There is in every true woman’s heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity. – Washington Irving
It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.– Frederick Douglass
At some point in our lives we are thrown into the fire of transformation. The fire will purify and cleanse our unhealthy patterns, our small and unloving thoughts, our wounds, our pain, anything that needs healing. The fire, while initially painful, is the miracle of changed perception, forgiveness and release. Jump into the fire and allow yourself to be transformed.
Of course the fire I’m speaking of is metaphorical, but if you want real and true change on a core level then everything you’ve known thus far that isn’t working for you has to be allowed to burn away. It will make you lighter and clearer, it will open the space for the true you to emerge. The you that is untouched by any suffering, who has something unique to express in the world can finally come through.
Let’s look more closely at the attributes and properties of fire in this metaphor. Fire is heat and light, and it is also both creative and destructive. Fire can take dense matter and break its atoms apart into simpler elements, usually gases that create the flames rising up out of the fire to higher levels. Now think of that dense matter as your heavy thoughts and emotions, resentments, and everything you hold on to for dear life that is really only robbing you of your life. When given to the fire, it can be purified and purged.
So what is the fire and how does it start? Well, it is usually started by friction causing a spark which produces the fire. That friction in your life can be the conflicts, the pain, the hurt, the betrayals, the loss ,etc. This creates the spark that lights the fire of your transformation. If that fire is used wisely, it can bring death to the old and cause new life to rise from within you. The fire of our pain can consume us but it always produces change. It forces us to act, to respond, and to bring focus to those areas of ourselves that we have denied or neglected. It causes all that needs to be healed and released to come forward for that purpose. So, it is wise to let the fire have its way with us. To let all that needs healing and release to come forward into our awareness and stay with it long enough for it to burn off.
Back to actual fire. Fire doesn’t permanently destroy or annihilate anything, but rather transforms it. It stirs up molecules until they reach a point of agitation great enough for the atoms within a molecule to be released from one another. The definition of transform is to make a thorough or dramatic change in the form, appearance, or character of. This is what is happening as that dense matter is now freer, allowing the fire’s destruction to bring forth something better and something higher. Just like the forest fire that clears away the underbrush and encourages dormant seeds within the earth to burst out into new life. It can be the same in our lives, it can loosen the force of our dormant love if we let it. The old and outmoded become the ashes and the new life rises up as flames of light. The form, appearance and character are changed.
What is the old that needs to be tossed into the fire? It is our way of life based in fear and it is usually old stuff. Old anger, resentments, hurts that are lodged in us and have hardened into blocks that limit us from rising up into the truth of who we are. They keep us from expressing our true gifts and purpose in the world. When our status quo world or our less than fulfilling life gets stirred up and agitated by some life change or event, it is our opportunity to be thrown into the fire. It takes the right amount of heat to melt certain structures or beliefs we thought were impossible to melt or change in form. That’s why sometimes it can feel like devastation in our lives or like one painful thing after another is coming our way.
That fire we get thrown into is by design. It is the fire of transformation that burns and releases the lower vibratory patterns, and then releases the higher from deep within us. The lower vibratory or energetic patterns are too dense to allow our love and light to shine through. When something passes through fire, it is then clean and so it is with us. We are made clean and new, and as we release higher vibratory flames of love, compassion, kindness, and purpose we can say we are on fire!
P.S. While here I’m speaking about fire as a metaphor, there are rituals of release that use fire to cleanse what you would like to let go of in order to allow in the new. It is a great process to try yourself as rituals can be very powerful. It can be as simple as writing down old and long held beliefs about yourself on strips of paper and burning each one as you claim you are releasing it and replacing it with a more powerful belief.
