The Fire of Love
The Plant Spirit Medicine course from the Blue Deer Center includes a depth study of each of the elements of the five phases theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
I just finished the module of Fire. This element rules the summer season, so we are fully immersed in the rulership of Fire in the northern hemisphere, an element that is becoming increasingly imbalanced in the modern world.
The five phases theory emphasizes that health is the result of the balanced movement of the elements in relationship with each other. Nature understands the attunement and movement of these elements in a way that is life giving and regenerative. Because humans have lost touch with this nuanced dance, we have not upheld our function as contributors to the dance of harmony and balance.
We are imbalanced in our personal lives, our families and communities, and within the global community of more-than-human relationship.
One of the teachers in the Plant Spirit Medicine Course, Alison Gayek, says that "a mature spirit is one that has been warmed by the fire of love." Eliot Cowan, in his book Plant Spirit Medicine, relates a story where a Hopi man shares the songs of his people with an outsider. All of the songs are about water. When asked why, he said it is because water is the greatest need of his desert dwelling people. He remarked "I listen to a lot of American music. Seems like most American music is about love...Is that why? Is that because you don't have very much?"
As I reflected on my own relationship with Fire, I was stunned with a strange synchronicity. One of the questions posed in the course is "when have you dreamed of fire or explosions?" Uncannily, I was awakened by a nightmare of wildfire and a propane tank exploding just after the moon reached its fullness. Was Fire spirit speaking to me, knowing that I was working through this course? Knowing that this question would soon come into my consciousness?
In my dream, the hills of my childhood were burning. The apple orchards of Adams County, idyllic and beautiful and pesticide ridden and full of bigotry and hatred. I had heard fire sirens blaring, one engine after another, racing up the country roads, but had ignored them...until the smell of smoke filled my lungs. Looking behind the house, the fire had reached our propane tank and it exploded. I felt the heat and percussion, and got to work finding kids and pets to evacuate. But someone I loved refused to leave, refused to evacuate. Would I stay? Or would I leave them behind?
Fire is speaking. When is the Fire of love a prison? When is it explosive? When does it ask too much of us? When is it poison? When is it dangerous? Is this actually love? Would love ask us to die in the fire with them so that they don't have to change? Can love be a wildfire?
A mature relationship with Fire is balanced. There is also water and the fresh growth of new leaves that dampen the fire. Balanced fire is contained, warming, capable of providing light, nourishment, safety. It is not a conflagration that destroys. And it is not so cool and dismissive and avoidant that there is no tenderness available.
How is your relationship with Fire? Who makes you feel warm, who do you laugh with? Who feels cold to you? What do you love? Do you prioritize the things and people you love?
May Grandfather Fire speak his wisdom into your heart, and guide you to create a warm and joyous hearth within yourself, and in your place in the world.