Burning bright

I'm all about fire lately. There was the crayon melting that both involved heat and ended up looking like a blaze of colour. I've put up the first Christmas lights, just to see their orange glow in the window, and I've got the holiday log on youtube repeat on the right side of my screen, crackling away. Want to see? I'll take a screenshot....how's this for recursion? (It's even more recursive for me, since I have a third view off to the right.)

A little googling (by which I mean wikipedia) and I find out that in Greek philosophy fire is associated with energy, assertiveness and passion. (I also learned that 'quintessence' comes from 'quint' meaning five, as it's the fifth element after air, fire, earth and water. Accidental learning is the best kind.) Even back on October 18th it was all about the fire. And since the retreat I went on in August, I've tried to begin each day with a moment of zen, a cup of tea, a good book (sometimes the Good Book) and a candle burning in front of me.

I'm trying to pay attention to such things as this, as suggested by Gregg Levoy in Callings, especially his chapter 'Turn of Events'. He talks about what are known in the trade as synchronicities, essentially 'signs' in the form of coincidences that serve to connect in unique, personal messages that help us become "distinct from our surroundings, from the grabby dictates of the collective and the expectations of others". Amen to that!

Really, when you start looking, that's when you notice the messages and themes. And mostly they're telling you things you already know, just a little Universal nudging or cheerleading.

In the delicious night,

In privacy, where no one saw me,

Nor did I see one thing,

I had no light or guide

But the fire that burned inside my chest.

That fire showed me

The way more clearly than the blaze of moon

To where, waiting for me,

Was the One I knew so well,

In that place where no one ever is.

St John of the Cross ~ The Dark Night (excerpt)
(and discovered by me in Ten Poems to Change Your Life by Roger Housden)