Fire Making For The Ojibwa Calumet
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| Natural Oil Lamp |
Lighting The Solemn Calumet differs from Commercial Tobacco Use because Traditional Tobacco contains delicate, medicinal, botanical ingredients instead of the Synthetic Humectants added to Industrial Commercial Tobacco. Humectants added to Commercial Tobacco are Glycerol (Antifreeze) /Glycerin (Diesel) , Propylene, Triethylene, Diethylene Glycols (Antifreeze, E-Juice) and Sorbitol. These substances are generally derived from propylene and feedstocks such as shale-oil gas, propane and Naphtha (Lighter Fluid, Plastic)
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| E-Cigarette By TBEC |
The Solemn Ojibwa Calumet (Tobacco-Filled Bowl Chamber) is traditionally ignited with a Spill or a coal-ember carried from a Sacred Fire.
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| Milkweed Pods |
Pressurized Jet / Torch Lighters
Are not used because these will permanently damage the bowl and its boundary layer.
Fluid Lighters
Are not used because these contain hideous chemicals like Kerosine and Naphtha.
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| Spills |
Orientation
The Solemn Ojibwa Calumet, like it’s disposable counterpart; The Ojibwa Presentation Calumet, are deliberately oversized and must be attended to by more than one person. The Solemn Ojibwa Calumet’s Heel is oriented “Center” and operated “Racked” or “Footed” [grounded] the same as Eastern Siouan tradition[s] and the same as their antecedent forms of in-ground bowls and reeds.
LuntingThe Solemn Ojibwa Calumet is never danced (in / out), Lunted (walked, passed) nor waved (held up / twirled) as misrepresented by pluralistic persons, genocidal anthropologists, missionaries, and sub rosa (colonial) state intelligence agencies.
Tamping
Tamping The Chamber, with a pipe “Tamper” tool during use is for the sole purpose of recompressing Tobacco that may have expanded with heat. Tamping is not performed for ash control whereas ash can be half carbon and carbon is an excellent refractory material. Compressing ash makes relighting more difficult.
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| Asemaa Drying / Toasting Rack |
Loosening
Tabaco and ash that has become too compact in the chamber may be loosened with a pipe tool called a pipe “Pick”
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| Asemaa Processing |
Stoking
Is a quick series of puffs to keep the Tobacco lit.
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| Natural Oil Lamp |
Dottle
Unburned Tobacco and Ash are carefully collected in a Dottle Container (Silent Butler / Ash Butler) and treated with care until disposed of in a traditional manner.
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Silent Butler Used For Dottle |
Silent Butler
Or Ash Butler is a fireproof, hinged metal container with a handle, used primarily to collect and dispose of ashes.
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| Silent Butler Used For A Fire Box |
Tinder Box
Nowadays the term Tinder Box refers to the storage method for a complete Fire Making kit or Bundle.
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| Silent Butler Used For A Fire Box |
Fire Box
(Formally A Tinder Box) A fire resistant container that safely contains the Fine Tinder while it is being sparked and features a lid to limit the oxygen to extinguish the fire afterwards. The author uses a Chippewa Copper Silent Butler from Burwood Products Company as a Fire Box.
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| Silent Butler Used For Dottle |
Mortise and Tenon
The most fragile members between the Calumet’s Stem and Bowl (Socket); highly susceptible to damage during thermal expansion.
Spill
A Spill is a thin strip of wood or a Twig used to transfer fire. Spills may be flat or twisted. Laboratory Spills are called Splints instead. Spills are used as a traditional method for lighting pipes without contaminating the tobacco with lighter fluid or match chemicals. A Spill’s flame burns at a lower temperature than Matches, Lighters and embers. Spills have a standardized length range of 6 to 10 inches long with 9-1/2 inches being the most common length.
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| Spill Plane And Spills |
Spill Plane
A Spill Plane is a specialized woodworking tool used to create long, tightly curled wood shavings, called "Spills," Spill Plane categories are handheld and bench-mounted. Spill Planes feature a biased shave through a contoured escape hole that forces the wood shaving to roll into tapered spirals.
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| Spill Box In Use By The Ribbon Heart Society |
Spill Vase
Or Spill Holder is a container used to store "Spills".
