Popular culture has used our fear of fire and burning to launch a thousand films on subjects such as volcanos, bombs and arsonists. There was even the famous Firestarter film where Drew Barrymore played a child who could start fires with her mind. The researchers on the film must have done their homework as real life cases of firestarting also tend to occur in children and, more specifically, children who are distressed in some way. In fact this real life firestarting has been closely linked with poltergeist activity and the dicovery that this is less the case of malevolent spirits and more the outward manifestation of pre-pubescent children suppressing the feelings connected with encroaching puberty.
This form of activity can also manifest around disturbed teenagers. A 16-year-old Italian schoolboy, Benedetto Supino, hit the headlines in 1982 when objects around him started bursting into flames. The scientific community were baffled as to how to explain this strange phenomenon. It was clearly distressting to Benedetto who found that he could set fire to things without meaning to, just by staring at them distractedly. When an entire army of doctors were unable to help him, he turned to parapsychologist Dr. Demetrio Croce, who taught him to control and hone his abilities.
Vincent H. Gaddis in his 1967 Mysterious Fires and Lights explained the phenomenon thus: ‘One of the unsuspected powers of the mind seems to be the ability to release the vital energy that will speed up molecular agitation in a target object. As agitation increases the object becomes hotter. It requires only a hot spark to ignite a curtain, a dress, or any easily combustible object.’
If this is the case then focused meditation could enable all to harness the power of firestarting. Certainly Buddhist monks are encouraged to use their considerable mental training to adjust their body temperatures so that they can perform ceremonies bare-armed in freezing temperatures or remain perfectly cool in the most inhospitable heat.
Spontaenous Human Combustion
This is a phenomenon that scientists and doctors have been entirely unwilling to take seriously. However the rare cases of SHC have elements that are extremely difficult to explain such as the intense heat that must be generated to reduce a human being to nothing but ashes. These cases are often said to happen in a matter of minutes but it normally takes several hours for the human body to burn to ashes, even at incredibly hot temperatures. Another strange aspect of these sort of incidences is that often the surrounding area is left unburnt, suggesting that these fires start within the person and leading to its common name. Despite all these mysterious aspects, SHC is not being investigated by scientists, even when the validity of the work would help everyone from insurers to doctors. Instead these are explained away as being cigarette accidents or embers from fires. Fortean Times Co-editor, Bob Rickard, wrote on the subject: ‘Faced with the alternative - a nightmare out of the dark ages - it is not surprising that [these explanations] are accepted.’
Fire Worship
Pyrolatreia, or fire-worship, was once found in almost all parts of the world. The most famous example of this is Zoroastrianism, the ancient religion of Persia. The Parsees (adherents to this faith) were converted to Islam or exiled to India with the Islamic conquest of that entire region. This small community retained the old fire religion where the naked flame is seen as sacred. No Parsee will ever blow out a candle with their breath but will always snuff it out with an incantation instead. This is to avoid offending the deity, much in the same way as Muslims and Hindus remove shoes before entering a mosque or temple and Christian men remove hats in church. The Irish were also said to never put out a fire without a prayer. The common misunderstanding about the Parsee religion has been that it is the fire for its own sake that is being worshipped: it is not. The fire is symbolic of the Deity and is a way of connecting with the invisible God. One of the most fascinating relics of the Parsee religion is the fire that has burned for 1200 years in Oodwada in India. This is a site of pilgrimage for Parsees and a rather beautiful idea for anyone who is enamoured of the flame.
Firewalking
Max Freedom Long, the author who introduced Huna shamanism to Western audiences back in the late 40s, was entranced by the firewalking practiced by Kahunas (Hawaiian Shamans). He tried for some time to get a logical explanation for how these men could walk across lava rivers that were barely cooled enough to sustain a man’s weight. He came to the conclusion that it was magic. However this all depends on what you consider magic to be. The power of the mind over your body and other physical phenomena has traditionally been called magic but is now being explained by advances in psychology and biology. In fact the US lifestyle coach, Anthony Robbins, is famous for including a firewalk over hot coals in his ‘Personal Power’ workshops. Being able to control your body temperature seems to be more of a case of ‘mind over matter’.
