That Time I Walked on Fire

That Time I Walked on Fire

This past weekend I was a headline presenter and vendor at an outdoor festival in Lakeland, Florida. One of the many events offered was the opportunity to participate in a firewalk ceremony. I didn’t choose this activity, but the excitement it generated reminded me of a time at a different festival long ago when I did accept the challenge to become a firewalker.

When I was in my mid-thirties, I attended a naturist gathering in upstate New York along with my husband and some friends. One of the activities available over the three-day weekend was a firewalk. To participate was a huge commitment; there was an extra fee, and the workshop would take the better part of two days. I was surprised and a little reluctant when my husband encouraged me to sign up. It turned out he had done a firewalk some years prior and found it transformational. He wanted the same benefit for me.

The first day my fellow firewalkers and I were greeted by our two instructors and a huge pile of firewood. Over the course of that day we meditated, chanted and eye-gazed. We each adopted a log of firewood on which we wrote our goals for transformation. Since the firewalk was part of a naturist festival, our feet were not the only part of our bodies that were bare. I suppose being nude for this workshop might have been another fear factor for some; I was just relieved I didn’t have to worry about my clothing catching fire!

In a solemn ceremony we started the huge bonfire. We each placed our logs on it, watching our written goals be consumed by the flames, knowing that the bonfire, when hot enough, would be raked into the bed of coals on which we would tread, barefoot.

It took two days to prepare ourselves for the fire, and it took those same two days to prepare the fire for us. The bonfire would become a bed of hot coals, six to eight inches deep, more than sixteen feet long, and many feet wide. In fact, it was so wide that a person walking down the center would not be able to step to safety without having to make another footstep on the coals.

While the process of preparing to face the fire was intensely spiritual, our firewalk instructors also explained the scientific principles that would keep us safe when we walked. Firewalking is not a mind-over-matter miracle. The spiritual benefit of firewalking is the opportunity to face one’s fears and do a terrifying thing while connecting with the wild essence of fire.

As the sun set on that second day, while chanting to a steady drumbeat, each of us mustered our courage to begin the longest walk of our lives. The coals glowed red, with little flames licking up between them. At the side of the course was an instructor with his drum, keeping the pace and the chant. At the end of the course was the second instructor with a hose, ready to cool our feet as we stepped from the coals to the grass.

The thing I remember most was the way the heat from the coals hit my face as I stood ready to take my first step. If the fire was uncomfortably hot on my face, how could my poor, bare feet withstand it? More importantly, how could I find the courage to walk forward when every shred of common sense told me to walk the other way?

That first step was the hardest. As I walked, I could feel the heat all around me. It felt incredibly wrong, and oddly right, to be walking across those coals. When each one of my fellow firewalkers made their way across the fire, I felt their fear, and then their pride, just as I felt my own. Although I cannot now remember the names of many of those who walked with me that night, at the time we felt a strong sense of community and fellowship together.

My first traverse across those coals made me feel so strong and powerful that I went back to walk it a second time. I emerged both times without injury.

This festival happened very early in my tarot career. I had worked a few psychic fairs and developed a few clients, but the concept of being a fulltime reader still seemed like a far reach, or even an improbable dream. Within twenty-four months of taking that stroll down coals my business had grown beyond my need to keep another job. To this day I believe firewalking gave me the confidence to follow my dreams and create my own success. If I had the ability to face the heat and fear of sixteen feet of fire and remain unscathed, what couldn’t I accomplish?

There are many ways in life to confront fear and build confidence. Nude firewalking turned out to be my way. I don’t think I will ever need to do it again, but doing it then created the personal transformation that gave me the ability to live the life I truly want.

Don’t Let Your Past Dictate You Future!

Here’s a conversation that seems to happen a great deal.

You: “I am sure I will never meet someone to have a relationship with.
Me: “What makes you sure about that?”
You: “I haven’t met anyone yet.”

There are other versions of that conversation, too, including the one that goes like this.

You: “I know I will never have a good love relationship.”
Me: “How do you know that?”
Client: “Because I never have.”

It’s true that sometimes when we want different results, we have to do different things. Nonetheless, it feels dangerous to assume that whatever has been true about our past will also be true about our future.

The dichotomy is this. It’s human nature to fear change. So if we want something different in the future than we had in the past, we have to be open to change, and willing to make change.

We can learn from the past. We can allow the past to create a foundation for the future. We can make changes, so we don’t repeat the past.

We don’t have to let our past dictate, or predict, our future.

The Problem with the Like Button

When I was driving to psychic house parties in Connecticut this August, I was grateful for Pandora on my Android. All I had to do was list some bands I like and Pandora kept me entertained with sweet tunes.

When I wasn’t driving, I would take the time to hit the thumbs up or thumbs down button on each song. Pandora learns from my likes and dislikes to play only the music I am most likely to enjoy.

That’s a good thing, right?

Maybe not; sometimes we learn to love a song after some repetition. Sometimes it’s a bit of a spiritual journey to make friends with a particular song. If I could just have hit the thumbs down on it, I would never have made the journey or heard the message.

