Fire rites have been done throughout many cultures for many centuries. They are a ritual specific to an indigenous lineage of practice and can be done for various purposes, such as sacred holidays and festivals, rites of passage, funeral rites, wealth, health, and honoring ancestors. For our Esoteric Buddhist Lineage fire rites are often done at the completion of a retreat, an important level of accomplishment and enlightened activity.

Throughout the rite, fire and water are used as a medium to the divine that carefully connects and opens us to the multi-dimensional realms of existence including the realm of spirit. In this way, we can honor and benefit all human and other-than-human beings, such as spirits, animals, and elementals. A powerful ritual, pujas burn away obstacles, the offering of the sacred substances and the smoke (sang) generate great blessings, healing, transformation and prosperity.

Fire rites take many weeks or months of preparation and dedicated work. Each Puja has a specific text and meaning as well as very specific substances that must be specially prepared. This also involves saying many mantras over the substances for many days, weeks or months. Each text must be very specifically followed, including sacred geometrical measurements of the fire hearth and offerings. Even the clothing we wear signifies what type of rite we are performing; white for pacifying, yellow-gold for enriching, red for magnetizing.