***Taken from "Earth Power" by Scott Cunningham
Fire has always sparked religious awe. Its ever-shifting form, varieties of colors, heat and light, plaus the actual physical changes it produces are the stuff magick is made of.
Before the knowledge of fire-making, it must have been a dark world indeed. With the use of friction and flints, humanity captured this divine essence and it changed the world forever.
While so-called 'fire-worship' is generally nothing more than a jpolite euphemism for the mystical reverence of sex, there have been several religions that worshipped fire as a symbol of divinity.
Who hasn't heard of the eternal flames which the vestal virgins fo Rome tended on their altars? Even today Jewish synagogues keep an eternal flame, and some tombs, like John F. Kennedy's, are similarly equipped.
Though the religious significance of fire has been forgotten by most of us today, it is still in evidence upon the altars of many of the worlds leading religions. What Catholic altar would be complete without flaming candles? A candle's shining flame - or a roaring bonfire on a lonely mountain peak - are both objects of power which can be utilized in magick.
The fact that fire is a powerful element caused the ancients to worship it. The placement of burning candles on the altar during Mass isn't accidental - those candles release their own energies to the proceedings, as does the smoking frankincense in the brightly shining censers and the prayers of the devout.
Candle magick is once again becoming enormously popular, perhaps because it is simple and effective. Though this may be only form of fire magick readily available, it is far from the only one known today.
Fire magick can be performed wherever a fire can be safely lit. An indoor or outdoor fireplace, a barbecue, a cleared section of ground, or a specially dug pit lined with bricks or rocks - anything will work, as long as the fire can be safely lit in an area in which you have privacy to perform your magick.
For some spells you will need no more than a few pieces of kindling. For others whole blazes or series of fires will be required. Any sort of fuel is fine, as long at it is clean, dry, and not to sappy.
Owing to its firery nature, this sort of magick is best performed in the desert, but anywhere will suffice.