Fire / Sacred Fire
A Sacred Fire or ishkode is started in the most traditional manner available with the most traditional materials available. Above all, The Fire is a rekindling of safety, a broader, basic human need. The Fire is also the safe, expectant setting for Prophetic Culture and transformation. Sacred Fire is most often described or defined by what it is not. A Sacred Fire is not used to incinerate waste or litter. A fire related to people whose actions are wicked is not a Sacred Fire. A Sacred Fire must be matched by righteous living. Moral behavior over empty rituals is The Creator's demand for substance. Ojibwa Prophecy is always related to safety, fire and opposition to evil.
Traditional Fire Steel
In historical context, a Fire Steel is a piece of high-carbon steel that has been hardened in a certain way to create sparks.
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| Fire Steel And Flint |
Mechanism
You strike the Fire Steel against a sharp edge of a very hard rock.
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| Fire Steel And Flint |
Process
The hard rock shaves off tiny, hot particles of the metal which then ignite as they oxidize in the air, creating sparks that are added to Fine Tinder.
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| Spill Box |
Historical Use
Fire Steel was the primary fire-starting method from ancient times until the invention of matches in the 1800s. If your Fire Steel is not producing satisfactory sparks, it may need to be (re)hardened. Heat your Fire Steel red/white hot and let it cool very slowly to relax it. Heat your Fire Steel again red/white hot and immediately quench in icy brine. Source the hardest rock possible for striking sparks.
Tinder Fungus
These are the types of mushrooms that are present year-round. Both the Fruiting Bodies and sprawling Mycelium of Shelf / Bracket Fungi are related to The Calumet’s use by The Ojibwa, whereas these Fungi were determined long ago, by The Ojibwa, to have the optimal Kindling Point for Fire Making. Only the woody stipe, stalk, cap (called The Context) [not the gills, pores, teeth, plates, tubes {reproductive surface} ] are used for Fine Tinder by The Ojibwa. Tinder Fungus’ capacity for Fire Making comes from the fungus having extracted the pure, lifetime, essence of wood as a Saprotrophic/Saprobic Fungi.
Tinder Fungi are considered essential elements for The Solemn Calumet use, whereas The Calumet’s Bowl must be lit from a Sacred Fire and The Sacred Fire must be lit from a Fungi Derived Tinder. Only a fire kindled in this manner is deemed a Sacred Fire. Traditionally, Sacred Fire kindling may be supplemented with Moss, Typha (Cattails), Milkweed and other botanicals. All The Fine Tinder and Fine Kindling used by The Ojibwa are in the categories of Chionophile, Dormants, Persistents and Perennial Flora.
Wajashkwedo (and Pikwadjish) are Ojibwa mushroom[s] according to Baraga 1878. Bi-bô-gî-thâ-min may be Ojibwa for Hoof Fungus and Tinder Polypore as well.
Zagataagan (Ojibwe People's Dictionary): Tinder / Punk Wood.
"Zagataagan" Birch Tree Fungus traditionally used as a keeper of fire embers is the title page for:
Zagataagan: A Northern Ojibwe Dictionary (Two Volume Set)
ISBN : 9781897579152 OCLC : (OCoLC)862035643
Tinder Fungi are often potentiated or improved by boiling these in potash / wood ash solution or urine to impart major reactive elements, oxidizing agents and textures. Boiled Fungi are also pounded or otherwise pulverized into Fine Tinder before use. Tinder Fungi can be supplemented with Cattails (Typha), Milkweed and Moss. Prepared tinder is kept or positioned in a Tinder Box and ignited with a spark from a Fire Steel in the tradition manner for a Sacred Fire.
Tinder Fungus (boiled or otherwise) are extremely resilient, high strength, compressible, stretchable,
flexible, thermal-resistant Chitin-Glucan Complexes that are extremely difficult to cut, shave, chop, flatten or grind. The author recommends dividing Tinder Fungus after boiling with hand held Pruning Shears during multiple subsequent sessions before final size reduction using an Immersion / Stick Blender in extra liquid. All liquids should be reduced and evaporated so that no material or additives are lost. Oven drying the wet slurry on a sheet-pan is recommended. The amount of labor contained within preprocessed Tinder Fungus is substantial.
Protocols And Offering Loops
When entering the wilderness to harvest Tobacco (because you have none), you cannot make a tobacco offering first; if you have none on hand. The act of gathering Sacred Tobacco presents a paradox: one must possess Tobacco to offer it before a harvest. Tangible, circular, Offering Loop(s) are often nonsensical, therefore the gatherer must rely on Sincere Worship (of The Creator) instead as a solution to the loop of causality. The Creator is not The Author Of Confusion and any attempt to Confuse You Into Submission is pure evil (remember this). Neither should serious Indians evolve with the arrogant, obnoxious, self-serving, extractive attitude that is the Colonial-State. Replacing tangible Offering-Loops with Sincere Worship is not a self-serving "Life-Hack" but a grace-based, faith-based, offering of new access to The Creator that is internal and divinely sufficient through The Creator's Spirit.
