This morning, I looked up to skies darkened by smoke and fire and found myself praying for rain.
And then I heard The Wind’s gentle correction:
“Amanda, some need to let the fire burn,
and some need to let the rain fall…”
“Some need to let the fire burn…”
The Fire’s Return
Fire fell from the sky to the earth,
and everyone bowed to the great mystery upon them.
Fire smiled up at them, eyes bright and glowing with The Original Flame,
and everyone stoked it steadily with whispers of love.
Fire danced happily,
and everyone snuggled in around its warmth.
Fire sparked, crackled, and sizzled, asking for more fuel,
and everyone fearfully removed everything precious from its reach.
Fire popped and blazed, burning as it begged for acknowledgment,
and everyone doused it with buckets of water, making it follow a cooler suit.
Glowing embers, fighting hopelessly against waters of disappointment,
buried in the earth and forgotten…but not extinguished.
The soft glow from beneath the soil attracted those needing warmth;
but Fire, thought to be too dangerous, had lost its one and only defense.
Tumbled and trodden beneath the calloused feet of the unconscious,
Fire wondered if it would survive…if it would ever burn again.
And then…
Weighted feet pushing down, compacting the soil around them,
the embers combusted into a spark of defiance: “You have no power here.”
The Wind, seizing the moment, whipped across the face of the earth,
re-igniting the un-extinguishable Original Flame from within.
Burning, growing, glowing.
Nurtured and stoked by generous angels passing by.
Even in the darkest night, Fire can still hear The Wind whisper,
“You are Fire, an expression of The Original Flame.
You are here to burn, to give light, to refine,
to make everything you touch glow with Grace and Love.
Glow, Baby, Glow.”
“Glow, Baby, Glow…”
Easier said than done, especially for those of us seers, truth-tellers, and igniters who tend to activate those around us without even trying. You know you’re one of us if you often find yourself asking, “What did I say/do wrong this time?“
How can we hold our fire mindfully—to use it give light, to refine, and to make everything glow with Grace and Love—when we have been taught that it is dangerous, destructive, and disappointing?
For those of us who have tried to re-ignite the Fire, we know the first few explosions are not pretty (and that might just be the understatement of the century for some of us). But that’s not because it’s Fire—it’s because it’s Fire fueled by anger and pain (of either not belonging and/or not being true to who we are), and Fire uncontained.
When my fire re-ignited, I was terrified. Fortunately, I had the help I needed to: 1) build a Control Line around a safe space where I could let the fire burn without destroying everything, surrounded by comrades who were willing to hold the line with me and who had the gear to not get burned while I learned to wield this power; 2) to trust the Goodness inside of me—the Goodness that wants to ignite, not burn; and 3) to let the Fire’s Grace touch me first. I did not do this perfectly—not even close. In fact, I burned some bridges with people that will probably never be rebuilt. And I had to forgive myself to keep going, and remind myself that in the same way I never got mad at my kid for falling down and breaking stuff while he was learning to walk, it didn’t serve me to shame or harm myself when I fell while learning this lesson.
We are definitely not going to do this perfectly,
but we have to do it.
Our world needs us seers, truth-tellers, and igniters
to speak up and stand up…
To carry torches to guide others through the darkness
WITHOUT starting more unnecessary wildfires…
AND…
“Some need to let the rain fall…”
The minute I heard The Wind say this, I saw the face of a dear client and friend and immediately knew what It meant:
It is time to feel the losses and let the tears fall.
Friends, we are in a grief cycle…
The world is changing.
The systems we have grown up with are disintegrating.
The beliefs and paradigms we have relied upon are dissolving.
In every arena—culture, education, economics, politics, religion, science, sexuality, relationships, spirituality—ideas, insights, and initiations have broken new ground…
…and the cracks of the groundbreaking have given way to old structures falling.
If we look at this from The Big Story perspective—remembering plot twists and turns of cultures past—we can see how these changes were inevitable.
And we can see how fragile a moment in history this is…
The decisions we make today…
individually and collectively
…set the course for the new paradigms.
But before we make those decisions…
How about we take a deep breath into our Humanity?
Yes, we are excited (and/or terrified) by the changes…
Yes, we know that the time to act is now…
Yes, we are ready to take the lessons of the past and create a better future…
But our humanity is feeling some heavy losses…
Some of us have barely survived the Fires of Change…
Some of us have lost family and friends in the Waters…
Some of us have had the Earth shake our physical well-being beneath our feet…
Some of us have watched The Wind uproot everything we knew to be true.
It’s hard to let go of the old, even when you know it’s giving way for the new.
Yes, the Divine in us knows that
these are just attachments…
But the Human in us has to grieve to stay healthy…
Let’s let the rain fall…
It doesn’t take much to soothe
singed and broken hearts…
It doesn’t take much to soften
and remold broken soil…
It doesn’t take much to nourish
the seeds of change…