Comments on: On Fire http://gnosiscafe.com/gcblog/2007/09/01/on-fire/ Thoughts on Dreams, Life, and Spirit Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:33:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Anne http://gnosiscafe.com/gcblog/2007/09/01/on-fire/#comment-7033 Anne Wed, 26 Sep 2007 01:44:57 +0000 http://gnosiscafe.com/gcblog/2007/09/01/on-fire/#comment-7033 Hi Sia, how nice to hear from you. I am sure this will get published in one form or another—most likely as part of a longer book on spirituality and leadership, eventually. I can think of one person in particular who said to me at 19 that I really just had to give everything lots of time. It was hard to hear at that moment, but I would recall her words through the years and found them comforting. There is so much emphasis in this culture on achievement and success and not enough on ripening, which is a process that we do not control. Rather, it happens to us when the time is right. Not the easiest concept when you are 19 and trying to achieve something. Dragonfly, thank you for bringing Brigid into the mix. It is true, She of the forge is a wonderful guide through the trials of fire. And since she is also Goddess of the Holy Well, She will fit very nicely into my next segment on this theme... Waverly you are correct: I have left a few blogging threads dangling over the past month. I hope to continue this one very soon. It does tie in with California Cosmology in the sense that it is my cosmology, and I am like you very much a product of West Coast thinking. The larger discussion about zeitgeist will take me longer to shape, I think. Or maybe I'm just feeling tired at the moment. Hi Sia, how nice to hear from you. I am sure this will get published in one form or another—most likely as part of a longer book on spirituality and leadership, eventually. I can think of one person in particular who said to me at 19 that I really just had to give everything lots of time. It was hard to hear at that moment, but I would recall her words through the years and found them comforting. There is so much emphasis in this culture on achievement and success and not enough on ripening, which is a process that we do not control. Rather, it happens to us when the time is right. Not the easiest concept when you are 19 and trying to achieve something.

Dragonfly, thank you for bringing Brigid into the mix. It is true, She of the forge is a wonderful guide through the trials of fire. And since she is also Goddess of the Holy Well, She will fit very nicely into my next segment on this theme…

Waverly you are correct: I have left a few blogging threads dangling over the past month. I hope to continue this one very soon. It does tie in with California Cosmology in the sense that it is my cosmology, and I am like you very much a product of West Coast thinking. The larger discussion about zeitgeist will take me longer to shape, I think. Or maybe I’m just feeling tired at the moment.

]]> By: Sia http://gnosiscafe.com/gcblog/2007/09/01/on-fire/#comment-7024 Sia Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:07:34 +0000 http://gnosiscafe.com/gcblog/2007/09/01/on-fire/#comment-7024 What a wonderful post. Thank you. I've copied it out for my Elements book. Are you going to make a collection of these essays? I hope so. I was recently asked for advice by a college age Pagan, and this is one of the links I put in my note to her. I think that all ages can relate to this, but the fire of youth is a different sorts, and your article is most relevant in that respect. I wish I'd had this wisdom available to me when I was 19. Sia What a wonderful post. Thank you. I’ve copied it out for my Elements book. Are you going to make a collection of these essays? I hope so.

I was recently asked for advice by a college age Pagan, and this is one of the links I put in my note to her. I think that all ages can relate to this, but the fire of youth is a different sorts, and your article is most relevant in that respect. I wish I’d had this wisdom available to me when I was 19.

