The hearth is the centre of the home, even if it is just a warm place in the kitchen, heated by a modern stove. Every modern stove has a pilot light, an ever-burning flame that can be blessed. Of course, if you are lucky enough to have a fireplace, or a modern wood-fired cooker or antique woodstove, you have a source of open flame that will be lighted on a regular basis. Lighting the hearth is a matter of calling on Mother Holda. I trace the fire-rune Ken in the ashes, and then light the fire, saying:

Holda, hold this hearth in your hand,

Make joyous all the hearts on this land,

Make warm the hopes that feel this fire,

Grant this home all it may require.