These days, for casual information on a subject, Wikipedia is often a first step. Imagine my surprise when I found that Wikipedia does not give the term "burning bowl" alone or paired with "ceremony" or "ritual" a separate entry. Wikipedia did allow me the option to have the page created, but I did not pursue it.
The second step, a Google search, did, however, provide an abundance of images, videos, and webpages to give a fair indication of how widespread and diverse the practice of burning away <something negative> might be. I sampled only a few of the search results.
One of the more interesting results was a link to the song "Burning Bowl," sung by She Keeps Bees. It seems that Burning Bowls are fairly common in Unity and some independent Christian churches as well as some Eastern-based healing traditions. There may be other practitioners that I skipped over in my haste. The Burning Bowl might also be practiced by individuals in a personal ceremony. It is common to practice the ceremony at the end or the beginning of the year, but some practice it during a full moon and others at any important life or personal transition (burning away the old to make room for the new). All one needs to make the ceremony happen are:
- a personal need to let go of something negative;
- a bowl or some fire-resistant surface;
- a source of fire;
- paper (flash paper optional);
- writing implement;
- community (optional);
- transitional occasion (end/beginning of time period, life phase, etc.).
I used a number of keyword searches and combinations to try to find out more about this practice. There are some who think it originated in Hindu traditions, but I could find no quick resource on the web to confirm this.
A few days ago, I talked about the ESOA Burning Bowl ceremony and what it meant to me with a friend, who happens to be an active Methodist. She told me that her church has a similar practice around Easter when church members can write down a problem or concern, pin it to a cross provided on the altar, and so have that problem or concern taken away, presumably by the Christ. I am familiar with the belief that one can pray and have one's burdens taken away, but I had not previously heard of this sort of paper/cross activity before.
Are there other (or similar) practices being used in (other) sacred and secular contexts that include this process of writing down a <negative idea/feeling/problem>, then destroying or otherwise "letting go" of the written problem so that the individual can, through the physical act, symbolize the desired emotional/physical/social release/relief? An old idea with new forms? An Eastern idea that has moved to the West? When? How? And how widespread has it become?
Just curious.
A few days ago, I talked about the ESOA Burning Bowl ceremony and what it meant to me with a friend, who happens to be an active Methodist. She told me that her church has a similar practice around Easter when church members can write down a problem or concern, pin it to a cross provided on the altar, and so have that problem or concern taken away, presumably by the Christ. I am familiar with the belief that one can pray and have one's burdens taken away, but I had not previously heard of this sort of paper/cross activity before.
Are there other (or similar) practices being used in (other) sacred and secular contexts that include this process of writing down a <negative idea/feeling/problem>, then destroying or otherwise "letting go" of the written problem so that the individual can, through the physical act, symbolize the desired emotional/physical/social release/relief? An old idea with new forms? An Eastern idea that has moved to the West? When? How? And how widespread has it become?
Just curious.
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