FIRE
3/28/07
Fire can be a friend or a ferocious enemy. The careful balance of fire and ore can create metal into any desired form. The careful mix of temperature and ingredients can blend into a perfect creation. Fire is the eternal force, that all alchemists have tried to harness and comprehend. The symbol of an eternal flame is a universal icon.
My life is a fire that rages and subsides by my thoughts. I regulate the fire’s temperature daily and fuel it with my actions. If I fuel the fire with troubles and despair it consumes me. If I fuel the fire with knowledge only it will often burn out of control. If I neglect it the fire will take it’s own course and possibly destroy me. Fire must be controlled. It can heal, warm, wound and destroy. It is the force of all life, and must never be allowed to burn out of control or be extinguished within us.
I acknowledge the fire within me. I understand it’s volatility. I understand how to use it, and how to control it’s power. I respect it. I fear it’s potential dangers, yet greatly desire it’s benefits. An alchemist’s workshop was often divided into two sections, an altar and a laboratory. The Alchemist’s Secret of transforming lead into gold is attributed to mastery of his spiritual fire, mastery of physical fire and base elements, and his reverence of the critical balance between science and prayer.
“The fire likes making things fiery, but not like the gold making gold. As far as there has been an active principle in nature, it spreads its forces around, and wants to multiply them. In this way fire makes everything it meets fiery, and there is nothing that produces a noble work without cause. By itself gold makes nothing fiery; neither does fire make gold. Each thing discerns the seed which it carries in itself.” Alchemist Micheal Maiers “The Atalanta Fugiens” “Emblem 18” Published, 1617.
L.A. STEEL
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