The Oracle of Smoke : Reading What the Flame Reveals - yoga and fumage

In this workshop, you will bring a question and the smoke will bring the answer.

Fumage is a surrealist technique in which you hold paper over a candle flame, letting smoke leave organic, unpredictable traces of soot on the surface. In this workshop, we use it as a living oracle practice—revelation not through someone else's symbols, but through marks the smoke makes for you, in response to your question, in this moment.

Like all true oracles, fumage works through symbol and metaphor—the language of the unconscious that bypasses logic to deliver what you actually need to see. The smoke doesn't speak once and fall silent. It keeps revealing as you learn to look.

We begin with gentle, intuitive movement designed to quiet the thinking mind and bring us into a receptive, imaginative place. Movement surfaces real questions—not the ones your head asks, but the ones your body has been carrying. From that open, liminal space, you bring your question to the flame.

 In this 2-hour workshop you'll:

• Use movement to arrive fully and open to genuine questioning
• Bring a real question—something you're sitting with or ready to look at differently
• Create a personal oracle image through fumage, guided by your question and the smoke's response
• Learn to "read" what has emerged—receiving the image as message
• Leave with your oracle piece and a practice you can return to

 No artistic experience needed. Fumage works best when you release the need to control the outcome. The smoke responds to presence and intention, not skill.

All levels are welcome. Materials provided.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher Santa Monica Yoga