During the holidays last year, we bought a fire pit at Home Depot that was on sale – half price, $45. It was a perfect fit for an area in the front of our house, a small sheltered three-sided courtyard to the right of the front door. We used it a lot in December, which was particularly cold. On the night of a lunar eclipse last December, in fact, we got up around three that morning, a friend of Megan’s brought over a telescope, we started a fire, and took turns peering through the telescope, watching the moon turn dark.
This December, the weather has been beautiful – high 70s or in the low 80s during the day, high 60s at night. Beautiful, but not cool enough to light fire. Tonight, though, the temp dropped into the low 60s, so Rob started a fire in the pit, and we sat outside warming our feet, the dogs and cats gathering around. Yes, okay, low sixties is a cold front for us (I can hear the laughter now), but there is something wonderfully primal about fire. It brings the muse out of hiding, triggers ideas and conversation. We talked about various ideas that are brewing for books, a game app, and a divination system we’ve been playing around with for several weeks.
We realized that part of this divination system involves the elements – air, water, earth – and fire. But while we were discussing what these elements meant in terms of the divination system, we realized the fifth element in this scheme of things is metal, the alchemist’s tool, turning metal into gold, a symbol for personal transformation.
As we approach 2012, personal transformation seems to be key. Even though we don’t buy into the doomsayer notion that the world will end on December 21, 2012, we do feel that the collective consciousness is shifting, that a new paradigm is being born. It hasn’t reached a tipping point yet, but when it does, there will be no turning back.
As I peered into the fire, I could see elements of this shift that are already underway. According to NOAA – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration- the combined global land and ocean average surface temperature was the 12th warmest on record. The September – November worldwide land surface temperature was 0.87°C (1.57°F) above the 20th century average, the seventh warmest such period on record. The January – November worldwide land surface temperature was 0.84°C (1.51°F) above the 20th century average — the seventh warmest such period on record.
Take a look at this map and it’s obvious the planet is in flux, and not necessarily in a positive way for humanity. And it’s not just the erratic weather. It’s the wars, politics, the haves and the have nots, all the issues the Occupy movement has pinpointed. Tonight on 60 Minutes, for example, we watched a really heartbreaking segment on what’s happened to neighborhoods in Ohio that were hit hard by the housing meltdown.
One Ohio city has so many abandoned homes – where owners have simply walked away because their mortgages were underwater – that the city is now demolishing them. The banks evict the owners, then the properties just sit there, the places falling apart as vandals move in and strip aluminum sidings, pipes, even the kitchen sinks. And this is happening all over the U.S. In our neighborhood of perhaps 35 homes, there are several that have been abandoned for months, doors hanging by hinges, windows broken, overgrown yards a paradise for rats, and the banks do nothing. The houses and the properties surrender to entropy.
Institutions we took for granted ten years ago are in chaos. Countries are in financial meltdowns that threaten the world economy. Hatred, racism, and religious extremism are on the rise. An entire generation is being shortchanged as unemployment rises. Just recently a study in the U.S. found that one in two Americas are either poor or underpaid. Fifty percent.
And yet. We each live within our own little worlds and aren’t impacted by this all at once. Here and there, we take hits, we recognize the abrupt and irrevocable changes, and we adapt. We focus, create the opportunities we need, and move forward. Our daughter, for instance, has been working at a minimum wage job since she graduated from college last June. She has applied for numerous jobs in the field she loves – working with animals – and recently landed an internship at Disney, beating out 600 other applicants.
There are opportunities for personal growth within this paradigm shift. It’s when the law of attraction may work the best. The contrasts are so glaring, so obvious that we know what we don’t want – and do want.
I suspect we’ll be using the fire pit a lot more for brainstorming sessions. No telling what nuggets may emerge.














