The power of the fire
As the sun travels towards the highest point in the sky in time with the summer Solstice, we are reminded of the power of the fire and how it is considered to be the oldest of all the elements.
Maybe this is why, for millennia, tribes people and even in our contemporary society today, feel drawn to and still gather around the fire for conversation and connection. When humans are in circle around this burning, bright and luminous force, there is an ancient stirring deep inside of us that calls upon a sense and feeling of some primordial body of ‘knowing’ that is intrinsic in all of us.
Sitting around fire is not only ancient, it’s universal, taking us beyond conventional language and transmuting all the boundaries of communication, while purifying our souls.
In Ancient Mexico, and still today in tribes like the Wixarika, who are the Toltecs who exist today, consider the Poderios - nature’s elements - as a route to personal freedom.
When we sit in council with the Fire (known as the Tatewari fire), the grandfather of the elements, we can ask our personal and collective burning questions - for the Fire to reply in our hearts and our energetic being. If we listen with open hearts the reply will be ‘it is for you to decide’. It is at these moments when we gain the insight to decide what is our truth - and what is the illusion of life!
‘The power of the fire’
A conversation with Ken, my teacher.
It was late one evening and I was sitting by a fire with Ken. We were both gazing into the flickering flames as they extended like moving bands of light into the darkening sky. A chill was in the air as the sun started to descend beyond the horizon. The Nagual (also known as ‘the second attention’) of the night set the tone for a night of dreaming and lucidity.
Ken: What do you see? (Ken interjected into my dreaming attention)
Me: I think I was entering a state of dreaming awake
Ken: Tell me more (Ken gestured me to continue by tipping his hat)
Me: (I took a deep breath and checked where I was energetically)
I was feeling that I wasn’t separate from the flames for a moment there.
Ken: Hmm, could you see yourself sat by the fire at the same time?
Me: I’m not sure, I could have travelled further into the field until we started our conversation, it kind of distracted me. (I felt a sense of disappointment with myself)
Ken: Go back into the fire and allow it to free your point of reference - your assemblage point - and then see where it takes you.
Me: I returned to the same feeling and experience of the fire as before. I could feel its warmth and how it was moving like a dance of light. It was shifting and dissipating my internal dialogue and narrative of the day. At one point, I felt like I was watching myself from a few feet away, gazing at the fire, until I snapped my awareness back to being in the isolating movement of its flame. I felt like I’d been in that state of awareness for at least five, maybe ten, minutes! All of a sudden, my attention was back sat next to Ken, who had a grin on his face.
Ken: Welcome back! (with a glint in his eye). You’ve been dreaming with the fire for over an hour!
Me: (I gulped, I felt cold all of a sudden as my physical body regained some recognition of its self and I pulled my blanket around me) I thought it was just a few minutes (I replied, in disbelief).
Ken: Time is not the same when we enter the second attention, the Nagual! You know that.
Me: Can you explain how and why this is so? (I asked, still trying to make sense of my time lapse)
Ken: When we shift into another field of awareness, time is not linear of governed by the laws of cohesion as it is in the first attention. You have experienced this many times in other situations throughout your Toltec training. When we connect with the elements, like sitting with the fire, there is a flow and a conduit of energy that we directly encounter - our energy body recognises this. We are literally built to do this and we can naturally align with these fields and forces of energy. You will soon learn to travel naturally and be at ease with it.
We also attain a sublime and surrendered state of being as the relentless internal dialogue is diminished by the burning flames and the intent of the fire. Believe me, it has no chance with the power of the fire.
Me: I looked at Ken with my energy body remembering this ancient knowledge, like it had been imprinted onto my DNA somehow! At that point, I felt the most heartfelt gratitude and love for him as he tirelessly enticed me to remember who I am. I looked back into the fire and became, once more, part of its luminous flare, like rays of the sun - there was no separation.
As I expanded into heightened awareness, I felt deeply on every level of my existence that freedom is something that comes from within.
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