For those of us in Sedona, we have been immersed in the smoke of the Slide Fire over the course of the last week and a half. Over twenty thousand acres of the once picturesque Oak Creek Canyon has been set ablaze and it is still burning.
Each morning the smoke rests atop the ground filtering throughout every particle of the air and reminds me of the late afternoon fog of a San Francisco summer day. It's so thick you can practically cut it with a knife. The problem is that it doesn't feel like fog. Fog you can walk through. Smoke you cannot. Interestingly enough, the lifting of the obtrusive smoke usually takes place in the late afternoon. So, at least there is some reprieve. Someone I know referred to this as the 'breath of the mountain.' A single slow exhalation in the morning, where we can viscerally feel our connection with the flames and then one inhalation, where the smoke changes its course and billows up towards the heavens. This is certainly an apt description.
Each morning the smoke rests atop the ground filtering throughout every particle of the air and reminds me of the late afternoon fog of a San Francisco summer day. It's so thick you can practically cut it with a knife. The problem is that it doesn't feel like fog. Fog you can walk through. Smoke you cannot. Interestingly enough, the lifting of the obtrusive smoke usually takes place in the late afternoon. So, at least there is some reprieve. Someone I know referred to this as the 'breath of the mountain.' A single slow exhalation in the morning, where we can viscerally feel our connection with the flames and then one inhalation, where the smoke changes its course and billows up towards the heavens. This is certainly an apt description.
While the breath of the mountain intrigues my logical mind, my lungs are not too happy. Walking in the morning is an impossibility, while every window of every building must remain closed as breathing in such conditions is difficult at best. Furthermore, one of the most scenic areas this traveler has ever seen has been diminished and my heart aches for this natural setting. I am saddened when I think that the fire was man-made, set by some careless individual—but, alas, that is my ego talking. Blaming one person for their actions is the judgmental side of me coming out. In truth, it is the collective that creates the dynamic of all happenings in our reality, including this one. This leads me to ponder what I, the individual, need to learn as well as what we, as a group, are here to understand about ourselves in this act of creation.
Initially, I thought about what fire symbolizes. The element of fire has long exemplified knowledge. So much so that the pantheon of gods in the Ancient Greek tradition did everything they could to hide it from the people of the Earth. Prometheus disobeyed this order and was punished for his actions. The powers that be wished to keep hidden the knowledge, but knowledge is meant to be shared. Somehow, it always finds a way to make itself known. And humankind was always destined to wake up.
For me, our knowledge rests in the understanding that treating our natural environment with respect is of utmost importance and yet it has been mostly disregarded for the last century. From modern farming practices that infiltrate our foods with poisons, to the cutting down of ubiquitous amounts of trees all for the use of disposable paper products, not to mention the chem-trails that NASA has now confirmed the existence of, and factories that expel an exponential amount of pollution, all of which is causing a demise for the blue marble we live on at a worrisome rate. We may not be the corporate raiders behind this work, but we buy GMO foods because they are cheaper. We use paper napkins so we don't have to wash them. That means that we are to blame too. Corporations are running things and wish to keep the knowledge of the decimation they are causing at the planetary level quiet. But that is not meant to be. A raging fire can be seen as a wake up call on a grand scale. The alarm is going off so that we can awaken from the dream to see the reality and make a shift in our level of awareness. Sending Love to all the Beings of our planet enables us to connect with the Spirit within. Honoring Mother Nature is not only a necessity, it is the prize at the end of the rainbow.
From another perspective, Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes, spews out her fiery molten lava to cleanse the earth. In the course of the destruction process, a re-birthing takes place at the same time. In other words, when one door closes another opens to take its place. The fire that ravages a hillside, makes way for new growth to come in. In destruction bears the act of creation. Just yesterday, I gazed upon a plant shooting out in between a crack of asphalt and I smiled. Even when it is challenging, Nature finds away to replenish itself.
Metaphorically speaking, we are reminded that we constantly move through little deaths, where we shift our personal as well as societal philosophies to bring in new and Higher vibrational ways of thinking. History is replete with tales that are unimaginable to us today. Slavery for one. The right to vote reserved for a limited few for another. We awakened to a certain level of awareness and shifted our consciousness on a broad scale. As we move forward on the path of our evolution, we consistently cleanse away the old ideas that no longer serve us and by virtue of this cleansing we re-create ourselves. We can and will repeat this process, emerging into new and better Selves.
Taking these ideas into account, I still wanted more information. I decided to Shamanic Journey to the Spirit of this particular Fire. When I met her in my mind's eye, I asked what it was we needed to learn. "To Nurture," I was told. Nurturing the Earth and nurturing ourselves was at the heart of this message. I accepted this call to action by not only sending out healing energy to the planet at large, but I also sent energetic healing to myself. This is something I once practiced on a daily basis, but as of late I have not been as committed. It was nice to bask in this Loving energy that I chose to send to myself and I felt empowered. Interestingly enough, on that particular day the smoke cleared away in the mid-morning, hours before it had on any other day. This clearly exemplifies the notion that when we heal ourselves, we heal the world.
My Journey also shared two more messages, the first of which was that, "Out of the ashes a rose emerges." The rose represents us. In that representation we are love, passion, balance, sensuality and wisdom. It is time to remember that each of us contains those aspects within. We are the Divine. We are the creators of our manifestations.
Lastly, my Journey showed me the image of a tree burgeoning from the soil to climb to great heights with unsurpassed rapidity. I was told that as the tree grows so do we. It is good to feel sad for the loss of our natural brethren. It is good to feel compassion. It also time to take action and plant the seeds of our well-Being. Instead of moving about life in an unconscious manner, we have an opportunity to light the fiery passions within us. To make a stand. To be in Harmony with our Universal Self. To acknowledge the Divine within.
From a personal perspective, my daily routine has altered dramatically. I can no longer take my morning walks, so I have switched my schedule. Instead, I read and I write as soon as I arise, taking my walks in the evening. It has always been an easier process for me to write in the mornings. After waking from dream-time, our senses are heightened and creative thought flows in abundance. It is the stress of the day that hampers this flow. However, when I moved to Arizona I chose to walk early in the day, before the extreme afternoon heat had an opportunity to avail itself upon me. Be that as it may, now I am forced to go back to my old and trusted ways and write in the morning when I am at my best—and it has been fun! I feel like a kid in a candy store as the the thoughts flow through me with ease. I suppose I have been directed to see our reality from a different perspective. We are continuously moving through life as though we were on some sort of perpetual assembly line. We are not only entitled to switch things up once in a while, we are encouraged to do so. It awakens us to new ideas and new ideas lead us to change—change that is good for us all.
That is what Fire has taught me on this day. And I am grateful for its message.
Thank you for reading and Namaste! (The Light within me recognizes the Light within you!)
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