Fire Speaks

I took a walk in the woods this afternoon to clear my head of computer work and prepare my spirit for writing. There is a nice breeze today although it's a warm, summer one. The sun is shining hot between spotty clouds.

As I walked along the trail, I fell into some energetic practices of clearing the circuits in my body. Then I  connected deeply with the Elements in and around me: Air - the breeze and my breath;  Fire - the sun and my spirit; Earth - the ground beneath my feet and my body; and Water - puddles from recent rains and my sweat. Between the breeze on my skin, the sweat on my body, and the spotty shade from cedar trees and clouds, I actually experienced some moments of feeling cool as I walked, even though it was nearly 90 degrees.

I sent out a question to the Sun and to the Element of Fire asking for guidance on how to best serve them for a particular post I hold with the Toltec Center, and the answer I got was a perfectly shaped heart rock. I spotted it on the path just as I took my next step; in fact, I nearly stepped on it. And then, the message came: "Open your heart even bigger than you already have. Yes - even BIGGER!"

I smiled at this answer and walked on with delight. Not two steps later came the most gorgeous little snake - a pretty little fellow with a bold pattern and no rattle. Knowing a bit about Texas snakes, I decided it was (probably) not a threat to me. So unless it was a "rattle-less rattlesnake" (and I've learned that there is such a beast), I figured it was harmless. It had stopped along the edge of the path, barely visible among the grasses and shadows there.

We checked each other out quickly and hesitantly, he more than I. I moved in for a closer look; he didn't move. I felt his nervousness with my size and I thought, "Geez, I must feel HUGE to you!" So I gave him some space and he turned to slither off into the grass.

"Thanks for the message, you beauty!" I offered as he left. And then I set about to retrieve whatever it was I was thinking about when I saw the little guy, knowing that in the shamanic world, this is significant information. "What was it? Oh yes - it was about opening my heart even bigger."

Yet there was another piece that had already slipped my awareness, which returned to me when I went back over it. It was about using more energy to open my heart even bigger, and to hold that task just as importantly as I hold all the others. I might have missed that piece altogether had I not taken a moment to reflect upon it. So "Thank you" again, dear snake friend.

Just returning to the thought of that brings a smile to my face. Living with an open heart is freedom. It's joy, passion, love and truth. It's integrity and authenticity. Sometimes it's even scary, hard and sad, yet it's what's real to me anymore. The rest just feels like lies - distortions of the truth of who I am, who we all are - as part of a divine, whole Source.

So that's my latest challenge on this year to live: to open my heart up even bigger and to live from that place in all I do...

143 days ... Is that enough time??