Behind blind fire
Cool steady flame
Lights the Path.
Melanie, Old Warden, 2006
“May you have the faith
to carry the lantern,
even when
the flame dies,
trusting that
the Divine Fire
will show you the way.”
Bali, Dec 28th 2010
MARS
LET’S
RUSH
DUST
RASH
PUSH
NOW
HOT
DRY
DESERT
Ursula D, Studio E, 15.12.2013
In the heat of the night came a blood curdling cry
His face was contorted with fear
As he went into battle he knew he would die
And he knew that the moment was near.
As still as a rock the Magician stood tall,
Connecting the earth and the sky,
He watched the brave warrior as he went into war
And he, too, knew he would die.
London, 2013.
Ratatata
Thorny thistle
Rough wool
Burning sand
Singeing flame
Breast pin
Sharp shields
Aaaahh
Be my flame
Be my light
Be aware
Guard the sacred
Ursula D., London, 2013
The Ram
The city burned that night, and the animals died.
We had heard stories of giants and ice,
But this fire was worse. Some could only cry.
But in that moment of extinction I came alive,
Pulled iron from the earth and fought:
Salvaged a blind girl and a tricky youth,
Stood guard against shock and grief.
Lightning will shatter the tallest tree,
And fire can burn a whole forest:
But some seeds need a flame to flourish.
Out of every battle a seed will follow.
Ash and Elder, the beginnings of tomorrow.
Sophie Juneau 28th December, 2013
Go not in anger to the fray
Your inner vision guides the way
With metal for printing, and display
the work you’re fired to make today
With hot metal forge and bend
And shape the form you would amend
Bring into light with strength and power
The burning vision, seize the hour
Crumble dusty ancient ways
Trample over danger days
Light the fire that burns the new
To life, begin and follow through
Sunflower, West Sussex, 27.12.2014
Beyond blindness,
far from wrong perception,
the eye of the heart is beating.
May the vision of wholeness
hold the flame we follow.
Mercè Naudi Bonet, Barcelona, 21.4.2018
I rush towards the density of matter
Overturning the structures of denial,
Eager to fulfill my sacred task
Of holding the Light for the world.
In my terror I roar and burn
With fear that the newly-slain dragon
Of sorrow and grief
Will follow me
Forever.
Melanie, Old Warden, 27.12.2016
Upturned ship set on dry shore
Armored surge of fearless fight
A crazed initiate takes footed flight
Rams forward from Magician’s spell
As Justice shines beyond his sight
Kim S., Phoenix AZ, 26.12.2019
Silently holding space
No less a warrior
Flaming heart
steps forward
Jacqueline, 28.12.2020, online
Aries
Headlong into regret
the head on fire with certainty
the Crocus leaf pierces the leathery Oak leaf
Everything becomes pointed.
a spear, a sword, an arrow, a word
But most of all to start over
Begin anew...clear out thorns
make room for crucifixion.
Iron Blood Meteor.
Sarah Fuhro December 28, 2021
There are different shades of the zodiac, just like life.
I am in a wheat field. The zodiac is like a tapestry, various textures woven in and out, earth tones, barley, wheat, rye. Aries is a germinated wheat seed. Taurus, a budding shoot, a a plant beginning to know itself, a little.
I am in a war zone. The zodiac is perhaps a soothing balm, a reflection of what is and what could be. Aries is a bomb, a clutching of the chest. And yet Aries also is a hero, a heroine, running in to rescue from the bomb. Taurus perhaps the will to survive, the will to persevere, a mother holding her child convinced she will do this.
In a wheat field, in a war zone, life exists, the cosmos exists, the divine exists, the pulse of a heart beat exists.
I am planet Earth and the zodiac is a ring of energies holding our sky, speaking of the journey we take around our ball of fire, our local star, our remembrance of the all that is.
We see the zodiac as the dance, the pathway of that ball of fire around us, although of course it is actually the other way around.
And we are so many layers of time, watching the stars, noticing our dance in the cosmos, of the cosmos.
Aries is a small constellation, a few points of light that many ancestors felt and saw as a ram. We carry this energetic, this imprint and feel and see so much reflected in our relationship through time and space to these points of light, this ram, this energy of germination, adventure, service, courage, protection, bravery.
Taurus is points of light we conjured as a bull. We see and feel this energy as steadfast, a baby waking up to its own existence separate from its caregiver, needing and wanting to survive, to enjoy and love the experience and pleasure of our time here as Earth.
And in any time, our consciousness changes, our awareness of life and our place in it evolves.
We are a wheat field, we are a war zone.
And then perhaps a leap, but a reality also, we are light. We are in a time of becoming open to the realities of ourselves as light, as cosmos, as beings of Earth and yet ALL of existence, perhaps unlike any time before or certainly unlike any time in recent memory.
And then where are we, what are we? Aries then is what? Taurus what? Perhaps the light speaks.
It must know?
Aries perhaps is speaking. Taurus too. I sit and wait to hear the call.
The Pleiades, Aldebaran, Hamal perhaps know. The Earth too. These beings of light dance, light as light, in community of cosmos. They sing their knowing across the stars and beyond. I sit under baobab, on ancient boulders.
I look to the stars. I feel the Earth.
Light flickers. A flash streaks across the night sky. I bow my head.
I close my eyes. And listen.
Martha Alter Hines 3.1.2024
