17 Things I Learned From Burning My Wishes for 17 Days
At the beginning of the month, I joined a group of beautiful women from my Facebook tribe to undergo a burning ritual. The details were carefully drawn up by a woman whose work I love, and I fell in love with the magic and the beauty of her words and of the idea. I felt drawn to this from the start.
The idea was to write out all your dreams & desires & wishes on scrolls of paper, and then to burn and release them into the ether as part of the ritual. I set my timer for 17 minutes as prescribed and at the end, I’d come up with 56 wishes. 56 dreams. 56 goals. 56 desires. 56 pieces of paper to release into the wind.
I knew that it would be amazing, but I had no idea what I was in store for.
Everything happens in its own time.
I didn’t burn something every single night. I trusted the timing, my feelings, my energy levels. I listened to myself and burned when I was ready to release new dreams into the world.
Intentions burn at different “frequencies.”
Some of my dreams were light-hearted and some were much heavier. I personally believe that the ones that might be a struggle for me took longer to burn. Like the fire had to really work in there. It was fascinating to watch.
Sometimes when paper burns, it looks unfurls like a flower bursting into bloom.
One of my wishes was specifically on behalf of friends I’ve had for more than half my life. When I set it on fire, it slowly curled in on itself and then burst outward into bloom. It was incredible to see.
Giving voice to your desires opens the floodgates to more desires.
Once I started to burn some wishes, more wishes came my way. I didn’t add them to the scrolls, but I have noticed that once I started saying I wanted things…I felt safe to want more things.
Giving voice to your desires changes the energy you carry.
Almost immediately after I started burning these wishes, the air seemed to change around me. More things have happened for me since April began than since the start of the year.
There are no “rules.”
The woman who created this ritual emphasized that. Do what feels good. Do what feels right. There’s no wrong way to do this. What a beautiful way to release anxiety.
Sometimes things you want will manifest quickly.
Some of the things I wish for have already happened, or are already in the works. How amazing is it to think that you could say, “Hey, I want this?” and then the Universe is just like, “Sold!”
Sometimes you are really asking for the ability to make things happen, instead of the things themselves.
A lot of these desires you’re afraid to give voice to are being kept hidden because you don’t feel like you could bring them to life. You totes can. Your dreams are given to you because you have the ability to become the person who manifests them.
There’s room for wishes and dreams for everyone.
I feel pretty good about how I used my wishes — I asked for a lot of things for me (ecstasy, deep passionate love, to be on Late Night with Colbert). But I also asked for things for people I love (success in their endeavors, love in their lives, an annual trip with my two oldest friends), and for humanity at large (smash the patriarchy, the ability to pay off strangers’ layaway bills during the holidays, world peace).
Don’t second guess the things you want.
Some of the dreams felt a little silly when I read them back. But I set them on fire and watched them begin to work through the ether just the same. Because, again, your desires are holy and they come to you for a reason.
Be inspired by the space between where you are and where you want to be.
Like I said above, don’t hide the things you want because you’re afraid you can’t do them. You absolutely can. Instead of being beaten down and anxiety-ridden over what you can’t do now, choose to be inspired by the path ahead of you.
Make dreams big enough that you can grow into them.
See above. Growing into new dreams keeps you young at heart, so every time you grow into one, set a new, bigger one!
When you do cool things, more cool things happen.
While I was out burning these wishes, all sorts of cool things happened. My cats watched me through the screen door. Birds landed in my yard. Stars suddenly came out when I spoke a certain wish.
Pay attention.
If I hadn’t been paying attention, I wouldn’t have known any of that.
Don’t delay gratification.
When you feel like setting some shit on fire, get to it (safely). It’s pretty magnificent to watch fire claim paper, by the way. Hypnotizing.
You’ll never be ready. Just start.
I rushed into this ritual, scribbling out my wishes quickly before I left work so that I could go home and start the ritual that night with everybody else. I tossed them into tupperware. I knew that I needed to be a part of this, and I did what it took to be a part of this.
Make your own magic.
Ultimately, I know that these dreams are not going to come to fruition just because I burned some paper. But do I believe that burning the paper was the physical manifestation of igniting the desire and passion I’ll need to see these dreams through to completion? Absolutely. Like I said on Facebook, these scrolls were like little spark plugs and their combustion is mirrored by my own.
It was an honor and a privilege to take part in this ritual, and I’m genuinely excited about what’s to come — especially after all the things that have already started buzzing in the atmosphere!