Wishing Pot Ceremony

A wishing pot ceremony is an indoor version of wishes thrown into a campfire. We use our troop's Dutch oven for the wishing pot, but any container that is fireproof and plenty big enough to hold all the wishes would be okay. Do be careful to set it on a heat-proof surface. :)

Everyone is given a small piece of paper and a pencil, and asked to write down her wish. This can be a wish for someone who is leaving, a wish for her own future, a wish for the troop. Wishes are private. No one knows the wish except the person who writes it. When a girl is through writing, she folds her paper to seal in the wish.

The wishes are collected and placed in the pot, or each girl comes to the pot and throws in her wish. After the wishes are collected, everyone is told that she must concentrate on her wish, in absolute silence, from the time the fire is lit until it goes out. Then the fire is lit. (It is effective, but not necessary, to turn out the lights at this point.)

After the fire goes out, the leader can say something appropriate such as "Believing in our wishes makes them come true" or "A wish is a prayer. The smoke carries our prayers to God." Then everyone gathers round the pot for a final circle and friendship squeeze.

This was a very special send-off for our troop member who is moving. Almost everyone cried. We have also done this very effectively in the past at a slumber party in January to begin the new year. It could probably be done equally well in the fall when school starts again, or in the spring when girls who won't be meeting over the summer will be separating for three months.

Variations are to throw wishes into a campfire (when leader secretly adds a handful of coffee creamer to make a "poof" or sugar to create colored flames) or to make wish boats (candle on a small piece of wood) to float out to sea or across a lake. With the wish boats, girls watch them silently until the last flame goes out. Wish boats, which were a tradition at one summer camp where I worked as a counselor in the 1960's, are now discouraged because of environmental concerns.

For Thinking Day two years ago, we did a different version. Instead of using a pot, we gave everyone a votive candle in a baby food jar. (At the Dollar Tree store here, we can buy a box of ten "tea light" candles for a dollar.) We then sat on the floor in a circle, turned out all the lights, and passed a lighter from person to person. Each person said, "My wish for Girl Scouts and Girl Guides everywhere is . . ." and lit her candle. When all the candles were burning, we asked the girls to concentrate on their wishes in silence for a few minutes and then blow out the candles. After blowing out the candles, we stood up and did our final circle and friendship squeeze.

Hope this helps.

Jane Schuler

Cadette Troop 5

Knoxville, TN

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