I have noticed over many years of working with the elements that each person has the predominance of one element. Mine is fire. This is why last weekend I let myself be carried away by the poetry of my love of fire and forgot certain important details.
Fire is the great transformer. Its reflection of primordial wisdom, powerfully represented by the sun, allows the burning away of all that is no longer necessary and that obscures the light of truth. This is why it is used to transmute what constrains, limits, and prevents the just expression of our infinite potential. On the physical level it is fever that destroys infections, harmful viruses and bacteria, as well as sweating that purifies the body of its impurities.
On the emotional level, fire is used to transmute the negative into positive. Trials and sufferings, when freely accepted and understood, transform karma into opportunities for spiritual growth. Understanding others, cultivating compassion and care, very often arise from the most difficult experiences in life. One example described in several volumes, the wounded healer, recounts how in indigenous cultures the birth of a shaman is often preceded by an experience of severe illness or temporary death (near-death experience).
A simpler and safer technique consists of giving to the fire the difficult emotions we no longer need. Many shamanic rituals use fire for this purpose. For those of you who do not have easy access to these rituals, it is possible to create this in your own home.
Each element has its universal symbol: Earth the square or cube, Water the crescent moon or icosahedron, Wind the spiral, the swastika and the octahedron, and Sacred Sound – infinite space the circle or dodecahedron. The universal symbol of Fire is the triangle, the tetrahedron. Thus, one takes three candles placed on a flat surface such as a plate. In lighting them one sings or prays to invoke the presence of fire. One then offers to the fire what harms our joy, our love, our peace — whether simply through thought, through words or through gestures.
On the mental level, the observation of fire in one-pointed and sustained concentration, over long periods, brings about a healing purification. I have spent entire nights, on vision quests over several days, observing the fire without any distraction. I had no need of sleep unless I allowed myself to be distracted. As long as I was concentrated on the fire or reading the embers I had a free and supple energy. In the end this increased within me joy, understanding, light and an illuminated vision of the world. One can accomplish this more simply at home by observing a single flame for periods ranging from 20 minutes to an hour. It is important neither to chase away thoughts nor to accept them. One must let them dissolve in the light of the flame without any attachment, without adding anything, without following the endless wheel of thoughts that chain themselves one to the next. If we have a moment without any thought, it is as if the mental body were purified by a powerful cascade of pure water. This is how fire can accompany the transmutation and transformation of obstacles on our journey toward the complete freedom of pure and total consciousness.
On the spiritual level, fire is a gateway to other dimensions. We can offer our prayers to it and it will carry them toward the divine. This aspect is well described in last week’s article.
Have a good weekend!
Joy, Light, Love and Peace
🦅
P.S.- To go deeper. This kit contains the Sacred Essences of the elements and a booklet to better understand and use them.
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