Air & Fire is the second part of our 2 Part series on Healing with the elements. Read part one here. We all know these elements, but do we know how they affect us and how we can use them in our daily lives to restore balance and bring healing to ourselves and our environment? As an Andean Solar Priest, we are taught about the intricate relationship between the elements of nature as well as their influence upon us as humans. In this 2 part series I would love to share a few basic insights based on the teachings of the Sacred Andean Tradition.
AIR – Purifies us
Take a deep breath, let it go; you just experienced life. Something autonomous we barely pay attention to keeps us alive, every minute of every day, even when we sleep – imagine the power it can have if we work with it consciously!
Air is life, just think about the breath of life. It carries within it the vital oxygen that fuels our cells. But when something is exposed to air in the wrong way it will be killed, dried out until it becomes nothing but dust. It can move dynamically, lifting things off the ground, causing instability, breaking trees, shattering windows. It also blows the seeds across the fields, carrying them to a resting place to sprout and grow.
This element governs our mental energy and communication. From a soft whisper to the loudest scream, air is needed to initiate the vibration of the sound as well as to carry it over to someone’s ears. Our thoughts, like the wind, are sometimes soft and quiet, other times gusty and strong, or even spiraling out of control like a tornado. Our thoughts too can create instability in our lives, break and shatter us. Our words too can break and shatter those around us. All from the air we breathe.
He is wise and teaches us the value of silence. He can carry our messages across the earth, across worlds even. When our mind becomes anxious and loud, he can bring us calmness. When our thoughts become impure, he can blow through us, lifting the dirt and debris from our minds. When we have ideas and wishes we want to bring in to the world, he can carry these seeds across the fields to find the right place for it to sprout to life.
Walk around and become aware of the air. There does not need to be any wind for you to work with this element – every breath moves the air. Focus on your breathing and feel the air fill every part of you. Feel it swirl through your mind, purifying your thoughts, calming your anxiety and clearing your mind, returning you to focus. Feel it move through your body, charging every cell with its gift of life, reenergizing you at a cellular level.
Ask it to carry your messages to those you wish to connect to, send the seeds of your thoughts and ideas to their place of germination. Be conscious of his presence all around you and ask him to move through your being, purifying you on all levels. Open your heart to him with love and thank him for the work that has been done.
FIRE – Sanctifies us
What a magical element. He can trap you in a gaze for long periods, stilling your mind and opening your heart. Fire burns within us as passion, ambition, purpose as well as rage, hatred and vengeance, all of which can become very dangerous to us and those around us.
Our sun, life giving source of energy and heat, governing all aspects of vitality and fertility on our planet. He brings the time to sow and the time to reap, the time to be lively and enjoy, as well as the time to become still and rest. Anything it touches changes completely. Burnt to ash, melted into a different form, scarred. Nothing can be the same after the sanctifying touch of fire.
He transmutes energy, consuming the life force of what he touches and sending it back in to the pool of creation – back to pure potential. On a physical level, our body’s internal fire is very fragile – a perfect temperature needs to be maintained for our organism to function properly. One degree warmer or colder and our body becomes ill.
By having our fire element burn too high or too low can make us emotionally, mentally and spiritually ill too. Too much passion or ambition can drive us crazy with ego, burning away all the other things in our lives because we are chasing too much. When it burns down low and we lose our purpose, we spiral downwards very fast, losing the will and energy to live. When the fire burns out, in just an instant, life will cease to exist.
Become still under the sun, close your eyes and turn your face towards him. Feel the energy carried in his heat, his light, entering you, shining in to your core. Allow yourself to be filled with his fire and allow him to sanctify you, transmuting all parts of you that are ready to be set free, to become pure potential again.
Let him bring balance to your fire element, controlling your passion and ambition to be focused without losing touch with the rest of your world. If you are burning low, without drive and passion, ask him to reignite the life within you to move you forward. Like a plant photosynthesizes, absorb the energy of the sun and allow it to make you grow in all aspects of your being. When you feel you have done enough, give thanks to the eternal father, fire and breathe yourself back in to your body.
These descriptions and practices have barely scraped the surface of how the Elements operate in our existence and how we can form relationships with them, accessing and using their energy and teachings in our day to day lives to help us become masters of ourselves, but they bring a starting point of what can be a beautiful relationship with the Elements and yourself. Let Nature teach you, after all, it is what created you… us… everything.
As in Part 1 of this series, these descriptions and practices have barely scraped the surface of how the Elements operate in our existence and how we can form relationships with them, accessing and using their energy and teachings in our day to day lives to help us become masters of ourselves, but they bring a starting point of what can be a beautiful relationship with the Elements and yourself. Let Nature teach you, after all, it is what created you… us… everything.
How do you work to heal with the elements? Tell us about it in the comments.
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