Homam
Fire ritual is found in many ancient religions, including Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and ancient Greco-Roman religions. Unlike the elements of earth, water and air, fire is ever pure and it purifies whatever it comes in contact with. The Sanskrit name for fire is paavaka, i.e. purifier. Fire is a living god that everyone has access to. Spending time worshipping god through fire purifies one's subtle consciousness. External fire resonates with internal fire, which burns unneeded conditioning of the mind accumulated through many lives and has a purifying influence on our consciousness.
Vedic seers (rishis) performed homam regularly, for the benefit of the world.
When composing the Jyotish masterpiece "Brihat Paaraasara Horaa Saastram" just before the advent of Kali yuga, Maharshi Parasara recommended various types of homam as remedial measures for various problems in the horoscope.
Detailed manuals giving short procedures for doing various types of homam by oneself are available now. You can use the resources on this website to perform several kinds of short homam by yourself. Homam or havan is a Hindu fire ritual.
Manuals of more types of homam for different deities will be added to this website in the coming few months and years, with Her blessings.
Mahaganapathi Homam Manual, MP3 Audio and Video
Vishnu Homam Manual (using Vishnu sahasra naama stotram)
If you have any questions or comments or feedback related to homam and other spiritual matters, you may consider joining the vedic-wisdom yahoogroup. Some of my writings on spiritual matters from this yahoogroup can be sampled here. My writings on spiritual matters from this yahoogroup were organized in a book form by my Jyotish students at Boston for 2010 Guru Pournima. You can download the book here.
A white paper on the importance of homam as a spiritual practice was presented by me at World Association of Vedic Studies (WAVES) 2010 conference at Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in August 2010.