Fire Fire Fire!

Sometimes when I think of the Orphic Oath ie. “I am a Child of Earth and Starry Heavens, but my race is of Heaven alone…” I wonder, why they forgot to include “Fire” in there somewhere.   I admit it, I am a pyromaniac.  I make no excuses for that, I love fire, I love setting fire to things and watch it burn and I love sitting by an open fire – big or small, it makes me feel happy and no matter about the scientific explanations for it, fire is inherently magical.  To quote Theodore Roszak “Unless the eye catch fire, the god will not be seen”. 

Fire was described by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus as being the universal cause,  when he was writing in the 6th century BCE. He believed that fire was ‘intelligent’. Many hundreds of years later this view would still be echoed through the archives of time in the Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster.  It is a masculine element, associated with the concept of “The Word” (Logos) and in the physical macrocosm it is most obviously manifest in as the Sun in the sky.   Fire is the great transformer, whilst being in some ways the least obvious in the physical world around us (after all air, water and earth are all more physically manifest) the manifestation of fire is that of light, caused by the light of the Sun and enabling us to see and for life on Earth to flourish and grow. 

Its creative and destructive power is contained within every tiny spark and flame.  Right now parts of the world are experiencing extreme heatwaves and are facing fierce forest firest, whilst here in the UK we are experiencing a “mini-ice age” as the ground is covered in snow and ice, and we (especially humans) have to rely on fire for warmth and protection.   Fire is an element which embodies the concept of control very well, reminding us that venturing into the wonderful world of the mystical, we need to find a balance and continiously strive towards perfect, to avoid burning our fingers whilst at the same time keeping warm enough.

 Sweet fire the sire of muse, my soul needs this;
I want the one rapture of an inspiration.
O then if in my lagging lines you miss…  [Hopkins]

The Sun, Moon & Equilibrium – Interview with Sorita

Karagan of WitchTalk Radio (on BlogTalkRadio, an internet radio service) will be talking to me again this evening.  The topic this time is The Moon, The Sun and the Magic of Equilibrium.  We will be talking about the heavenly bodies in magic, especially the magic I am passionate about and about the importance of having a balanced approach to magical and spiritual practices.

Details can be found at:  WITCHTALK RADIO & Sorita d’Este

Or if you are reading this after the fact, you should be able to select the interview with me from the list on the gadget below – as well as my previous chat with Karagan “Dancing at the Crossroads!” and a number of other interesting interviews he has been having with interesting magical folk recently!