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Fire Speaks: Fire Speaks Fire Stories: Community Fires Fire Stories: Lifeways 2012 Reunion Dated do not use Deep Community Stories Disasters Edit for later use Exploring the Core Basis of Prayer presenter Export Fire Work front Page Excerpts Front Page Featured Posts Heart of Birth presenters Lifeways posts Lifeways presenters Marketplace October 2012 Peaceful Dying Project presenter prosperity Reunion Expressions ROUND 3 TRANSFER Sacred Emergence presenters Sacred Wakening presenters September 2012 The Heart Blog Turning of the Tide: Experiences of Sacred Fire Community Solstice Fires Ukalai Women’s Retreat presenters Ukila’i Men’s Retreat presenters Volunteers Way of Transition presenter wisdom women and men Youth and Elders Select Page Mission Critical: Return Fire to the People Jan 5, 2020 | Edit for later use , January 2020 | 0 | Sacred Fire Across the World: Always at Home by the Fire Dec 9, 2019 | Dated do not use , December 2019 | 0 | Best Insurance for Natural Disasters Dec 16, 2017 | December 2017 , Disasters , Export , January 2020 | 1 | Features Hot News Updates and Announcements Fire and Wisdom for Challenging Times: Upcoming Fire Speaks Events Jan 8, 2020 It’s time to apply for Young Women’s Initiation 2021 Dec 19, 2019 Taking Time to Grow Ourselves Nov 13, 2019 Warmth and Wisdom to Transform the Cold Sep 24, 2019 Are you a young woman seeking initiation? Sep 24, 2019 Four Girls Become Young Women Through Sacred Fire’s Initiation Aug 19, 2019 There’s still time to sign up for Fire Speaks in Massachusetts! Aug 19, 2019 Sacred Fire Outreach: Interested in joining our team? Jul 15, 2019 Registration Open for Fire Speaks in Harvard, MA Jul 15, 2019 Lifecycle Living: The Next Phase of Becoming Jun 13, 2019 Flashes Happenings from around the global community Fires Are Spreading: Welcome to New Firekeepers Jan 8, 2020 Firekeepers, I Love You: Part 5 Aug 19, 2019 Firekeepers, I Love You: Part 4 Jul 15, 2019 Prosperity Ritual June 3 May 28, 2019 Firekeepers, I Love You: Part 3 May 3, 2019 Ireland is Sending a Hundred Thousand Welcomes Apr 16, 2019 Year of the Earth Pig Apr 9, 2019 Firekeepers, I Love You: Part 2 Mar 13, 2019 Firekeepers, I Love You: Part 1 Feb 13, 2019 With Gratitude for Abundance Jan 14, 2019 Tepoztlán Protection Ritual: Divine Help, Community Action Dec 3, 2018 Wildfires, Courage and Community Oct 1, 2018 Voices of Wisdom Southeast 2018 Sep 11, 2018 The Hill Where People Gather Around Fire Jul 23, 2018 Wedding Bells ring in North Carolina Jun 24, 2018 Life Cycle Living Sparks Important, Beautiful Questions Apr 2, 2018 Looking for a Pack to Run with? Apr 1, 2018 Video: Light Up Your Heart Mar 8, 2018 Vídeo: Audiencia del Año Nuevo Tibetano de 2017 Mar 1, 2018 Video: 2017 Tibetan New Year Fire Mar 1, 2018 Video: David Wiley on the value of traditional wisdom for modern men Feb 27, 2018 Come to the Fire! Feb 5, 2018 Want to help heal our culture? Feb 5, 2018 Raven welcomed by Sacred Fire Olympia, WA Dec 12, 2017 Mesa Life Project: Road to Fruition Dec 11, 2017 Anne Lynn completes mara’akame initiation fiesta Oct 8, 2017 Join us in welcoming our new initiates Sep 14, 2017 Meet a Firekeeper Firekeeper Love Letters Poems Wisdom of Emotions Lifeways Meet a Firekeeper: Robin Lockwood by Around the Fire Editor | Oct 1, 2016 | Around the Fire , Meet a Firekeeper , September 2016 | 1 ATF recently caught up with Robin Lockwood, Firekeeper in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee, where she and... Meet a Firekeeper: Lucy Wells and Michael Locke by Around the Fire Editor | Mar 9, 2016 | Fire Stories , March 2016 , Meet a Firekeeper | 0 Meet a Firekeeper: Peter and Sharon Brown by Around the Fire Editor | Dec 23, 2015 | December 2015 , Fire Stories , Meet a Firekeeper | 1 Part 5: Firekeepers, I Love You for being good role models, being committed, and for seeing the big picture http://atf.sacredfire.