Hello and welcome to this meditation.
The Wisdom of the Fire is the third instalment in a five part series,
The Wisdom of Nature,
Written and performed by me,
Karishdina O'Loughlin.
These meditations are ideas which are based on the principles of Chinese medicine.
These principles are called the five elements or five element theory.
The ancient Chinese observed the patterns and cycles in nature,
Observed our organs and the types of emotions we have,
And over many thousands of years worth of observations,
Refined and connected these things into five categories,
Five elements that interrelate and connect with one another.
The first of these five elements is called water element.
The second of these five elements is called wood element.
And the third of these five elements is called fire element,
Which this meditation is inspired by.
Fire element in Chinese medicine is associated with the energy of young adulthood,
The heat of high noon in summer,
Excitement,
Love,
Joy,
The colour red,
Flirtation,
The dramatic and the outrageous,
Humour,
Empathy,
As well as a scattered hummingbird like energy.
Organs associate are the heart,
The pericardium and the small intestines.
The emotion associated with fire element is joy.
This does translate as the excitement and thrill of being alive and passion as well.
But this joy can go into overdrive and scatter too much like a firework and then become anxiety.
So it's with these qualities of fire element in mind that I focused on writing a meditative story,
Focused on a fire grounding his emotions,
Feeling but without being overwhelmed,
Emphasizing but without losing the sense of self and how joy and pleasure can build families and communities.
If there's an idea that you don't understand in this meditation,
Listen and let it be.
If you don't understand,
Keep the track on a leap.
Through repetition,
The idea will sink into your subconscious mind and will be understood innately over time.
The previous meditations focused on the previous elements,
Water element and wood element.
They are called the wisdom of the river and the wisdom of the Eric respectively.
They are recommended listening but it's not required that you listen to them.
However,
They have been designed to be listened to altogether.
All meditations are set in a place called the kingdom.
We begin in the forest and nature before moving into the village and then to the castle of the queen where the series ends.
These five elements also relate to our personalities as well.
For more information,
Please see the other branch of my work at circular face reading dot com.
And now close your eyes and begin to breathe slowly and deeply.
Let each breath carry you deeper and deeper into yourself.
When you breathe in,
Let the breath flood your chest.
And when you breathe out,
Let any worries or cares vanish into the ether.
Breathe in and breathe out.
Breathe in and breathe out.
Breathe in and breathe out.
Breathe in and breathe out.
Breathe out.
Breathe in and breathe out.
There's no other light in the forest tonight.
So like the fiery core in the center of the earth and the heart in our bodies that keeps us alive,
This fire in the dark is the heart of the forest.
Fire has been many sizes and in many places.
In one incarnation,
He came upon the lightning strike that weaned at an oak tree and then with wild emotion burnt the forest as a towering infernid quick with a swiftness that was nothing short of sudden.
He clogged the fumes and made it hard to breathe.
In another incarnation or incarnations,
He's also been many halves in many homes but now he is a half in the wild,
A campfire.
He is small but merry,
Providing much light,
Comfort and warmth.
His red flowering frames dance quickly for his size.
In the darkness,
His light is calling,
Soothing like the fire in a candle flame.
If joy and happiness are light,
Then fire has a lot of it.
But fire is fragile,
Easily put out.
Our first wisdom then is this.
Fire knows from his fragility that the first thing that is neglected in our lives is fun and joy,
Harmless silliness that is abandoned because it doesn't do anything or go anywhere.
And so the fire in our lives is extinguished,
Leaving us in the dark.
Fire knows that joy,
Pleasure and love are the stuffs that keep us living and alive in this life.
Not wisdom,
Not personal growth,
Not destiny but enjoyment.
Fire keeps us alive.
He wants to ask you,
When was the last time that you had fun?
What do you do for fun?
Fire is fed with oak wood.
Like oak created structure over time by taking rivers waters and growing,
Fire now burns brighter and more joyfully because of the discipline and structure that the oak had.
Because the oak drank from water's trust,
Trust becomes structure,
Structure becomes joy.
When fire has consumed all the wood,
He will become ash and subside into the earth.
This is the natural process for when we have enjoyed ourselves and for when our emotions are loud and uncontrollable,
They will burn out and subside into the earth,
Subside into stability,
Subside into a connection greater than before and then fire will bloom and become once more.
Fire at his best is a steady,
Happy,
Calming burn of warmth and soothing joy.
But fire has been wild as an inferno raging in the forest.
To calm him,
Great Mother Gaia,
Seethed him,
Spoke softly,
Held him,
Was the voice for his self gentleness.
Like the mother who holds the screaming child until the child quiets.