Smoke Cleansing is not as paradoxical as Offerings, whereas Smoke Cleansing is a highly Medicinal Fumigant for Living Organisms and their environment. A Smoke Offering, in addition to being a pleasing Spiritual Fragrance will usually double as a Smoke Cleansing. This is why there is no logical reason to smudge a Calumet and its Bowl more than once whereas The Calumet and it's Bowl share the same antecedent form as Smudge Bowls (in-ground bowls and reeds for fumigants). The Calumet is a Smudge Bowl and one does not rely on Smudging a Smudge Bowl with another Smudge Bowl because this would create an infinite regress and paradox. A pleasing aroma for The Creator 's nostrils is a metaphor for our full response to The Great Spirit which includes Sacrificial Love, Prayer and Personal Holiness.
Botanicals and Fungi are totally different Kingdoms. Because Fungi often grow on decaying matter, they are associated with transformation and properties that are superiorly compounded from botanical feedstock. The popular protocol for Fungi harvest is to agitate and disperse the Fungi reproductive structures as a practical way of improving the harvest setting.
It is best to add Sincere Worship to a space or situation as this is the best way to improve any setting.
Fire Making Safety
Portable Fire Extinguishers and Fire Blankets are crucial safety devices for controlling small fires. The Fire Extinguisher and Fire Blanket should be kept visible and accessible during Fire Making Demonstrations.
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| Cattails (Typha) |
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Boiled Tinder Fungus Is A Precious, Labor-Intensive
Core Cultural Material For The Ojibwa |
Smudge Permits
Small Fire Making should be outdoors and brought indoors in the form of embers or a Natural Oil Lamp. Small burning or smoking for Cultural Purposes and Ceremonies is legally different than regular burning and must be treated differently by colonial / foreign governments; it is recognized as a protected, Sacred Ceremony, requiring safety measures like using fire-resistant containers, proper ventilation, and supervision to prevent alarms. Smudging / Smoking is generally not prohibited by fire codes but may require special permission in public buildings, schools, or workplaces, often involving a notification process and possibly a permit. In Minnesota, for example, legislation allows Indigenous students to smudge in public schools with supervision. Policies typically require 48 hours' notice to manage smoke alarms and notify, but not necessarily ask permission from, building occupants. Smudging is voluntary, and individuals must have the option to leave or avoid the area. The Ojibwa Calumet use is absolutely tantamount to Smudging whereas both the Smudge Bowl and Pipe Bowl share the same antecedent form of in-ground bowls and reeds and as related to all legislation for Smudging (statutory reference MN 121A.08 US P.L. 95-341 / US 92 Stat. 469 / US 42 U.S.C. § 1996)
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| Old Ojibwa Photo |
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| Old Ojibwa Photo |
Addendum
Electric Arc Lighter / Igniter
(Also called [Artificial] Plasma Lighters) Are fuel-less, flameless, igniters
that are mostly unaffected by weather conditions, whereas only the batteries
may be affected by severe cold. A small arc between (Tungsten / Alloy) electrodes can be used to ignite
Natural Oil Lamp wicks, Spills or Fine Tinder without adding the Petroleum, Mercaptan, Nerve
Depressant, Coal-Tar, Potassium Chlorate, Sulfur, Antimony Trisulfide, Powdered
Glass, Glue, Ammonium Phosphate and Red Phosphorus contaminants that are inherent
of other ignition source devices.
The size of the arc is practically limited,
self-constricting to being very small, and can still damage vision if watched for too long. Electrodes need to be swabbed, brushed and dressed with a polar protic solvent as maintenance.
Natural Plasmas /
Electric Arcs are Stars, Lightning, Aurorae,
Solar Wind and Fire.
Cold Electric Ignition is known as
The Piezoelectric Effect and
can be used for Fire Making by striking (deforming) Crystals or with some
Crystals exhibiting
Piezoelectricity spontaneously without mechanical load
applied.
Arc Lighters emit an audible high frequency noise as well as multiple other frequencies of radiation and electromagnetic interference (EMI, UV, IR).
