The Element of Fire
Š 2012- Lady Hekate
Fire Beauty, Enchanting, Drawing, Mysteries, Warming, and Burning Light , Purification, All Consuming Fire.
Fire has also been an element that has always drawn me. Growing up in Hawaii, seeing the eruptions, knowing of the Fire Goddess Pele, watching the fire dancers, yes Fire draws me in. Yet I highly respect it. For it is true it can destroy you if you play. One cannot ever control Fire, but you can channel it. I invite you to enter the flames
Table of Contents __________________________________ 1. The Power of Fire 2. The Goddess Pele 3. The Ancient Greeks Doctrine on Fire 4. Fire in the Craft 5. Fire Spells 6. Connecting with Fire
The Power of Fire
Fire erupts, lava flows destroying all in it’s path. It flows as and where it wills. There is no stopping, or calling the fire department. Even firefighters will say they respect the fire. While Fire seems to just destroy and seems cruel, it purifies the earth for new life to appear. The Big Island of Hawaii is still a growing Island.
Volcanoes are awesome manifestations of the fiery power contained deep within the Earth. These formations are essentially vents on the Earth's surface where molten rock, debris, and gases from the planet's interior are emitted.
When thick magma and large amounts of gas build up under the surface, eruptions can be explosive, expelling lava, rocks and ash into the air. Less gas and more viscous magma usually mean a less dramatic eruption, often causing streams of lava to ooze from the vent.
The mountain-like mounds that we associate with volcanoes are what remain after the material spewed during eruptions has collected and hardened around the vent. This can happen over a period of weeks or many millions of years.
A large eruption can be extremely dangerous for people living near a volcano. Flows of searing lava, which can reach 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,250 degrees Celsius) or more, can be released, burning everything in its path, including whole towns. Boulders of hardening lava can rain down on villages. Mud flows from rapidly melting snow can strip mountains and valleys bare and bury towns. Ash and toxic gases can cause lung damage and other problems, particularly for infants and the elderly. Scientists estimate that more than 260,000 people have died in the past 300 years from volcanic eruptions and their aftermath.
Volcanoes tend to exist along the edges between tectonic plates, massive rock slabs that make up Earth's surface. About 90 percent of all volcanoes exist within the Ring of Fire along the edges of the Pacific Ocean.
About 1,900 volcanoes on Earth are considered active, meaning they show some level of activity and are likely to explode again. Many other volcanoes are dormant, showing no current signs of exploding but likely to become active at some point in the future. Others are considered extinct. It is vital to teach children to respect fire and not play, Too many kids and families are destroyed because a kid , or someone in the house not respecting fire.
The Goddess Pele
Goddess Pele is a Hawaiian Volcano and Fire Goddess. Known as She Who Shapes the Sacred Land, Pele is the Volcano, the expression and embodiment of Divine Creative Power. She is the Flame of Passion and the Fire of Purpose, She is the Energy of Dynamic Action and She is the Glowing Essence of Eternal and Profound Love.
The legend of Pele has her originally coming from Tahiti, where her older sister Namaka, the sea goddess, constantly sent ocean waves to roll over Pele’s home to snuff out her flames.
Pele has many sisters and brothers, but her favorite is her younger sister Hi’iaka, who is the patroness of Hula. Pele traveled in a canoe in search of a new home, carrying the egg of her unborn sister, Hi’iaka, cradled within her armpit. All the while Namaka continued to pursue Pele, constantly combating Pele’s travel with turbulent and treacherous waters.
Pele and Hi’iaka attempted to settle on several different islands. Challenged by jealous snow goddesses who lived in the island mountains, sending blizzards to extinguish Pele’s flames. Namaka also continued to contest Pele’s fire at every chance she had, using tidal waves and unrelenting water to evict Pele whenever she attempted to settle somewhere.
Pele persevered and eventually found her home on the Big Island of Hawaii in the volcano called Kilauea (which means spreading).
Pele’s story reminds us that when we know who we are and when we honor that energy, when we honor our True Self we will find our place in the world. We are also reminded, that when we are pursuing our True Path, to persevere despite perceived obstacles. We are encouraged to not give up just before we reach the destination of our dreams.
