Fire

In order to start looking at the elements for my invocation I am going to complete brainstorms for each one, starting with fire.

Fire is associated with Summer, the East, Yang, the Masculine, Mars, Red, Rubies, blood and the athame. It is represented by the red Pheasant, Phoenix, Dragon, Salamanders and cats. The Chinese Astrological signs of the Snake, Rat and Sheep come under fire and in the western tradition the signs of Aries, Leo and Sagitarius. I am not sure how useful lists like this are. Do they help me understand fire?

We went for a walk this afternoon. We had left it a little late and the sun had just set by the time we reached the beach. By the time we returned to the car the stars were coming out. The presence of all the elements around us was obvious, except for fire. The wind was rustling my hair and the waves were gently lapping on the beach and the stones and sand were very present beneath our feet.

The sun is obviously the most common aspect of fire that we see but all around me I could see other subtle indications of fires presence. The town's lights glinting across the bay, car lights heading across the bay, the warmth in my body, the plants quietly living off stored sunlight and Venus and the stars glinting overhead. In fact light itself is an aspect of fire so just being able to see means that fire energy is present.

Fire is the element of energy and it includes electricity. Electricity is the opposite side of a theoretical coin to magnetism and you can not have one without the other. Light itself is made up of a magnetic field wave and an electric wave. So fire includes all light waves as well as all other types of electromagnetic waves such as radiation in the form of gamma rays, x-rays, UV light and radio waves. Phenomenon such as lightning is easier to relate fire but the aurora borealis is fire to as it is caused by charged particles in the solar wind moving through the earth's magnetic field.

Heat is also an aspect of fire. All heat originally comes from the sun. Heat is also generated by objects moving against each other as friction. So fire is present whenever anything moves. Heat is one of he primary causes of weather as it causes ocean currents (such as the Gulf Stream and Thermohaline current) and winds. Evaporation is caused by fire and so clouds form with the help of the wind and cooling results in rain or snow.

Heat is also the cause of some environmental issues we currently face such as light pollution, pollution from fossil fuels, climate change and rising sea levels. Too much fire is obviously a bad thing as it results in burning. Fire can be very destructive in some forms at is fire that is used in bombs and proprels bullets out of guns.

Fire does however cleanse things. It is used to sterilise medical equipment. Regular use of fire in some types of forest helps keep them healthy and preventing fires is actually detrimental to the trees and habitats. It has been used for centuries to clear land for farming.

It is also the most fundamentally creative of the elements. Energy was the first thing that existed in the universe following the big bang, the biggest explosion of all time. Stars created elements other than hydrogen within themselves and then flung these other elements out as they died in supernovae. Everything that we are made from was created within the heart of a star.

So fire is creative and destructive. It is heat and related to all forms of energy and is present in all change and movement. It is the life blood of all human technologies that require electricity or magnetism. It is light. It is plate tectonics and volcanoes, it is weather and ocean currents and the stars in the sky.

So what is fire in terms of emotions? It is passion, enthusiasm, creativity, inspiration, leadership, assertiveness. On the flip side it is also hate, anger, impatience, rebelliousness, moody, snappy and fiery.