Sia

]]> By: dragonfly http://gnosiscafe.com/gcblog/2007/09/01/on-fire/#comment-7010 dragonfly Mon, 24 Sep 2007 09:20:09 +0000 http://gnosiscafe.com/gcblog/2007/09/01/on-fire/#comment-7010 Wonderful...thoughful...eloquent...lucid...with clarity. I have the experience that you are generous in your journey of learning and exploring with others. I love the three stages of on Fire. This leads me to connecting on my thoughts on 'fire in the belly' ~ the Hara chakra ~ and my ability to feel the glowing embers. I have recently been working with the red heart and circulating the 'fire in the belly'. this is after working with the black rainbow obsidian ~ the fire from the centre of the earth that has all the colours of the rainbow in the blackness. I love what you have put on the blade ~ the tool being shaped ~ we are at the same time the created and the creator. For a time I took up fencing to connect more with the blade ~ and found the practice extremely challenging! ~ I also found it frustating having to fence with the mask. I felt my senses numbed ~ but I understood the need for the mask! Lastly, your post takes me to the Goddess Brigid ~ you post speaks of her presence strongly to me. This weekend I was with a relative who as part of his photography course made a picture of 'Candle burning at both ends' ~ literally. Normally I consider that to be a phraze expressing not listening to ones energy ~ burning out. However, the picture itself moved beyond that phraze. It was incredible magical paradoxical image. This image was frozen in time. Infinity. Umm fire and infinity. I also love your other post on the experience of eating red berries. Wonderful! Joyous and celebratory! Dragonfly Wonderful…thoughful…eloquent…lucid…with clarity. I have the experience that you are generous in your journey of learning and exploring with others. I love the three stages of on Fire. This leads me to connecting on my thoughts on ‘fire in the belly’ ~ the Hara chakra ~ and my ability to feel the glowing embers. I have recently been working with the red heart and circulating the ‘fire in the belly’. this is after working with the black rainbow obsidian ~ the fire from the centre of the earth that has all the colours of the rainbow in the blackness.
I love what you have put on the blade ~ the tool being shaped ~ we are at the same time the created and the creator.
For a time I took up fencing to connect more with the blade ~ and found the practice extremely challenging! ~ I also found it frustating having to fence with the mask. I felt my senses numbed ~ but I understood the need for the mask!
Lastly, your post takes me to the Goddess Brigid ~ you post speaks of her presence strongly to me.
This weekend I was with a relative who as part of his photography course made a picture of ‘Candle burning at both ends’ ~ literally. Normally I consider that to be a phraze expressing not listening to ones energy ~ burning out. However, the picture itself moved beyond that phraze. It was incredible magical paradoxical image. This image was frozen in time. Infinity.
Umm fire and infinity.
I also love your other post on the experience of eating red berries. Wonderful! Joyous and celebratory!
Dragonfly

]]> By: waverly http://gnosiscafe.com/gcblog/2007/09/01/on-fire/#comment-6980 waverly Sat, 22 Sep 2007 21:00:00 +0000 http://gnosiscafe.com/gcblog/2007/09/01/on-fire/#comment-6980 I'm so glad to have discovered your blog, after having met you at the Reclaiming meeting in Seattle. I'm still waiting for follow-ups to previous posts: the Shinto myth and your further comments on California Cosmology. I too am a child of the West Coast, and prefer the Reclaiming flavor of witchcraft to the traditions that derive more directly from the British Isles, with their emphasis on hierarchy and formal ritual. I wonder how much that has to do with a whole West Coast zeitgeist. I went to Reed College for one year in the early 70's and I was appalled when my classmates (most of whom came from the East Coast) competed in class to be the best, to have the most impressive sounding response to the professor, to use the most obscure vocabulary. I had been raised in West Coast schools (actually Catholic schools, but that's another story) where the emphasis was on sharing knowledge, working as a team and being inclusive. You would never try to say something that would make others feel bad or be confused about what you meant. Needless to say, I left Reed after one year and finished my degree at UCSB, while living in Isla Vista. Truly California culture. I’m so glad to have discovered your blog, after having met you at the Reclaiming meeting in Seattle.

I’m still waiting for follow-ups to previous posts: the Shinto myth and your further comments on California Cosmology. I too am a child of the West Coast, and prefer the Reclaiming flavor of witchcraft to the traditions that derive more directly from the British Isles, with their emphasis on hierarchy and formal ritual.

I wonder how much that has to do with a whole West Coast zeitgeist. I went to Reed College for one year in the early 70’s and I was appalled when my classmates (most of whom came from the East Coast) competed in class to be the best, to have the most impressive sounding response to the professor, to use the most obscure vocabulary. I had been raised in West Coast schools (actually Catholic schools, but that’s another story) where the emphasis was on sharing knowledge, working as a team and being inclusive. You would never try to say something that would make others feel bad or be confused about what you meant. Needless to say, I left Reed after one year and finished my degree at UCSB, while living in Isla Vista. Truly California culture.

]]> By: Jaimie http://gnosiscafe.com/gcblog/2007/09/01/on-fire/#comment-6836 Jaimie Tue, 04 Sep 2007 22:21:55 +0000 http://gnosiscafe.com/gcblog/2007/09/01/on-fire/#comment-6836 You write so lucidly about concepts that I struggle to even express (which does tend to get in the way of deepening my understanding . . . ahem). Thank you for this timely essay, which I have found enormously helpful. Looking forward to the next one. You write so lucidly about concepts that I struggle to even express (which does tend to get in the way of deepening my understanding . . . ahem).

Thank you for this timely essay, which I have found enormously helpful.

Looking forward to the next one.

]]> By: Thorn Coyle http://gnosiscafe.com/gcblog/2007/09/01/on-fire/#comment-6809 Thorn Coyle Mon, 03 Sep 2007 05:07:12 +0000 http://gnosiscafe.com/gcblog/2007/09/01/on-fire/#comment-6809 I hope all of this is going into our upcoming class! I hope all of this is going into our upcoming class!

]]>