Her forms are many, including the volcano, lava, and fire/flame. Goddess Pele also has ability to shape-shift and will show herself as a beautiful young woman, as a crone and as a white dog. Some of her other symbols include the Ohi’a lehua, a beautiful tree that quickly grows on fresh lava flows, lehua flowers and the Hawaiian Honey Creeper which loves the nectar of the lehua blossoms.
Aligned with Volcanoes, Pele is sometimes associated with destruction and violence. Goddesses associated with destruction are often misunderstood
and perhaps even misjudged. When working with the Divine Feminine, destruction often equates to clearing away that which no longer serves us and may be considered part of the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. In actuality, Goddess Pele’s Volcanoes are more of a creative force, creating and shaping land, clearing the old and laying the foundation for new. Within this energy, Pele is known as She who Shapes the Sacred Land. Through Her Volcanic activity, Pele gives birth to the islands and may be considered a Mother Goddess.
As She Who Shapes the Sacred Land, Pele reminds us of our own dynamic creative power. We are reminded that we constantly create and shape our own life with the powerful energy that we project through our thoughts, through our words, through our emotions, through our beliefs and intentions and through our imagination. Within this awareness we are able to take responsibility and wield our creative power with clear focus and with positive intention. In this way, we will create that which we actually desire to create and experience.
A beloved and honored kupuna (ancestress), through genealogical chants, many families that lived on the island could trace their lineage back to Pele. Within this energy, Goddess Pele reminds us that our Heritage is Divine and we are encouraged to acknowledge who we truly are. As we acknowledge who we truly are, we acknowledge our Oneness to the Divine Source, we acknowledge our Oneness to the Goddess. Through this acknowledgement we realign with our True Power, the Power of Divine Love. We realign with our Higher Enlightened Self and live with selfawareness, responsibility, with integrity and with empowered grace.
Fire Power is Goddess Pele’s Gift. The Fire Element brings Energy! Physical energy, motivation, empowerment and strength can be found with the Element of Fire. Since Fire is a fantastic source of Energy, the Fire Element lends awesome fuel for manifestation, helping to lend power to our positive intentions. The Element of Fire also has a tremendous force to transmute and clear old, stagnate energy. The Fire
Element can be invoked for protection, creating an energetic field of protective and transmuting energy.
Feeling fatigued or burned out? Since this Fire Goddess is aligned with Energy, upon our request, she will help us to remember our eternal connection to the Divine Flame, refueling and re-energizing our body, mind and spirit with Divine Energy. Pele will guide us to utilize our fire power wisely, helping us to avoid burning our candle at both ends, realizing that regular rest and proper self-care are a necessary aspect of the refueling process. Through honoring our own inner fire and by realizing our innate and eternal connection to Divine Energy, we will naturally feel alive with vital, vibrant energy, be naturally enthusiastic and empowered.
Goddess Pele is an extremely Dynamic Divine Feminine Force. She sets fire to the falsehoods that women are weak and incapable and that to be feminine means to be fragile and helpless. Pele demonstrates exquisite feminine beauty combined with unquestionable capability, steadfast strength, dignity and divine power. This awesome aspect of the Lady loves and lives with profound passion, providing a platform for both women and men to transcend illusions related to feminine power.
Madame Pele also helps us communicate honestly and to set appropriate boundaries when necessary. Pele brings confidence, courage and promotes positive action. Goddess Pele helps us clear the illusions that we are incapable and helps us to realign with our Divine Truth so that we may realize our True Potential.
Known for Her passion, upon our request, Pele will assist us to rekindle our own inner flame so that we may experience more enthusiasm, passion and purpose within our lives. The Goddess reminds us that we each have a talent and will encourage us to acknowledge and express our personal talent, she will stimulate our creative energy and motivate us to experience life as fulfilling and meaningful.
She has strong transmuting and clearing powers along with tremendous creative and motivational energy. Pele is extremely protective and can help those who call on her to feel safe, secure as well as empowered rather than dependant.
Goddess Pele comes with infinite and profound love and is an awesome ally to those who desire to transcend the illusions of fear and limitation. Pele is dedicated to our realizing our True Power, the Power of Divine Love, she is devoted to helping us realize and express our creative power in a way that brings benefit, blessings and beauty to the whole.
