{"id":2611,"date":"2014-07-17T17:23:24","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T23:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?p=2611"},"modified":"2014-07-17T17:23:24","modified_gmt":"2014-07-17T23:23:24","slug":"a-meditation-on-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/07\/a-meditation-on-fire.html","title":{"rendered":"A Meditation on Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>The four classical elements of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth are foundational to the Western Mystery Tradition and its many offshoots.\u00a0 Even if that\u2019s not your path, the elements remain a useful way to relate to life at a high level. \u00a0Following last week\u2019s meditation on Air<\/a>, today I invite you to join me in contemplating the element of Fire.<\/p>\n

To Fire<\/em><\/strong>
\nA Hymn of Orpheus<\/a><\/p>\n

O Ever untam\u2019d Fire, who reign\u2019st on high
\nIn Jove\u2019s dominions ruler of the sky;
\nThe glorious sun with dazzling lustre bright,
\nAnd moon and stars from thee derive their light;
\nAll taming pow\u2019r, \u00e6therial shining fire,
\nWhose vivid blasts the heat of life inspire:
\nThe world\u2019s best element, light-bearing pow\u2019r,
\nWith starry radiance shining, splendid flow\u2019r,
\nO hear my suppliant pray\u2019r, and may thy flame
\nBe ever innocent, serene, and tame.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fire is the element of the South, of noon, and of Summer.\u00a0 In the Tarot, Fire is represented by Wands, the tool of passion, spirit, inspiration, and energy.<\/p>\n

Fire can cook our food and it can burn our houses.\u00a0 Fire can provide light in the dark and warmth in the Winter and it can fill the air with greenhouse gasses.\u00a0 Fire can purify our souls and it can consume our bodies.\u00a0 No wonder Orpheus\u2019 Hymn to Fire ends with a plea for it to be \u201cinnocent, serene, and tame.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Beltane we pass between the fires for protection.\u00a0 When an athlete is on a winning streak, we say she\u2019s on fire.\u00a0 People who are committed to a cause have fire in the belly.\u00a0 Shamans and poets have fire in the head<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the same time, we\u2019re warned about moths being drawn to flames, and we\u2019re told that if we play with fire we\u2019re going to get burned.<\/p>\n

Fire is desire.\u00a0 Fire is danger.<\/p>\n

Victor Anderson said \u201canything worthwhile is dangerous.\u201d\u00a0 Author, teacher, and Feri initiate Thorn Coyle<\/a> added \u201cbut not everything dangerous is worthwhile.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019ve never been attracted to danger.\u00a0 I\u2019ve done some things that carry some risk \u2013 rock climbing, rappelling, and caving come quickly to mind \u2013 but I did them because I wanted the experience of doing them and the sense of accomplishment they brought, not because they were exciting.\u00a0 I am most definitely not an adrenaline junkie.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I remember the first time I went rappelling.\u00a0 A friend who was experienced and had the necessary equipment showed me how to hook up a brake rack, which would allow me to descend slowly and deliberately.\u00a0 He said \u201cthere are two ways to hook this up:\u00a0 the right way and the dead way.\u201d<\/p>\n

That I remember his words so clearly after 25 years should tell you all you need to know about the impression they made on me.<\/p>\n

The Fire of desire made me want the experience of climbing a rock face, of rapidly descending the cliff, and of exploring the depths of the Earth.\u00a0 I respected the Fire of danger and so my experiences were safe.\u00a0 And they were amazing!<\/p>\n

We honor the Fire of desire by saying yes.\u00a0 We honor the Fire of desire by pursuing love even though we may be hurt, by pursuing knowledge even though we may lose our comfortable ignorance, by pursuing the Gods even though we may be thought foolish by those of other religions.<\/p>\n

We honor the Fire of danger by being mindful.\u00a0 We honor the Fire of danger by educating ourselves on how to do things properly, by training ourselves to avoid unnecessary risks, and by learning to differentiate between wise fear and unreasonable fear.<\/p>\n

Fire is desire.\u00a0 Fire is danger.<\/p>\n

What do you desire?\u00a0 How can you honor the Fire of desire?\u00a0 How can you respect the Fire of danger?<\/p>\n

Anything worthwhile is dangerous.<\/p>\n

May the blessings of the element of Fire be with you and your Great Work!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do you desire? How can you honor the Fire of desire? How can you respect the Fire of danger? Join me in contemplating the element of Fire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":2612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[452,451,450,4,5,454,46,453],"class_list":["post-2611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-practice","tag-danger","tag-fire","tag-meditation-on-fire","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-passion","tag-thorn-coyle","tag-victor-anderson"],"yoast_head":"\nA Meditation on Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What do you desire? How can you honor the Fire of desire? How can you respect the Fire of danger? Join me in contemplating the element of Fire.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/07\/a-meditation-on-fire.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Meditation on Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What do you desire? How can you honor the Fire of desire? How can you respect the Fire of danger? Join me in contemplating the element of Fire.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/07\/a-meditation-on-fire.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-17T23:23:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2014\/07\/CUUPS-camping-Nov12-25.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/07\/a-meditation-on-fire.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/07\/a-meditation-on-fire.html\",\"name\":\"A Meditation on Fire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-17T23:23:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-07-17T23:23:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\"},\"description\":\"What do you desire? How can you honor the Fire of desire? How can you respect the Fire of danger? Join me in contemplating the element of Fire.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/07\/a-meditation-on-fire.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/07\/a-meditation-on-fire.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/07\/a-meditation-on-fire.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Meditation on Fire\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"description\":\"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Beckett\"},\"description\":\"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. Wandering through them gave me a sense of connection to Nature and to a certain Forest God. I\u2019m a Druid graduate of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, the Coordinating Officer of the Denton Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans and a former Vice President of CUUPS Continental. I\u2019ve been writing, speaking, teaching, and leading public rituals for the past eleven years. I live in the Dallas \u2013 Fort Worth area and I earn my keep as an engineer.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/author\/johnbeckett\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Meditation on Fire","description":"What do you desire? How can you honor the Fire of desire? How can you respect the Fire of danger? Join me in contemplating the element of Fire.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/07\/a-meditation-on-fire.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Meditation on Fire","og_description":"What do you desire? How can you honor the Fire of desire? How can you respect the Fire of danger? Join me in contemplating the element of Fire.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/07\/a-meditation-on-fire.html","og_site_name":"John Beckett","article_published_time":"2014-07-17T23:23:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2014\/07\/CUUPS-camping-Nov12-25.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Beckett","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Beckett","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/07\/a-meditation-on-fire.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/07\/a-meditation-on-fire.html","name":"A Meditation on Fire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-07-17T23:23:24+00:00","dateModified":"2014-07-17T23:23:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad"},"description":"What do you desire? How can you honor the Fire of desire? How can you respect the Fire of danger? Join me in contemplating the element of Fire.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/07\/a-meditation-on-fire.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/07\/a-meditation-on-fire.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/07\/a-meditation-on-fire.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Meditation on Fire"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/","name":"John Beckett","description":"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad","name":"John Beckett","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"John Beckett"},"description":"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. Wandering through them gave me a sense of connection to Nature and to a certain Forest God. I\u2019m a Druid graduate of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, the Coordinating Officer of the Denton Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans and a former Vice President of CUUPS Continental. I\u2019ve been writing, speaking, teaching, and leading public rituals for the past eleven years. I live in the Dallas \u2013 Fort Worth area and I earn my keep as an engineer.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/author\/johnbeckett"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}