Lucinda:
When the Festival Team were contemplating how best to celebrate Solstice this year, we came across a message from Mariel, a Sidhe star priestess who has worked with many Lorians to foster connection and collaboration between the Sidhe and Humanity for this time. Mariel’s message to Humanity, found in the book Conversations with the Sidhe, is compelling:
“We bring Starlight. You bring Fire.”
What does she mean by this? She goes on to say:
“The fire you bring to the world is that of love. For you to find your loving place, the center within from which you love, not just as an emotion but as a force of wholeness and nourishment, can be a more difficult process for you than for us, as more stands in your way. A diamond found lying on the ground is beautiful and a joy to find, but a diamond dug out from deep within the earth has the same beauty, but reflects as well the power and effort that went into the digging. Our world is strewn with diamonds; the Light of the Lover is plain to us. But in your world you must dig, which makes the presence of love in you so much more potent. We are attracted to your power of love and are warmed by it. Think of us when you go to your loving place and invite us to share it with you.”
At Solstice time this year, human beings are mired in the darkness of wars and suffering. We are having to dig very deeply to find a shared love and respect for one another on this planet. To many people, this task seems hopeless, and a futile, even unwanted endeavor, if it means letting go of fervent, cherished beliefs, opinions and personal wounding.
Honoring Fire–the Fire of Human Love–and lighting candles of hope, even joy, in the midst of so much suffering and pain–this is what we wish to share together this Solstice time. We also want to focus on the gift of Warmth, that strong presence and way of being that human beings naturally have and can offer the world.
Linda, who will be celebrating the Summer Solstice in Australia when we gather, was inspired to write about Fire and the gift of Warmth for this festival blog. Here is her offering:
Linda:
The element of fire.
The glow of a candle flame.
Warmth of the hearth.
Burning heat of the desert.
Incandescence of the sun.
Rudolf Steiner wrote:
“The spirits of flames are called Salamanders. After the plant has passed through the sphere of the sylphs, the plant comes into the sphere of the elemental fire spirit. These fire spirits are the inhabitants of the warmth light element, when the warmth of the earth is at its height, they gather the warmth together. Just as the sylphs gather up the light, so do the fire spirits gather up the warmth and carry it into the blossoms of the plants.”
I relate this back to the fire within me–the creative flow, the warmth, the passion and love which I can bestow on those around me–spreading my love, my warmth, my fire, and passion outwards.
One way I do this is through my love of food, of cooking and sharing meals with friends and family. I love to create healthy, delicious meals. There is this nurturing part of me that knows that the love and passion that goes into the cooking process is passed into the meals.
At the moment, I have my daughter and family living with me. My grandchildren love me to cook their favorite dishes–chicken soup, tofu burgers, apple cake.
It is not necessarily the food itself (well, yes, the love of the dish is important), but it is the love, the nurturing, the warmth that is filling them up. Comfort food. When we think of comfort food–it is just that–the loving fire that has been transmitted from one being to another through the food. It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It brings that sense of feeling safe, sitting by the hearth, being part of community.
I can extend that fiery element into my garden–to gardening, singing, dancing, with my inner fire being part of the commons of Gaia.
In these troubled times, I do feel far away from the conflicts (even though it is felt strongly here) One way I can counter this is to stand in my loving Presence, extending my love and fiery hope to my community. ‘Being a sun’. Light expanding.
I would like to share a story about how the fires of love and warmth can transcend the veil between life and death. The story was shared with me by an acquaintance, who has just written a book about her mother’s life.
My acquaintance’s mother was a young girl in Poland in the Second World War. She was separated from her family and incarcerated in a concentration camp. She had been in the camp for about eight months, and she was alone, tired, starving and didn’t want to fight anymore. She did not know if her family was alive, and she had given up. She was very close to death.
That night the young girl had a dream.
The dream was distinctive, vivid, very realistic. She was back at her childhood home. Her mother appeared by her side, holding in her hand a warm bowl of soup. Her mother fed the young girl the broth, spoonful by spoonful.
Then she held her daughter tightly, telling her that everything would be all right. She urged her daughter to try and stay alive until her birthday, which was four days away. When the young girl awoke, she was amazed that she did not feel hungry; in fact, she felt somehow revived. She had sufficient faith in the dream and so she vowed to hang on for another four days. On the young girl’s birthday, the camp was liberated. She believed that her mother had crossed the threshold between life and death to be with her and to help her survive.
This is an amazing story–of love crossing time and space–the love of a mother for her child, feeding her broth, full of love, warmth, and nurturing–and filling her with hope even in the darkest of places.
So as we approach the Solstice, the sun reaching its zenith in the Southern hemisphere, the days long, and getting hotter, I reflect on that fiery element within me, flowing into my cooking, into my garden which is full of flowers and fire spirits dancing in the blooms, expressing their love, passion and beauty for our world.
Lucinda:
Linda’s sharing and the beautiful story she tells captures completely what we hope to honor and celebrate at our December Solstice Gaian festival. For those of you joining us, or wishing to contribute something on the Commons site, we invite you to bring stories, poems, songs, artistic creations that capture the power of Human Love and Warmth to enliven even the most barren of places, to ease the most painful of circumstances, to bring hope and wholeness to a broken world. Perhaps you know a story about having to dig deeply for Love, or you experience Warmth in unique and interesting ways that you can share with us all.
We look forward to building Fires of Love and sharing our Warmth together at Solstice time!
Blessings,
The Festival Team
Freya Secrest, Lucinda Herring, Linda Engel and Ara Swanney
Solstice Gaian Festival
Northern Hemisphere: Friday December 22nd - 1 pm PST
Southern Hemisphere: Saturday December 23rd - Varying times depending on where you are
All are invited. If you’re not a member of the Gaian commons community, email freyas@lorian.org for the Zoom link to join in.