Perceiving the Dark Flame
There's a lot of talk about seeing the light, about light vs dark, about light as goodness. Dark is therefore perceived as the opposite, the source or place of evil.
The problem is, however, that this view is shortsighted and incorrect. Life with only fire, only light, burns without control. One cannot see nor function if everything is light and fire. There also needs to be darkness, cool, a chance for quiet and healing and change.
The dark flame is the hidden part of FlameKeeping, the hidden places in ourselves where growth and change can happen. It's the part of life which hides from the light, from scrutiny, from examination by oneself or others. We grow and change in the darkness, in rest, with only the results being seen in the light. It is the flame that comforts and keeps you whole. It is cool and dark, a place to rest and restore oneself.
The bright flame, the normal flame, is a flame we share with others. It is visible in how we act and what we do, shining into dark corners and creating boundaries, showing who we are and aren't. It burns from within to without and shows in our lives. The dark flame is different. It is hidden, quiet, cool. It burns for ourselves. It revitalizes and refuels us. In the darkness, we find ourselves again. We connect with our inner Divine spark through quiet as well as action. The dark flame gives us a point to connect that Divinity to.
Questions:
Are you in balance? Are you even aware of your inward dark flame?
Is the darkness in you nurtured as well as the light? Why or why not? Does this imagery make you uncomfortable?
Can you feel the Divine connection to the dark flame? The lit one? both?
The problem is, however, that this view is shortsighted and incorrect. Life with only fire, only light, burns without control. One cannot see nor function if everything is light and fire. There also needs to be darkness, cool, a chance for quiet and healing and change.
The dark flame is the hidden part of FlameKeeping, the hidden places in ourselves where growth and change can happen. It's the part of life which hides from the light, from scrutiny, from examination by oneself or others. We grow and change in the darkness, in rest, with only the results being seen in the light. It is the flame that comforts and keeps you whole. It is cool and dark, a place to rest and restore oneself.
The bright flame, the normal flame, is a flame we share with others. It is visible in how we act and what we do, shining into dark corners and creating boundaries, showing who we are and aren't. It burns from within to without and shows in our lives. The dark flame is different. It is hidden, quiet, cool. It burns for ourselves. It revitalizes and refuels us. In the darkness, we find ourselves again. We connect with our inner Divine spark through quiet as well as action. The dark flame gives us a point to connect that Divinity to.
Questions:
Are you in balance? Are you even aware of your inward dark flame?
Is the darkness in you nurtured as well as the light? Why or why not? Does this imagery make you uncomfortable?
Can you feel the Divine connection to the dark flame? The lit one? both?
posted by Vieva @ 3:10 PM
1 Comments:
At 1:17 PM,
Anonymous said…
This post is one of the most resonant to me. I am very much in touch with that dark flame, so much so that a favorite (though rare) activity is making black candles for a friend. I rarely dye my beeswax, but watching the hot dark wax go gray onto the wicking as I dip the tapers and then cool to a deep, dark lustre as they cool makes something in my chest vibrate with chords of bliss. I spent a lot of my young womanhood being a blow torch...or, lol, from the point of view of men around me, a blow-hard. I wanted to light their world on fire, sure if I just showed them where they had messed up in regards to issues of justice and gender they would snap to proper attention and change. They didn't, of course.
I was abrasive. I was hot and bright and I likely hurt the eyes.
Finally, various issues of grief and pain blew out that hot white fire in me, and there I sat in the ashes. Cinderella never had it so bad; her ashes were warm at least, thats why she sat there. I was quite cold in that dark for a long time. And then I realized I wanted to stay there, because I was so well-hidden in that darkness. Echoes of my past screamed imprecations at me, words like "Coward" and "Quitter". But still, I sat. I glued my tailbone to that cold hearth and watched the mental movie of my past roll over me.
And finally, I gathered that cold darkness around myself like a coat and let my own warmth sink into it, I had to love my failures as lessons and stop calling myself a failure. I had to tell myself I tried, but I tried in destructive ways and its better to fail at destruction if you can't build something better in its place. I had to kindle a new fire.
That new fire isn't the white hot blow torch of my youth, its a soft yellow lazy flame with blue tips that can leap into the night sky with flashes of green and rose. And the shadow it throws upon my fir trees is black as midnight without a moon. And in that shadow flame I dwell, its warm there and rests my eyes. I'm not afraid of the dark, but I am also no longer afraid of the light.
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