If fire is without a home,
Without a maternal presence,
With no self gentleness or compassion in himself,
Then he will be an inferno,
For he makes a good slave but a bad master.
Fire like all other fires needs space around him.
This space acts as protection.
And what is this space?
Discernment.
When fire has had no discernment as to who he fully entrusted the light of his heart,
No space,
He burnt or scolded others or set the forest alight.
He was excited,
Joyful.
He's quick and his quickness is called too much.
His quickness is not bad but if there was discernment,
There would have been a pause for less mistakes,
Less rejections.
When he set the forest alight he felt chaotic and scattered and dissatisfied.
No one could meet him because of his loudness and so he felt rejected and unloved.
He became a wild appetite and grounded,
Scattered anxiety trying to find a home.
Fire became so large that he could not be held by earth.
If fire was held by earth,
His emotions,
His joy and passions were felt without overwhelming him,
Then he could connect and bring others together.
When fire has a natural soothing warmth of calm joy,
His light is naturally inviting.
He simply attracts people to him,
People who feel like home.
When fire has strong boundaries,
Good space,
Good discernment,
His heart is protected from himself and others.
Things can grow and burn at their organic pace.
The space around fire brings people closer together.
And there need not be a vast amount of space around him but space there need be for a gathering.
It's no bad thing to have a little boundary.
Discernment is trust.
Trust is discernment.
Fire was not naturally suspicious but to him discernment means to hold the reins,
To open the door ajar and then a little more when he feels safe.
When he had no discernment he was irrevocably heartbroken,
His heart slammed shut.
He felt an immense amount of rejection and betrayal and able to enjoy love,
All the thrill of being alive.
He opened up when he began to feel safe,
When he told himself to trust a little day by day,
Our faith in others day by day.
Fire and his other illuminating cousins,
Their talents of joy and pleasure are the heart of life.
This heart is the light that leads us in the dark of life.
When fire is in a house he is called a heart and then he becomes the centre and the heart of the house.
And there's this saying called home is where the heart is,
This is wrong.
Fire or the hearth is where the home is.
Calm,
Joy and love is where the home is.
Sometimes we will long to be in other places with different people who love us better and that longing is our heart,
Is fire guiding us to home.
The heart is where the home is,
If there is no heart there is no home.
If the hearth is extinguished in the home,
If the lights are out it's not a home.
When fire has become ash and embers this part of the forest will no longer be a home in the night.
For fire to feel safe and secure he needs to know that he is safe in the arms of the earth.
With the support of the ground beneath him he can burn the brightest.
Fire when he is at his healthiest warms like embers,
Connects and lights like candle flames,
He attracts people.
Fire at his unhealthiest is too fast and all at once,
Like when he was bigger and burning throughout the countryside no one would come near him.
The same is true of healthy and unhealthy hearts.
Fire does much for us without being large.
We don't need that much fun or pleasure in our lives but we need some of it,
Just as we need some fire,
Sun warmth and some light but we don't require much of it.
If fire has ever been too large,
If fire has ever had the appetite of the inferno,
One thing can heal him into love,
Forgiveness.
Forgiveness heals his heart and makes him small again,
However having trust and faith are the biggest extinguishers to making calm and calm.
If fire doesn't believe that he is loved and lovable,
Every place he rests and lives in will be uncomfortable.
If he doesn't believe that he is loved and lovable,
He will never find a home,
He will never find a home to rest in,
Never become a hearth.
He will become a restless traveller believing that he is owed.
He will be another inferno,
Another firestorm.
Soft love starts with fire when he begins to see and test his abilities and capacities.
When he begins to do something,
Try anything,
He will begin to see and know who he is as previous perceptions of himself will be proven false and burnt.
But fire needs to start,
Start with shaking hands,
A broken heart,
No faith,
A little faith.
It's just important for him to start.
When that hardest part is over,
Fire will be surprised and something new will break through,
Self-love.
Like the hearth makes the house a home,
Fire,
Love,
Makes the body more than flesh,
People more than people and the earth more than a place to live.
Just as fire can provide the energy to cook,
Smoke or baked food to nourish the body,
Self-love makes food for the soul,
Compassion is gentleness.
Let gentle fire of self-love be a source of peace and peace.
So fire provides a lot of solace and relief,
The same solace and relief when the heart leads us into relationships.
How will fire know if these are heart relationships?
Easy his heart will feel full.
This is our last wisdom from fire,
Next we must visit her mother to learn her wisdom in her village.
Daybreak is close and she's busy in the kitchen.
The fire present in the mother's kitchen has become a safe and softly burning hearth in the iron stove of the mother's home.
Before we leave however,
I'll leave you now to enjoy fire and his delights at night.