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Love-Letter-to-Firekeepers-5.mp3 Firekeepers, I Love You: Part 5 by Erin Everett | Aug 19, 2019 | August 2019 , Firekeeper Love Letters , Flashes | 4 Sacred Fire Firekeepers, you are unique individuals who have some very special qualities that help you to do what you do. You open your homes and hearts to people just like the readers of our posts—people who live in communities in seven countries (and growing)—to come and be human beings together around the fire, just as we humans have always done. Thousands of people each year come to your Sacred Fires for community, connection, healing and growth. In this final podcast in her series , fire-goer Erin Everett shares three more qualities that Sacred Fire Firekeepers possess and model for her and for their communities. If you happen to be reading this and listening to our podcasts, feel free to tell your story of what fire or Firekeepers have done for you in the comments of this post. Firekeepers, I Love You: Part 4 by Around the Fire Editor | Jul 15, 2019 | Early July 2019 , Firekeeper Love Letters , Flashes | 3 Firekeepers, I Love You: Part 3 by Erin Everett | May 3, 2019 | Firekeeper Love Letters , Flashes , May 2019 | 0 Firekeepers, I Love You: Part 2 by Erin Everett | Mar 13, 2019 | April 2019 , Event Landing Page , Firekeeper Love Letters , Flashes | 0 The Path to Firekeeping by Around the Fire Editor | Feb 24, 2019 | Event Landing Page , Export , February 2019 , Firekeeper Love Letters | 2 The Difficulty of Being Human by Around the Fire Editor | Jan 20, 2019 | Export , January 2019 , Poems | 2 By Keith Baughman Healing has at its core an aspect of accepting yourself. Acceptance at this level is layered and complex. Many weeks ago a phrase skipped across my thoughts: the difficulty of being human. Not only does it invert and energize the identifier of human being,” it also undermines the deeply embedded notion in me that life should be easy and I’m just doing it wrong. As I continue to look through the lens of this phrase, my path to self-acceptance becomes clearer, and I begin to see that human difficulty is part of the natural order. It’s how we’re made, and we’re made this way for a reason. Writing poetry is the mode or field where these internal conversations often get their first articulation. The difficulty of being human spilled onto a journal page one day without much to suggest its timely relevant weight. But as the days passed, and as I continued to journal, this phrase preoccupied my thoughts and ways of seeing the world within and around me. The following poem is an articulation of the permission, purpose and support this phrase has offered to my struggle to heal and accept myself. Something Essential by Jonathan Merritt | Aug 13, 2018 | Export , July 2018 , Poems | 0 Love Is Round by Sherry Morgan | Mar 19, 2017 | Heard Around the Fire , March 2017 , Poems | 0 In the Time of the Smoky Mirror by Madeline Merritt | Dec 18, 2016 | Around the Fire , December 2016 , Heard Around the Fire , Poems | 2 The Gift of Grief: Honoring Loss, Opening to Peace by Prema Sheerin | Nov 6, 2018 | Edit for later use , November 2018 , Wisdom of Emotions | 4 by Prema Sheerin, Sacred Fire Asheville, North Carolina A well-tended garden has a balance of the essential elements: fire, earth, water, air and growth. In this, the fourth in a series of five articles, traditional healer Prema Sheerin continues to reveal the vital energies and gifts of each of the ‘elemental emotions’ that, similarly, are meant to provide for a healthy ecosystem in every human being. These elemental emotions are happiness, fear, anger, sympathy and grief. This article addresses grief, which is traditionally associated with the season of autumn. As we enter the season of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, we feel the poignancy of the fading light, the waning warmth and brilliance of summer. It is a good time to explore the emotion of grief, the energy that supports us in letting go and navigating the many losses and transitions of life. Like the rain that comes to cool the heat of summer, grief provides the...