Prove and purify
Baal or Bel is the deity associated with fires in Europe. Beltane was the auspicious fire through which cattle were driven for purification, on the 1st of May. The Scottish ‘trial by Bel’ (practised in the Hebrides) was where a cake was made with eggs, milk and oatcake, then broken up and distributed among the community. Whoever received the black part (hidden in the cake) was then ‘sacrificed’ to Baal. The ‘sacrifice’ was pushed into the fire, quickly rescued and then had to jump three times over the flames. Another version of this practice has the person subjected to a bare feet fire walk three times through the fire. This was due to the person being considered worthy of the flame by virtue of the cake deciding their fate. This idea that fire would ‘prove and purify’ is an ancient one. The Indian story of Ram and Sita, as recited in the Ramyana sees Sita being forced to walk through fire to prove that she is still a chaste wife to Ram after her kidnapping and imprisonment at the hands of the evil Ravana. She is shocked that her husband would doubt her but Ram tells her later that had he not treated her harshly and forced her to the test of fire (for fire being pure would not burn a pure person - don’t try that at home!), he would be despised by all who would cast aspertions on Sita’s chastity. This gave rise to the horrendous practice of Sati in India (where the faithful wife was considered to be one who would follow her husband to his death, by burning herself on his funeral pyre).
The idea of fire as a purifier is accompanied by the idea that it also has the ability to bless harvests and livestock. In France, bonfires (or Baal fires) used to be lit to bless fruit-bearing trees and the coming harvest. Flammarion, in 1867, wrote: ‘In the evening the bonfires in honour of the feast of St. John were lighted all around Angouléme,. and men and women were dancing before them, and jumping over them almost all night.’
Dancing about fires is a primeval practice that continues into many modern Pagan rites. Haitian and South American festivals to honour ancestors and spirits often involve fire dancing. Bonfires have the ability to connect with our most deep-rooted beliefs about the nature of the world. When we gather about an outdoor fire at night, we remember older, simpler times when stories were shared and safety provided by the light of the fire. By virtue of being lit outdoors you also connect with the element of air and the two together help the individual psyche to tune into both the natural world and the collective community, especially at gatherings such as ‘Bonfire night’. Little did Guy Fawkes know that his effigy would be transposed upon older customs of sacrifices to Bel.
Fire-worship remains an aspect of many Pagan religions today where its position as one of the elements and as guardian of the South is revered. The element itself is said to have purification properties that will protect both person and home. Fear of fire has been replaced by the wisdom of its central role in both physical and metaphysical human existence.
Warmth in Winter
This is a simple exercise to maintain a comfortable body temperature when you’re unable to control your heating requirements. Try this if waiting at a cold bus stop in Autumn/Winter. Think back to when you’ve been especially warm, whether in your bed in the morning or on holiday in a hot country. Try to evoke the actual feelings you felt in body and mind so, if it was on holiday, think about burying your feet in the sand and the coolness of it after the heat on the surface. Move up from that cool feeling in your feet to the heat you must have experienced on your face with the sun beating down on it. Close your eyes and turn your face to the sun as you would have on holiday. The more detail you can put into your imagining, the better the results should be. Your aim is to increase your body temperature and to feel warmer. Don’t expect success the first time you try it but do keep practising till you can put yourself into the state of heat you require.
Colour Candle Spell
If you’ve ever marvelled at the jewel wax colours that candles are available in, you’ll enjoy finding out what each colour stands for. Try the following meditation to bring those aspects into your life that you seek. Light a candle of that particular colour and sit in a relaxed but alert position, focusing on the flame. As you do so, imagine that the room is filling with wisps of smoke of your chosen colour. Inhale those colours and take them down
to your solar plexus. As you breathe out, imagine that all the negativity and problems associated with that area of your life are leaving your body and dissipating for good. Give thanks in anticipation of your success in your chosen area.
Purple: passion
Violet: spirituality
Green: wisdom, forgiveness
Pink: deep, abiding love
Red: passionate love
Brown: strength, courage
Blue: career
Yellow: balancing
Gold: healing
White: purity, energy cleansing |
