Using the Five Elements as a Creative Writing Prompt Pt. 2: Fire
***Fire element***
The Energy of Fire
Fire is a precarious thing: both nurturing and threatening, chaotic and soothing. Contained it gives warmth, has the ability to cleanse and is the spark of creative possibility (to paraphrase Glennie Kindred) - think pyrophytic plants like the eucalyptus, Banksia and the lodgepole pine that need fire in order to regenerate - allowed to rage out of control it wrecks havoc and can cause utter devastation.
The element of fire is associated with the festivals of Beltane and the Summer Solstice, the Sun, midday, sits in the South and, in traditional yogic philosophy, governs the energy centre of the Solar Plexus - the Manipura chakra - a space of creativity and inner strength. The fire element connects us back to that which we are most passionate about and re-ignites our desire to create the world we want to live in.
Connecting with the Fire Element:
Practice a Tratak meditation (see suggestion below)
Consume warming foods and drinks such as soups, herbal teas, turmeric and ginger
Spending time outside at midday (remember sunscreen or a hat if it’s a particularly hot day)
Light a candle each morning, especially during the darker months, and express gratitude for the gifts in our life
If you have access to one, sit by a fire and listen to the crackling flames and watch the dying embers fly up and out into the sky
A Meditation on Fire:
One practice you can use to access fire as an element is to light a candle and practise a flame-gazing meditation known as Tratak in the Buddhist tradition. It is what it sounds like: light a candle and spend a few minutes just gazing at its flame, its forms and colours, the soft blur around its edges that seems to merge into a different space, a space that feels Otherworld-ly. This practice can also be used to help ‘cleanse’ the eyes, to see anew (but, for obvious reasons, don’t do this with the sun!).
Find yourself somewhere comfortable to sit in a space you won’t interrupted. Light a candle and place it on a small table so that it is at eye-level. With a soft gaze, you are going to look at the flame in intervals, without blinking if possible. Use a timer and do the following practice for 10 minutes and build up to 20 when you are ready:
30 seconds gazing softly at the candle
6 minutes closed eyes, focusing on recreating the shape and form of the flame in your mind’s eye
30 seconds open the eyes and gaze softly at the flame
3 minutes closed eyes as above
Follow this up by free writing anything that came up in your meditation and see where it leads you.
Using Fire as a Writing Prompt
Fire as a writing prompt is all about following the light of the long days and igniting a flame in the darkness. Try the following:
Write with the wild abandon of fire! Write the word ‘fire’ at the top of your page and then simply let your words become flames licking the page, creating new spaces and new forms. Perhaps joy comes, perhaps anger; whatever it is, sit with it, be ok with it. Watch the flames as they rise and fall, dying back to become cinders, ash...perhaps, like the archetypal Phoenix, creating something new.
Write from the perspective of different types of fire. This could be a bonfire, a candle, a controlled forest fire or wild fire.
Write a creative journal entry in the form of a poem or song. What needs to be burned in the fire? What passion or love can this fire then reignite in you?
Set a timer for 15 minutes and create a piece of writing centred around the theme of fire, try to be as descriptive as possible and then burn it. Clear that space in yourself and then do the exercise again. See if you can recreate the piece you have just burned but with even more detail and precision in your descriptions.
Please feel free to share your writing with me if you use this prompt.
Happy writing!
Helen x
