Last night I dreamed of Hekate and She said, “Do it. Set fire to it all.” I’ll be teaching at Tejas camp in October. Hekate is the goddess of the camp, so – our team discussions, and my own work, are opening to Her more and more. I always have a sense of Her physically when I work with Her, but She hasn’t had anything to say to me for a long time. Generally, She just stands still and silent at the crossroads, giving me choices, waiting and watching.
I’d been listening to the song “I See Fire” last night. The song has a different effect on me – it sounds like the beauty of fire, to me. A whole mountain on fire, from the inside – that is something that would be worth seeing, I always think when I hear the song. And then I have my usual doubts that come up with fire – yes, but it’s destructive, yes, but it gets out of control, it kills, it burns. It burns. If you love fire, as I do, you understand the concept of a two-edged sword.
The other elements get out of control and kill, too. But it’s fire most people seem to think of when they think of “danger” and “element”. But a witch, now – for a witch (for this witch, anyway), that’s just what it is to have power. We have power, we’re dangerous, we could use it badly. And – when power is needed, well, we can use it then, too. The same risks I’m willing to take with fire, I’m willing to take to use power. I do try to use both well.
The mythic feel of the dream is lingering, and I’m wondering what Hekate was telling me. As always, when She speaks to me, it’s brief, to the point. I don’t know what She was telling me, specifically. But I saw the mountain in my dream, when She said “Set fire to it all.” I think She is saying that something big needs to be transformed, and it will be such a change that I might hesitate. And She’s saying: “Don’t hesitate.” A dangerous guideline when you’re messing with fire in a big way. But if the Goddess is going to talk to me, in my experience, it isn’t usually about small things.
So I am on the lookout for what I should set fire to. Reminding myself of the way fire sustains – sustaining us with warmth when we need warmth, sustaining my spirit when my spirit needs warming, or ecstasy. Sustaining my community when transformation is called for. Sustaining sometimes by destruction that leaves room for something new to grow.
And mostly, I’m remembering how clear Her voice was in my dream. How in the dream, I loved that She was there with me. Her time is different – I may find out what she meant soon, or later, or in the next lifetime. But I feel blessed that She’s talking. I want to carry Her spirit into camp with me in October, and Her presence in my dreams tells me She’s good with that.
Blessings of fire to us all, at this, the time of the solstice.
