As I sat to write, belated due to travels, I felt a strong sense of urgency to create on the Capricorn New Moon during the couple of hours I had allotted for myself. During that time, I thought as though it would be appropriate to channel Fire for a project I am working on with a friend, and include the channeling for the New Moon writings.
In an attempt to start a fire to work with this elemental being, I failed. The pit I wanted to start the fire in was filled with old ashes and nails and wood from our recent home demolition project.
In my urgency for time, instead of cleaning out the pit, I scraped some of the scrap aside to make a small hole. The space didn’t feel good, and so of course a proper fire was out of reach.
But still within this sense of urgency, I grabbed random scraps of cardboard and sticks that still held the residue of the recent rains. I clamored for some pieces of wood and put it all into a pile to set it ablaze.
Bits and pieces sparked, and the fire held for moments, but not that true fire that you can feel safe and warm beside, as it is contained, well fed, and happy.
I realize this is the Capricorn New Moon, and with every New Moon I am curious what the energy will offer us. As I felt silly failing to create the fire, I realized its teaching carried profound structural insights.
Throughout my life, I have fought structure, and it often comes down to this internal sense of urgency that courses through me. A highlight of the story my mother shares about my birth demonstrates how this energy was passed into me.
When my mother was in labor, she chose to take the epidural, but in doing so she could not feel what her body needed to help me come out. Since she couldn’t feel anything, she had to listen to the doctors and nurses around her to indicate when it was time to push. The doctors were listening to my heart rate and it was beginning to slow down. They told my mom that she must get me out in the next push, or they would have to give her a C-section. With this urgency she was able to push me out, and I was born just after midnight.
As I was growing up, my dad often referred to me as a gypsy. I have held a natural tendency to live within the excitement of chaos, whipping around from here to there and figuring it out as I go. If there is a situation that calls for movement and thinking quickly on your feet, I am often able to pull something magical together. This situation with the fire, however, was asking for that long-standing structure of the Saturnian/Capricorn/Masculine energy.
My husband is currently with our daughter going to different stores to gather provisions for the perceived winter vortex heading our way in Kentucky. We live in the hills, and we have experienced ten-day power outages and un-passable roads out of our valley. Our Spring Water that is piped into our house will most definitely freeze, and our power may go out. We have a wood stove, we will have twenty gallons of water in storage, and a 1000 foot walk up to the Spring if we need more. Food supplies, propane, water, and wood. Check, check, check, check. This preparation is valuable to meeting our physical needs.
During my travels in Minnesota I received insight that it was time for me to work with the energies of the Sacred Masculine. This may be happening for many different reasons that are able to be perceived astrologically—my own evolution is ready to initiate this newly integrated way of being. My divine feminine is my place of refuge and I cling to it while the masculine side of me finds itself limping and dragging about, trying to keep up to support me in this Earthly life.
I noticed while walking in our field today that I could see clearly through our meadow and even walk through it which is very different in the summer time when everything is growing and thriving. This shows me that sometimes lack offers you movement in new ways, and new insights have access to come through. Such as when we haven’t been as prepared for past winter vortexes, we cooked over fire, walked to fetch our water at the Spring, and bonded more closely with our neighbors.
Likewise as I struggled to start the fire without success, I was able to come out of it with an elemental cycle framework for teaching the components needed for a strong internal and external flame in the world. As they appear, I realize these symbols already exist in other cultures such as in Chinese Medicine and working with the directions.
This elemental cycle roadmap may be worked with to notice which stage we are in within a project—where the project needs more support—and then working with those elements directly to strengthen that energy within your own life.
Currently, I am attempting to night wean Aurora and I can see myself faltering with boundaries and a clear plan, so integrating stones and wood pieces onto my own altar is one way to support this process.
Here is a draft of this elemental cycle intended to support creative projects as it relates to building a fire:
Metal: (Shovel)
Clear the space from what came before. Cleanse the emotional, energetic, and physical spaces around you.
Stone: (Fire Circle)
Create a clear sacred space for your project.
This may be boundaries around your time/schedule, for the project.
An altar to hold the energy.
Boundaries around who is involved.
Wood: (Fire wood)
Gathering resources and creating a plan.
What will feed this fire to climb and grow?
Start small. What can be easily eaten and accomplished in the beginning?
As momentum takes place, add larger steps, wood, food for the nourishment of the project.
Wind: (Air)
Tending.
Taking time to listen, watch, and pay attention to notice what is needed next and when the next step is ready to be taken.
If your fire is diminishing, blow, inspiration and new life into the fire to keep your project/fire going.
Sometimes a change of direction is needed at this time. Take notice, and care to make the necessary changes. This may be the shifting of the “wood” that is already in place.
Be sure not to move the “wood” in an impatient manner as it sometimes just needs time to get burning/going.
Use discernment if small changes are needed or larger ones.
Fire:
Once your fire is ablaze, enjoy the warmth.
Appreciate the work and love it took to build what you have created.
Love this fire.
Add more wood as needed.
Water:
When you’re finished, release it.
You may let it live on it’s own life or manually clear the fire with water to make space for the next one.
Which is also known as the cleanse to then begin again.
As my husband always says, “Things that last take time.” And so as I see with this fire experiment today, the fire teaches us to remember that offering any creation its due time is of the utmost importance.
It is interesting to note that for the honeybees, the female ones carry their sacred Masculine with precision. Their masterful structures are six-sided which is also the number given for the above six basic elemental charges of the world.
As the female bees carry stingers and create the structural integrity of the hive, gather resources, and create sacred spaces, they are the strongest carriers of the Mars-like energy that we have often attributed to the masculine.
The male bees, on the other hand, have no stinger. As Jacqueline Freeman writes in Song of Increase, “They (drones) are not made for war. They are made for love.” She shares how they carry the ancestral information forward and that they even go into the brood chambers and appear to be singing to the little ones that will be hatching out. Drones are welcome into other bee hives to receive intel of the state of the surrounding hives.
It seems as though they are very Venusian, holding these relaxed, relational, musical roles. The male bees seem to embody the feminine qualities while the female bees carry out masculine qualities.
As I notice this quality in the bees, I am reminded of a moment the week before I met my husband. I had written on a piece of paper a list of qualities I was looking for in a partner. The top quality was to hold an internal strength with an external gentleness. I met Phil a week later!
I appreciate his steadiness and his gentle approach in the world. It is such a powerful force.
Perhaps the Sacred Masculine is gentle, and by adhering to these elemental structures, attributes to a more peaceful way of being in the world.
Now with this wintery vortex approaching, it is offering a time to pause, step back, and reorganize the fires that are being built.
With love,
Sacha Louise and the Bees.