The Ancient Greek Esoteric Doctrine of the Elements- Fire Š 1999, John Opsopaus (Sharing only portions of this) Essence of Fire Each of the Elements is characterized by a dominant and a secondary Power or Quality: Earth is Dry and Cool, Water is Cool and Moist, Air is Moist and Warm, Fire is Warm and Dry. Since the Warm and Dry powers have been discussed in detail already (Warmth in "Air," Dryness in "Earth"), a summary will do here. As explained by Aristotle, Warmth is the power of separation and Coolness the power of union; they are the more active powers. Dryness is the power to determine its own form, and Moistness the power to flexibly adapt to the forms of other things.
Therefore, since Fire is Warm and Dry, it is the agent that actively creates distinctions and imposes forms. We may think of the fiery arts of the smithy, the kitchen and the alchemical laboratory. Indeed, in alchemy Fire is considered the primary agent of change (more on this later), and Empedocles, the 5th century BCE magician-philosopher credited with the Doctrine of the Four Elements (Tetrasomia), distinguishes Fire as the Agent of Action (Kinêtikê) among the Elements. Hence the Elements have the typical 3+1 structure in which, as explained by Jung, the Fourth is the principle of determination for the Three. In physics, Fire corresponds to energy, whereas the other three Elements correspond to states of matter (although we must keep in mind that these are just physical manifestations of the Four Elements, which are spiritual archetypes).
Hekate As an Underworld Goddess, Hekate has many connections with Fire. Therefore She is called Purphoros (Fire-bearing), Daidoukhos (Torchbearer), Phôsphoros (Light-bearer, also Lucifera), Puripnon (Fire-breather) and Melainê (Black); She is worshipped in caves and Her image is honored with torches. As a Lunar Goddess Hekate has a complementary relationship to the Sun. At the New Moon She carries blazing torches (called selas and connected with Selene, the Moon), and on the 30th of month, when the Moon is overtaken by the Sun and both rise together, we offer Her the Amphiphôn (Shining-All-Around), a flat cake with a circle of candles on it. Both Hekate Enodia (On the Road) and Apollo Aguieus (Street Guardian) are Gods of the Journey, who illuminate the Way: Apollo by His Sun during the day, Hekate by Her Torch at night. Apollo was also called Hekatos (Distant One), the masculine form of Hekatê (also an epithet of Artemis). Similarly Helios and Hekate often appear together in magical texts, and They were the only witnesses to the abduction of Persephone. They are the Sun and Moon, the Lamps of Day and Night, the Light Sun and the Dark Sun, Celestial and Chthonic Fire. In Sophocles' Root-cutters we read,
"O Lord Helios and Holy Fire, the spear of Hekate Enodia, which She bears frequenting Olympos and dwelling in the Three Ways of the Holy Land." According to the Chaldean Oracles and Neoplatonic philosophers, Hers is the Womb of Nature, which is fertilized by the lightning and thunderbolts of Father Zeus, and by which She gives birth to the natural world (cf. Semele and Koronis, below). For the lightning bolts correspond to the Platonic Ideas or Forms, which can be embodied only by the mediation of Hekate's Womb, the Coils (Koil么mata) of the Cosmos. In the Oracles the Goddess Herself says, "These are the Thoughts of the Father, after which is My enwrapping Fire" (fr. 38). This Fire, which envelops the world, was called the Membrane (Hym锚n), and, according to the Oracles, Her Membrane separates the First Fire of the Celestial Father from the Second Fire, which is the Demiurge (Craftsman), Hephaistos. Both are intellectual Fires, one celestial, the other chthonic and proceeding from the first. Hekate nurtures the Ideas so that the Demiurge may use them to organize the Elements into our world. (Hekate is primarily associated with Fire, but as Cosmic Womb She also has connections with Water. Indeed, She unites the opposites, Heaven and the Underworld. Under the name Iphimedeia (= Iphigeneia), She is also a consort to Poseidon. When Hekate is called "Queen" She is being identified with Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, and some call Persephone the lower manifestation of Hekate.) The Underworld The Underworld is a realm of paradox and inversion, where opposites may unite. It is a place of Darkness but also of Fire (Light); it is simultaneously a place of Dissolution (Water) and the Fiery Womb of rebirth; it is the source of the Destructive Fire of Hades and of the Creative Fire of Hephaistos. Here especially may be brought about the union of Fire and Water, the primary Elemental Opposition. Hence the alchemical arts, which seek to unite the opposites in the Great Work, are born in the Underworld. Four rivers converge in the Underworld, each associated with an Element (see figure). The Pyriphelegeth么n, the River of Fire, is directly opposite C么cytus, the River of Weeping, closely associated with Persephone and Water (as explained in "Water"). (Plato's Phaedo (108d-114d) contains an
informative and colorful description of Underworld geography and of the progress of the soul.)
