Wuwuchim: the medicine of the new fire on Second Mesa

Lorraine
Dec 3
3 min read

In the darkness of early morning, just before the Wuwuchim ceremony begins, Second Mesa holds its breath. The village rests without light, wrapped in a sacred stillness that precedes the birth of the first flame. — **The Silence Before the Fire on the Mesa**

Close your eyes for a moment. Imagine yourself on Second Mesa, in Arizona, at the heart of Hopi land.The desert wind brushes your face. Around you, silence settles—deep and sacred. The roads leading to the pueblo are closed. In every house, the fires have gone out. Darkness envelops the mesa, as if the whole world were holding its breath.

Then, in the first light of dawn, you feel a shift. Two Spiritual Leaders emerge from the Kiva. Through friction—an ancestral gesture repeated for generations—they bring forth the sacred fire. The first flame crackles, carrying the power of the sun, channelled through Masau’u.The Wuwuchim ceremony begins. The Hopi ceremonial new year opens.

Understanding the medicine of the new fire

Second Mesa remains today the last place where a society of men still holds the knowledge to conduct this sacred ritual. For an entire week, they remain inside the Kiva, carrying the songs, the prayers, the vibration that realigns the community with the forces of the Creator and the spirit of Masau’u.Each song is a seed.Each gesture is a living memory.Each prayer links the old cycle to the new.

Honoring Wuwuchim from afar

This year, for the first time in a long while, I approach Wuwuchim with a new emotion. I used to follow this ceremony online, guided by Grandmother Medicine Song. This Sunday, for the first time, we will gather online without her physical presence.

Participating in the New Fire ceremony without the one who guided us for so many years opens a new space—delicate, almost fragile. It is an invitation to learn how to keep the fire lit without her, to feel its warmth differently, to recognize within our own heart the ember she left as a legacy.For even if her voice no longer resonates through the screen, her teaching continues to burn within us—quiet, alive.

In the tenderness of a sacred space, a woman stands before herself, ready to cross the threshold of a new cycle. Before her are a new white candle, two sheets of paper, a heat-resistant bowl and sage — the simple, essential tools of an inner passage. At fifty, with her wavy blond hair, she embodies the maturity of a fire that never goes out: a fire that illuminates, purifies, and opens the way toward a deep beginning again. In the quiet, her gestures become prayer, offering, and rebirth. — **The ritual of new beginning**

Create your own fire ritual of release

Although the ceremony takes place in the intimacy of the pueblo, its breath can be felt far beyond the mesas.We can each, in our own way, honor this passage into renewed light.

What you need• A new white candle• Two sheets of paper and a pen• A heatproof bowl• Sage or Palo Santo

The 5-step ritual

Purify your space
Burn the sage or Palo Santo. Let the smoke open a sacred space around you.
Write what you are ready to release
On the first sheet, lay down what you are letting go of: fears, patterns, wounds, attachments.
Write your intentions
On the second sheet, note what you wish to see sprout in this new cycle.
Light your sacred fire
Light the candle while thinking of the flame born on Second Mesa. Let it rekindle your own inner light.
Offer to the fire what must depart
Gently burn the first sheet. Keep the second one in a place that holds meaning for you.

Joining the energy of renewal

This weekend, while the Spiritual Leaders sing in the Kiva, you too can connect to this wave of rebirth.Light your candle. Listen. Let what comes, come. Open yourself.

To go further

If you wish to explore the depth of this ceremony and prepare for it spiritually, you may read:

• Wuwuchim: celebrating a new beginning

• Preparing for the Wuwuchim ceremony

And to deepen your inner journey, I invite you to discover my workshops at the Yoga With You studio in Le Bouscat, to book a drum healing session, or to join our community where we share teachings and practices with respect and kindness.

At the threshold of the new cycle

Wuwuchim reminds us that even in silence, the fire is reborn.That even in absence, a new light can appear.This is the time of realignment, of shedding, of opening to a new cycle—one that begins at the very center of our being.

“Renew your fire, and the Creator will renew your path.”