The Writer Erin Issue 12

The Writer Erin ISSUE 12 Soul Magazine AUG. 31, 2020 FIRE MAGIC WANDS THE TAROT PODCAST Understanding how the fire And their relationship to the Getting your mind together and element relates to the tarot fire element discovering the teacher inside of you

You cannot use someone else’ fire. You can only use your own. And In order to do that, you must first be willing to believe that you have it. -Audre Lorde

Understanding The Element of Fire As it relates to the tarot The 4 elements are are the basis of our universal experience. Earth, wind, air, and fire are all natural realities the symbolic building blocks of everything we observe in our third dimensional realities. On a natural level, they make all physical things possible. But on a metaphysical level, they serve as simple guideposts to anylzing the symbolic meaning within our lives.  One of the easiest ways to become acquainted Imagine one evening that you are meditating and with the four elements is through use of the end up in an astral space riding a magic carpet. But Tarot. The four suits of a tarot or playing card uh oh, it gets itself caught in a tree and decides not deck all correspond to the four elements and to move. You sweet talk it and you scream at it. have a metaphysical meanings associated with You even try to reason with it and  nothing. Then, them. you just decide to take a look at the magic carpet to figure out if it was hurt, like a puppy’s, wounded Understanding these 4 symbolic paw. Maybe it wasn’t in working order like a car?  characteristics is helpful to making sense of what may be underlying a persons When you lift up the carpet to see why it wasn’t subconscious programming. For the nest 4 moving, you realize that there is a candle weeks, we will focus on each of the 4 underneath it. It’s not attached to the carpet it elements in depth so that you can have a anyway. And you’ve never seen the candle before. wherewithal of each and how the symbolism But, since it’s not all that pretty or special, you affects your life. This issue is centered throw it on the ground.  around fire.  Ploop! Here is a short story to clarify the fire element to you.

You feel something fall inside the carpet, like ...”SHIT!” something was in the carpet that a pine cone from a branch above them.  got you right in a nerve on the side of your fist. No. It can’t be. The candle is now sitting on top of the carpet. You know you threw that You start feeling around for it and you just candle on the ground. You figure it out. know your fingers are fooling you. There is Obviously you threw it so hard that it must no possible way that this... this candle is have bounced back up onto the carpet. sitting on this carpet. You snatch it up.  A corner of the carpet throws itself around... Then, “duh...” you thought. “There must almost pissed.  have been a treehouse here once upon a time and some how the little candles got After you decide to lay off the wine, you lost in the trees. Even thought there was a sweep the candle to the ground and return to horrible wind storm last night and how the business of getting out of this rut and would... but of course that’s the reason. this tree. You start to wiggle the carpet a little bit to put You dig your fingernails into the candle and slam some energy into it. Nothing. it back onto the ground. You start shaking the You say your favorite YouTuber witch’s carpet around to pump it up for flight. Your manifestation chant. Nothing.  grandma used to sing an old gospel hymn to you You somehow even attribute it to the fact that when you weren’t feeling good and it always your parents should have waited until they were seemed to help. You start singing it to, too. It older to have you and then you wouldn’t even be starts to feel like that trap song your boo likes searching out astral projection as therapy! and you start singing that, too, when... Nothing. ...I could never make this up, something bops you like hell in that upper bridge of your nose. You  In frustration, you slam your fist down onto the scream so loud a wise guy dog starts barking carpet and... out, or was it a dragon?

You reach into the carpet to find whatever  hit you in the face, falling out of love with any future ideas of a treehouse. And kid you not. Candle.  You snatch it out getting pissed at all these candles rudely interrupting your lack of progress with the carpet. Nothing was working.  And you know your eyes aren’t fooling you when you see corner of the carpet roll its neck with attitude.  Then your heart drops, a little it. You slowly open your hand once more to make sure it wasn’t an illusion. This candle had nail markings in it, from when you dug your nails into the last time.  Now you were starting to be fearfully irritated. First you were stuck in a weird dream on a magic carpet, that happens to now not fly AND have a ridiculous attitude. You’re stuck in a tree too high to jump out of, and now you have to go to the bathroom! You ponder what the hell this candle or whoever was ordering the candle had to say. And why now? A corner of the carpet seems to be peeping around at you You start tossing the candle around to think and the corner of the carpet stands up, frozen. Somehow, you get the feeling that maybe it doesn’t like you tossing the candle around so frivolously, so you lay it down gently. The corner of the carpet flops itself down in defeat.  “Ok what do want from me?” You ask, still in disbelief that you’re even asking a magic carpet anything at all.  Slowly the carpet corner lifts itself up, turns and points itself at your feet.  You look down next to your feet to see the carpet seemingly glaring at the candle. But none of it makes sense. You wonder why your magic carpet is so worried about some dumb candle. Beyond that, what we’re you even supposed to do with it?  By now, you are starting to think about how hungry you are. Midnight was usually the time you would sneak downstairs to the kitchen to endulge in a chocolate candy bar and a glass of wine, uninterrupted by the kids. Now, you’re wishing you had forgone this magical astral projection for another night.