The volcanic crater is filled with rivers of fire, a hint of the union of Fire and Water in the depths. In general, any crater in the earth, whether holding Fire or Water, is considered a place of power and magic, for it is an entry to the Underworld. Therefore, incense is burned for Hephaistos (Vulcan) at the volcanic crater's lip and in caves. The Greek word Cratêr refers to a mixing bowl, especially that in which wine is mixed with water for drinking, and hence to the bowl-shaped volcanic crater. Hellenes attach great symbolic importance to the proper mixture (krasis) of wine and water (Fire and Water); it is the central image of balance, proportion and harmony (Mêden agan - Nothing too much - as it said on the temple of Apollo at Delphi). Similarly, in Hellenic rituals, a burning brand from the altar fire is plunged into the bowl of lustral water to consecrate it as Holy Water (Greek, Hudôr Theion) or Water Inflamed by the Sacred Fire (Latin, Aqua Igne Sacra Inflammata). (In ancient Greek, the same word Theion means "a sacred thing" and "brimstone," reminding us that alchemical Sulphur is the Fiery Principle.) The Crater is also an important symbol in the Orphic Mysteries, and a lost Orphic Poem (by Zopyrus the Pythagorean) called The Cratêr dealt with Orpheus' descent through a Watery Crater into the Fiery Underworld (a common means of descent). In the Underworld, rivers of fire (Water + Fire) flow together in the Crater, and the Crater becomes a place of Ordeal, where truth and falsity are separated (by Fire). Also in Greek tradition, one may drink from the Crater or be immersed in it in order to be reborn (as Medea, granddaughter of the Sun, did in her magic of rejuvenation). It's not surprising that, according to Peter Kingsley (p. 135), the Crater influenced the Grail legends.
Fire in the Craft
The Element of Fire is associated with the South, and the Summer in the Wheel of the year. It’s colors are red, and orange. It is a masculine Element
Fire is known for life. Fire is a living principle of duality, providing light and heat to aid humankind, while at the same time being a force of death and destruction. The eternal flame is a common theme in ancient Mystery Cults and typically represents the eternal presence of Divinity. Among the ancient Greeks, Hestia symbolized the divine living flame, as did Vesta among the Romans. Fire is one of the four creative elements. It is commonly associated to the color red, although this does differ among the various traditions. As a magickal tool Fire is symbolized by the Athame, and Wand. Some traditions assign elemental Fire to the ritual blade because the blade was
forged in Fire. Other traditions assign it to the wand because of the use of wood as a torch. In astrology the zodiac sign Aries, Leo and Sagittarius are associated with Fire. The Elemental associated with Fire is the Salamander, however I also add the Phoenix, a bird that rises from the fires.
Fire Spells Purification, protection, healing.
Fire Protection Light a red or orange candle, use dragons blood Anoint the candle, dress with the purpose. With your blade wave over the Fire.. “ Hail Flames ,fire of the earth, Phoenix rise. And protect me now.” Now cast a circle of protection with the blade, envisioning a wall of fire rising. “ I summon now fire of for protection, none with harm inent for me will ever enter my sacred sphere, near me not they shall not come. As I will fire I trust your near, for s I will so it is done”
Fire to purify Light your candle red, use white sage and feather “ Hail Spirits of Fire I summon thee now to purfy _______ _______________________ Do what you need, and if you have the object it, then smudge it”
Always make sure you give thanks. Keep in Mind all Elements are living.
Connecting with Fire There many ways, and especially with summer being fiery hot it should be much easier. Bask in the sun, ut do not get burned, Mediate with a candle light with fire. Do not leave it by itself burning though. Meditating with Fire Sit comfortably, and privately, undisturbed. Use a red Candle. Breathe, relax. Push out thoughts of the day and everything else. Allow the fire within your body to connect to the eternal elemental Fire. Sense the fire within your cells as they burn up carbohydrates to keep you alive. Be aware of the friction of the stick on the edge of the bowl. Honour and give thanks for the power of Fire in your life; courage, passion, energy You can do this any time, and does not need to be long.