circles in your own coven, circle, or grove. However, the large circles held at gatherings—bringing together scores, even hundreds, of people of many different paths and traditions—require a bit of extra thought and consideration for everything to go smoothly. Please consider the following guidelines for participating in large fire circles.

The Fire Circle Triangle

Physically, fire requires a triangle of elements—oxygen, fuel, and heat—to burn. Fire circles also rely on three elements: fire tenders, drummers, and dancers.

Fire tenders start the fire and keep it fed, and are responsible for fire safety. They often have to maneuver through the circle carrying heavy bits of wood. Give them the right of way and much love, for without them the circle is cold.

Drummers (and chanters, and other makers of joyful noise) take the heat and light of the fire and turn it into sound that reaches our hearts. Do not block them from the fire's warmth; give them space and much love, for without them the circle is silent.

Dancers take the energy of the fire and the drums and transmute it into motion that moves our spirits. Do not crowd them into the fire, or block their path around it. Give them space in which to move and much love, for without them the circle is still.

Fire and flesh don't mix: You may have done rituals that involved leaping over fire. This fire is not sized for such leaping. Don't do it. Keep a safe distance from the fire at all times. Keep your spirit in the fire, but your flesh out of it.

Respect the space, and those people sharing it with you: Please do not throw things into the fire. (Small offerings to the fire, however—a sprinkle of herbs, a small paper with a prayer written on it, and so on—are generally ok.)

It shouldn't have to be said, but it does: don't leave your trash in or around the fire. If you carry it down to the fire, either carry it back with you or put it in a trash/recycle bin. Please don't bring aluminum or glass containers onto the sand at all. Your Mother thanks you. Your fellow Pagani thank you. The staff thanks you.

Respect other people's way of respecting the space. Gatherings are a time of diversity; you might do things differently in fire circles held by your group, but festival circles belong to no one tradition. You may dance. You may drum. You may chant. You may do whatever magick you are moved to do. You may watch. You may socialize. You may party. For all acts of love and pleasure are Her rituals; and Gatherings are a time of unity and sharing. Therefore let us come together around the fire in love and trust and celebration. Blessed Be!

Tom Swiss came up with this lovely poetic version for FSG 2002 or so. Thanks, Tom.