Then it hits you. You wonder why you never You grab center yourself on its back, wink thought about it before. You think about at the carpet corner and make it back what you learned in a dream, that you can home in time to have your treat. believe it and it is so. So you close your eyes, reach inside your pocket slowly, and Just as the flame of fire energizes a candle, just like magic, it’s there! You pull out the so too do your intentions and desires matchbook. The corner of that old carpet animate your experience. The element of shoots up in excitement. The cover of the fire represents your internal fire, your matchbook has a picture of a magic wand on passions. It’s a fire that energizes and it and reads “make a wish”. excites you. It’s your purpose and your mission. The magic wand is a symbol of You light one of the matches and the wick taking something from the unseen and of the candle.  bringing it into the seen world. The passion or burning desire is what enlivens the You say out loud, “I sure do wish I was at wand, or the club in in the playing card home with my glass of wine and my deck. chocoalate bar.” The carpet starts to churn, kind of like a car with a battery that’s just getting juiced up. It’s not enough to make the carpet fly, but the energy and vibrations were there. You decide to wait it out and trust that the carpet will move when it’s ready, just like your car. But that chocolate bar and glass of wine is surely calling you. You start to imagine what it feels like to be sitting all alone on your couch, listening to Lofi, sipping on your favorite Malbec, and taking your first bite of that decadent chocolate bar. You are smiling and don’t even know it. You’re so much into your fantasy that you almost miss the fact that the magic carpet is ready to fly off.

Breaking Down MAGIC WANDS In the traditional tarot, fire tends to correspond to One of the most consistent messages around fire in the fire and magic within the wand. But it’s easy to ancient spirual systems is the kundalini serpeant. see why many ancient traditions also align fire with Earth Wind and Fire even write a song called the heart and emotion.  “Serpentine Fire”. The ancient caduceus symbol of healing to Egyptians and Greeks, and the present day Fire has a restorative, destructive power to it. With medical symbol, is the cooling of the masculine and fire and the heat therein, things are melted down to feminine serpeant around the chakras and up the become a more potent version of itself. Fire cleanses spine until one reaches enlightenment. The opening the old, sort of like water, to usher in the new. In of these chakras creates the balance needed for many ancient pantheons, water and fire are one in the consciousness expansion.  same, just on different polarities.  This fire of the kundalini rising also parallels with the The Bhagavad Gita expresses that  fire embraces lost sexual transmutative functions of the fire. souls and the Divine spirit. Even the Catholic Sexual energy, which is first pulled from the lower tradition says that Christ came down as “tongues of chakras, only does so when the masculine and fire”. As it relates to the chakras, fire corresponds to feminine energies within you are polarized. It’s the 3rd chakra, which is the solar plexus. Solar similar to a fire of love and desire that’s created when meaning sun, your solar center, is the chakra where a male and female, or masculine and feminine your passions, will power, motivation, and inner fire polarity, become aroused with each other. comes from.

This can be studied at length through research into Tibetan Tantra. Even the classic book “Think and Grow Rich” has a chapter called Sexual Transmutation, which is a practice to bringing the kundalini fires up even beyond the solar plexus and out the crown chakra.  In the Buddhist ideologies, fires spoke to a development The wand itself is a power symbol all its own. The of inner knowledge that burned away the outer shell, or caduceus symbol, the two sergeants are actually the ego. It was also used throughout Africa, Europe and circling up and around a magic wand. This means that Asia as a ritual element. Fields and bonfires were burned the polarizing of the masculine and feminine as a show of purification. It also respresented the spirit polarities, the serpeant, connection with the wand realm. It is believed that cremation was developed for facilitates healing.  people who believed fire would shepherd them through the ancestral realm. Sometimes ritualistic fires were The energy inside the wand is said to wield the power used as a way of showing honor to the dead. Even in of the heavens. In most fairy tail stories, typically many present day alters, people light candles near the there is a fairy godmother, a being from the higher pictures of their loved ones to communicate using plane, who has the wisdom and knowledge to harness candle magic.  a wand’s power. She usually brings into the manifest world some sort of solution of life altering life As I study fire’s tarot card counterpart, which is the experience for her “godchild” or student.  wands, I notice interesting parallels in the cards. A lot of the cards represents the pondering of decisions made The Penguin Dictionary of symbols indicates that the around one’s passions and desires, from unmanifest to Druids saw the wand as having power over all of the manifest. The wand cards really influence the taking of elements, meaning mastery and balance. And in other responsibility of clarifying what you really want. traditions in Asia and Africa, wands were used as divination systems. For many present day solitary For instance, the 5 of wands shows a picture of 5 men witches, wands are tools used as symbols to help us fighting each other with wands. It says to me that 5 access the resources of the subconscious mind. Some different people have 5 different perspectives on what use them to close circles to conduct uninterrupted they truly desire and may need to find a way to get on spirit work or to banish unwanted energies. the same page. The 2 and 3 of wands both communicate the need to get clear on what is most important and Take the time to dive into the the wands, the fire what is a more meaningful purpose at this time through cards, in your deck to that you can strengthen your short distance travel or through taking inventory over analysis of its symbolism in your subconscious. Also your personal kingdom to discover if you are on the path grab a copy of the Penguin Dictionary of Symbols, of your highest good. analyze the Disney films and see how the symbol of fire shows up in your dreams.

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TAROT PODCAST FOR CREATIVES Aug. 31, 2020 /  Episode 12 GETTING YOUR MIND TOGETHER AND THE TEACHER IN YOU Click to Listen