• IninewCrow@lemmy.caEnglish
    6·
    10 days ago

    “Pareidolia - is the tendency for perception to impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous stimulus, usually visual, so that one detects an object, pattern, or meaning where there is none.”
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia

    Neat photo and as an Indigenous Canadian, I have my own stories and I have known many other people who have had many visions of things in a fire.

    We have a traditional during ceremonial events like Pow Wows where a fire is kept burning during the entire time of the event. The fire is kept burning day and night and it is usually maintained by a group of ‘fire keepers’ and many of them tend to the fire all night long without sleep because they do not want the fire to burn out. And depending on the event, whether a ceremonial gathering or a PowWow, the event may last a single day or multiple days or even a week or two.

    It’s during those long nights of staring into the flames and coals that fire keepers get to have visions or signs of things, people, animals or ideas that come to them. The combination of staring into an ever changing light in the dark mixed with extreme fatigue and sleeplessness and insomnia really play on a person’s mind and perception. Scientifically speaking, it is documented that if you stay awake without sleep longer than 48 hours, you might as well be drunk and intoxicated.

    The visions and insights that fire keepers have during their work is always different. Sometimes it is good, sometimes helpful, but it can also become frightful or even disturbing. But our Elders are always there to help with interpretations and meanings.

    And it also isn’t just reserved for Firekeepers … stuff like this happens when you are just out camping. You work all day, you struggle, you eat, you drink, you get hurt, and by the end of the day you are exhausted but you still have to stay up for a while to eat and drink and prepare for sleep … so you end up staring at the flames while dazed and confused … those are the moments when you start seeing shapes, objects and even people and faces in the fire.

    Keep an open mind and open heart … don’t give into your worries and fears … and you will find more thoughtful and insightful visions in the flames.