Harness spring fire energy at Ellasfield and at home
At last, spring is here. As we look around, we see new life in abundance - lambs, blossom and birds nesting, ready to look after their young. As we welcome back the sun and its warmth on our skin, we can feel it’s a time of new potential and growth to come. My shamanic healing sessions, yoga classes or cacao ceremonies, set in the heart of the Sussex countryside can help tap into this vital, new energy and re-ignite your passion for life.
In all retreats, I use various aspects of the medicine wheel (taught to me by Jez Hughes of Second Sight Healing) as a framework to look deeply at the cycles of nature and our own lives. On this medicine wheel, spring relates the direction of the East, of the rising sun and rebirth. It symbolises our early years, when we were pre-verbal and still developing as babies and toddlers. It connects to the element of fire, igniting imagination, creativity and potential, bringing in the spirit of adventure and growth. It also represents the hearth fire and hospitality, and helps us express the vital truth of who we are as part of the collective.
Any element on the medicine wheel can become out of balance due to the way we live our lives, often based on past conditioning and trauma responses. When we are out of balance with the fire element it often stems from early childhood trauma. It can manifest as people-pleasing, saying yes to every ask, going above and beyond in the workplace or in relationships. This ‘fawn’ response is developed as a way to stay safe as a youngster, to appease or avoid conflict with the aggressor/abuser/overly-dominant parent or carer. It’s a natural coping mechanism but doesn’t reflect your true feelings or who you really are inside.
Being over-accommodating and too hospitable, can leave you feeling undervalued, depleted in energy and used for your kindness or generosity. Always acting in this people-pleasing way opens an energetic doorway that allows others, consciously or unconsciously, to take advantage of your good-natured ways. Over time, this builds resentment, bitterness and anger that can show up in an array of physical health symptoms and a desire to withdraw from connection completely. If left unaddressed it can result in isolation, selfishness and unkind, passive-aggressive outbursts.
Alternatively, you can allow the rising sun and spring fire energy to re-ignite the deeper truths and creative fire within you. Connecting with the element of fire helps us move beyond the masks of self-deception and false projecting to come back to the truth of who we are, free to express ourselves from the heart instead of from fear.
Ritual to connect with the element of fire
Now the warmer weather is upon us, we can get out in the garden, connect with the sun and carry out this simple practice to pour our intentions into and bring a little magic into our life.
What you need:
A large white candle
Lighter
3 coins as a gesture of gratitude for the helping spirit of fire
Just before sunrise, take the above items to a favourite nearby place in nature where you can spend some time connecting to grandfather sun.
Sit facing East, with the candle placed safely on or in the ground, between you and the rising sun.
Light the candle.
Welcome the spirit of fire, out loud or in your imagination, saying something like:
“Welcome grandfather sun, I invite you into my life to show me how to bring balance and to burn away all untruths to reveal the truth of who I am. Come through this candle and shine light and balance into my life.”
Hold your three coins up to the sun as an offering, then place them next to the candle on the ground.
As the sun begins to come up, you can show your appreciation by singing or praying to it, offering a smile at it or whatever feels natural to you. There is no need for anything elaborate, it’s much better to connect to your heart and offer a smile than do anything you’re not comfortable with.
Now, simply sit, quietly, and focus on connecting to the spirit of the fire, through the sun and your candle.
Once this connection has been made, I invite you to ask some questions to the spirit of the fire. Ask the fire:
- what it has to teach you;
- how can you get to know it deeper;
- how it serves you in your life and where it hinders you;
- how you can serve it;
- what it will be gifting you;
- and/or any other questions that intuitively spring to mind.
Listen, feel, breathe in the fire, and wait for your answers in the stillness. Always offer your heartfelt thanks when you receive any insights or inspiration.
When finished, put out the flame with a pinch of the fingers or use a little shell or stone to snuff it out (blowing out a candle to extinguish it is very abrupt and the benefits of the ritual would be cut off abruptly).
Leave the coins as an offering there and take the candle back home with you.
For the next three nights, sleep with the candle next to you, placing it in a jar or heatproof dish, lighting it before you go to sleep and asking the same questions for the spirit of the fire to teach you in your dreams. Pinch out the flame just before you fall asleep.
Have a notebook ready when you wake to write down any dreams you remember, or any particular insights or thoughts relating to your questions.
I’d love to know what some of your answers were, and how the element of fire flows through your life from now on. Feel free to get in touch via email or Instagram.
In upcoming blogs, I will share more insights and rituals connected to the other directions and elements on the medicine wheel to support us through the seasons and our lives.
