Fire -- the element of Chaos, the wildness of the universe that refuses to yield to anyone's control -- has been at the center of this Year of Covid. As the pandemic tore across the planet, the language of fire has been woven into its terrifying narrative. Simultaneously, 2020 was also a summer of unprecedented literal wildfires around the world So, both literally and figuratively, this was "The Year that Burned." But what gifts or lessons have the fires left behind?
Join our poets, writers, and artists, as they grapple with the Power of Fire, and find their own answers to bringing its passion to our lives.
Our Feature Stories:
Reflections on Brighid, author Danielle Dulsky, artwork by Laura Tempest Zackroff.
"During those dark initiations-of-soul when solitude is the only medicine, Brighid is the Goddess that I have turned to the most."
The Small Red Dot, article by Laura Lee Perkins, artwork by Kathy Crabbe
"Prayer comes quickly to our lips when we are scared.
Please give my legs strength to maintain a safe distance and my lungs the ability to breathe."
Aine: Fire in the Head, article by Hayley Arrington, artwork by Melissa Pandina
"I am a woman who loves the heat. I secretly call myself a sun witch, and my moon is in a fire sign, so need I say more? I dedicate this article to Aine, the Celtic solar goddess of inspiration and poetry."
Around the Fire: Creating a Sacred Space, article by Karla Huber
"I noticed something coming from the fire: a high-pitched hiss, or squee.
Fire song, I thought,
the elementals are singing."
Dancing with Fire: Rekindling Passion in a Changing Body, article by Clara Oropeza,
artwork by Elena Bessanova
"My embodied emotions and cyclical changes reside in my home ground, my hearth. Hestia watches over my fire, and keeps it from flaring too much, or burning out."
Brigid's Fire Lights My Way Back Home by Carolyn Boyd, art by Sage Cotignola
"The question was not,
What does this mean? but
What should I do? Perhaps by looking at the actions of my ancestors, I could learn what I must do."
Fire is Sacred: Living in the Land of the Bushfire by Jane Meredith, artwork by Kate Freuler
"I went up to my home for what could have been the last time. I went around the house building altars. I put them in every room for protection. To each of them I said,
guard this house, if you can."
Campfire Goddesses, article by Tina Riddle Deason, artwork by Sage Cotignola
"I spin a tale of joyful summer living on the river's bend."
Our Regular Columnists Share Their Wisdom
- Susun Weed: The Herbs of Fire
- Alison Leigh Lilly: (Un) Broken: A Sonnet
- Janet Callahan: Blazing (Emotional) Fires
- Holly Emore: I Have Seen Her Power (Sekhmet)
- Anne Fire: Combustion (Surviving California Wildfire)
- Crystal Blanton: The Power of Fire
- Leslie J Linder: Wolves as Guardians
- Stephanie A. Sellers, Ph.D.: Our Identities as Daughters
- Jen McConnell: Tending the Hearth
- H. Byron Ballard: The Crone Abides (new column!)
- Rebecca Bailey: Heartfire
Plus poetry, reviews of Goddess-inspired books, and our reader's stories in A Pinch of Sage, and the Rattle.
88 pages, summer of 2021.