Sometimes we find new meaning in the lyrics of the overplayed songs that bore us.  Sometimes we grow into a musical style we didn’t like before. The two bands who have brought me the most joy over the past thirty-five years were both bands I didn’t like at first.

The same thing is true with online friends. Most of us populate our social media accounts with friends who like what we like, and believe what we believe. If someone posts an opinion with which we don’t agree, it’s perfectly acceptable to simply unfriend them. We never have to deal with the fact that someone we know and respect feels differently about something than we do. One glance at our Facebook wall and we feel secure, knowing that we will never be confronted with an opinion different from our own.

The thing is, our opinions are supposed to change and evolve as we get older. It’s called “growth.”

The recent trend is that when we change the way we view a political, spiritual or societal issue, our evolution makes us a “flip-flopper,” or a “hypocrite” rather than a mature person who has consciously changed their way of thinking. When we reach out to compromise with others who have different views, others may see us as weak.
Exposure to people who have different ideas is what keeps us open and thinking.  Compromise is what keeps communities functioning.

Our various “like” buttons limit our exposure to anything that might challenge our current opinions or cause us to question ourselves, stretch or grow in any way. We may even wonder if it is actually possible to like and enjoy someone who holds beliefs that are different from our own!

I treasure my friends who are different than I am. I am interested in their opinions, even if they don’t match my own. It concerns me that this suddenly feels like a radical notion.

It’s good to try a food you think you don’t like, or listen to a band you’ve never cared for. It’s good to hear an opinion that differs from your own. It won’t kill you, and it might make you stretch you a little.

Find Yourself with Divination

Who are you, at your core?

This is a topic I often speak about, and write about, because it comes up so often in readings.

One of the reason that divination is so helpful is that divination is a way to help us discover our true identity – our core.

Sometimes we get stuck trying to be the person other people want us to be.

Sometimes we get stuck trying to become the person we think we should be.

Sometimes our self-perception is marred by low self-esteem or over-inflated ego.

Tarot, astrology and numerology are ways for us to look into a cosmic mirror, and discover things that are true about the self.

The more we are able to understand the core self, the more at peace we will be.

There are some people who misuse tools of divination, like tarot. They use the tool only to make predictions in an effort to assuage anxiety about the future. They never use the cards, nor any psychic tool, to actually question their own behaviors and discover more about the self.

The irony is, this very practice works to dispel anxiety, because once we feel solid in who we are, it is very hard to feel anxious about anything. Anxiety is most often born of a misunderstanding of self.

The significator card in a tarot spread is helpful in discerning “Who am I at the present moment?” Significator cards that we chose to represent ourselves help us discern “Who am I at core?”

If you want to learn about yourself, learn about your birth number, your sun, moon and rising sun, and the tarot cards associated with them.

This information should paint a clear picture of your motivations, your path and your sense of self.

There are those who say that we should not read tarot, or use other tools, for ourselves. They people may think we will come from the perspective of the anxious person using tarot to relieve her fear of the future.

But when we use our tools to understand who we are, we become strong, self-aware and healed.

I will be teaching a webinar on self-reading on July 24. Join us!

(This post is cross-posted on my Tarot Topics Community Blog.)

Twenty-Two Life Lessons from the Major Arcana

Tarot is a teacher. Each card bears lessons for us. As we learn the cards we are wiser for their messages. As we work with the cards we learn specific lessons about circumstances in our lives, some are unique to the individual circumstance and some are universal.

Each card teaches so many different lessons. Arguably, the Major Arcana cards are the wisest teachers in the deck. Here are some of the lessons I learn from them.

The Fool: Life is a journey and no one really knows where they are going. Have fun and figure it out as you go!

The Magician: Keep a good inventory of your tools, skills and abilities. Never stop learning.

The High Priestess: Be still. Sometimes silence is the best teacher.

The Empress: All things thrive when you nurture them. Choose what you want to grow in your life.

The Emperor: Honor your responsibilities.

The Hierophant: Know your own authority. Seek the proper authorities when you need to.

The Lovers: The right connections bring balance, the wrong ones don’t.

The Chariot: Be in charge of your own life.

Strength: Don’t be a bitch.

The Hermit: Don’t be afraid to be alone.

The Wheel of Fortune: Bad stuff happens. So does good stuff. Deal with it.

Justice: Do the right thing. Do it even if other people aren’t doing the right thing, and even if nobody’s watching.

Hanged Man: When you can’t change your circumstances, change your attitude.

Death: The only constant is change.

Temperance: Don’t expect perfection. Strive for the perfect blend.

Devil: You must face your fears, unhealthy habits and unpleasant truths.

Tower: That which is built on a faulty foundation cannot stand forever.

Star: All healing is available, always. Healing may not come in the form you expect.

Moon: Not everything is as it seems – look deeper.

Sun: Don’t hold back. Bring your best game every day.

Judgement: Get over it.

World: Take a larger view. The larger your perspective the more peace you will have.

Those are some of the lessons I’ve learned from the Major Arcana. What the Major Arcana taught you?