Phoenix Rising From The Cauldron

During the past year, I have been dreaming of returning to the Rocky Mountains, not specifically Colorado where I lived for so many years, but also the Southwest I fell in love with on vacations. The high deserts, plains and valleys fascinate me as much as do the forests.

Fifteen years ago, I purchased a large framed photo similar to the above capture of Antelope Canyon; for me it has symbolized the merging of Fire with Earth, which is something I have to encourage in myself -- I have plenty of Earth (grounding), but little Fire (ambition, drive). The photo has hung on my wall in a prominent place wherever I've lived. As it happens, this canyon is in Arizona.

This morning, this was the Soul Card I drew from the deck -- a powerfully uplifting image of Fire and Water...rising up like a Phoenix, not from ashes but from the cauldron of transformation! My breath caught and my heart began to pound as I saw this card! Enlivening!

The heat consumes me, half submerged in the cauldron, water bubbling and boiling, the transformative fire has entered the water, changing it, droplets burst out of the surface, flying, spraying, becoming the steam that rises. The fire surrounds me without burning, without destruction as I lift my hands and feel the warmth of new life, like a Phoenix I rise, not from the ashes but from the watery emotions that had covered me heavily for so long, like an amphibian, I had dwelled upon the bottom until the heat began to descend, the fires warming the surface first, tempting, until the water was warm enough and I began to move toward it, feeling the glow consume and feed my passion, I rise from the waters lifting my hands and face into the Light, the warmth, of Love and Passion, of new beginnings, I radiate from within and all around. The flames create a halo around my form, warming without burning, we are One. The Light shines through me and merges with the flames licking my face as I tip my chin upwards, smiling, accepting and welcoming, heart is pounding, blood boiling with the waters that once held me and nourished me. I rise from the cauldron like a root that has now been cooked and softened, all the vital nutrients teeming and spinning and flying around int he steam, the aroma sharp and stimulating. I am giddy with the process, I am both a catalyst and the one being catalyzed into transformation. I have been softened and can now spread myself amongst the world, more of me, lighter and brighter and ready to participate. I rise like the Phoenix. Welcoming and honoring the flames of change, the fires that transform as I pass from one form to another, each vital, from one phase to another, cycles within cycles. The balance of opposites, of water and fire and where they come together. The heat that exists to inspire into action and creation. The passion that drives.

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SoulCards® Deborah Koff-Chapin, Center for Touch Drawing

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ROAD INTO SEDONA
free photo © Rebecca Picard | Dreamstime.com

ANTELOPE CANYON ARIZONA
free photo © Srpehrson | Dreamstime.com