Walk. On. Fire

Without hope. With fierce hope.

Welcome to all the new paid subscribers! Waving at you and jumping up and down clapping and shouting! I’m so glad you are here. No matter whether you are a paid or free subscriber, I’m grateful to you. If you want some context / the best of Out of the Fire here is the one year anniversary article from May 2024…

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Okay, onward to this week’s writing!

Last weekend I helped create a 75-foot snake out of fire.

I drummed for hours as the snake burned, and then drummed as people walked, danced, and strolled barefoot across the serpentine red-hot coals.

This was not one of my public events, but a very special Gathering of firewalk instructors from around the world, representing 10 countries and multiple different firewalking schools.

What happens when people who love fire and are trained to share the firewalk with others come together to play and stretch themselves?

LOTS. OF. COALS.

And also, lots of creativity, wild dancing, and doing outrageous things that we don’t bring to our public events.

Holding a steady heartbeat on the drum for hours, calling in the wisdom of my ancestors (who include my newly dead) with prayers and offerings to the land, and walking over hot coals with friends from Latvia, Sweden, Spain, Scotland and beyond was the perfect medicine for me last week.

I don’t have a lot of words this week. But here are some reflections from my wild firewalk weekend:

• HOLD THE HEARTBEAT

What helps you stay steady in challenging times? What are your values? How can you keep drumming, even when your hand is cramping and your arm is tired? Who can you pass the drum to hold the beat when you need to rest?

• LEAN INTO HELP, SEEK INSPIRATION

We are always surrounded by allies, both invisible and visible, known and unknown. Who do you pray to? Who are the ancestors who embody courage, wit, wisdom, and resilience? Who do you call / pray to when you are scared or feeling defeated? What authors / writing keeps you inspired? What friends remind you to laugh? (I’m currently reading Roar: A Collection of Mighty Women by Ashley Longshore, Loving Corrections by adrienne maree brown, and Rebecca Solnit’s Hope in the Dark: Untold History, Wild Possibilities.)

• DANCE ACROSS THE COALS

Keep celebrating. More joy. More sweetness. Do more things you love. Remember that sometimes what can burn can also be healing. Don’t let your fire go out. Do more things that bring up your fiery courage. Do more things that set your heart ablaze with delight. Walk. On. Fire. Expand what you think is possible. Move your body. Laugh.

• DON’T FORGET TO CLEAN UP AFTERWARDS

After any celebration, change, or shift there is cleanup. Those 75-feet of red-hot coals we danced across soon became 75-feet of hard, dark charcoal and ash. Who does the cleanup? Where do we put all the coals? Remember to plan for and create space for the aftermath of choices, decisions, and gatherings. It took hours via shovel and one beat-up, flat-tired, metal handled Mexican wheelbarrow to move coals to the perimeter of the property and clear the space for the next night’s fire. This, too, is part of the whole.

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The Oracle…

For our paid subscribers: Here are some of my current inspirations from other writers: a remaking the world myth from the White Mountain Apache people; why we should imagine the worst; why we should imagine the best; a video of what else to do besides get bogged down by social media; a video to kick your butt back into action. Pick one to be today’s oracle for what you most need, or settle in and read/watch them all.

Also included below: a playlist called Walking on Fire : )