Sacrificial Fire
The human (and cosmic) desire to be destroyed by your own creation
I met up with an old friend yesterday. We hadn’t seen each other for two and half years. Both of us have gone through a complete remodel of our lives. Both of us wrote a book during the tumult.
Both of us looked like we needed to sleep for a month.
“In the fourth part of the book, the world of the protagonist explodes into chaos and I had a sense that something was coming” she said, “that my life was going to explode alongside it.”
“I know what you mean. When I asked the question, as part of my Introduction, what it would be like for others if they lost access to their usual healing remedies, their support structure, and had to rely on a different kind of healing, none of my usual herbal go-to’s worked, no body therapy worked, not even Pancha Karma. I realised I had to write myself out of the deep well I had placed myself in. Kind of like Literature Survivor!.”
We also discussed the role of parenting as a form of Sadhana, or spiritual practise, in a more gross form. Having children, for a woman, is a physical sacrifice, but for both parents, the raising of children is a forced destruction of an earlier state of being. And for some, the sudden loss of self can be too much. Depression or escapism can set in.
In parenting and creative ventures, it is ideal that the ache for the sublime is greater than the loss of Self, whatever the form of pro-creation, because within true creative potential, exists death.
Creators have long since understood the fiery and consuming nature of their work. They have destroyed relationships with others, and sometimes their own minds and bodies, so strong is the desire to “work at the tissue between truth and paranoia” as stated by Famous Aussie painter, Brett Whiteley.
This quest to reveal the essence of life is the battle between fire and light. The ambitious and dense fire of intense focus and commitment to seeking knowledge and spreading it versus the subtle light of illumination, or the ability to reveal the light trapped within matter. In Ayurvedic terms it’s your relationship between Pitta and Tejas - one will physically consume the biological functions you need to function and one will energetically consume everything that isn’t you, leaving your indivisible essence.
It is coming to the end of quite the tumultuous, snake-shedding year on a micro and macro level. I’m taking one of my lessons from the Svoboda program on the fire as a healing framework for you (and me) to clear out any left over frustration, anger and resentment within yourself before beginning the new year in February 2026. This is an invitation to begin a relationship with your personal fire as an internal power of transmutation so that you are not consumed by the external mismanagement of fire in the world today.
The Panchagni Vidya means the knowledge (or shakti) of the five fires referenced in the Chandogya Upanishad. Per Wikipedia it “explains how the body is linked to the universe and why the mind’s true nature is to manifest its will in the universe.”.
Within this knowing, is the nature of how we are all linked together via a cycle of sacrifice and that to know this is to create an allegiance to Lord Agni (fire). Agni is said to represent all the Gods, all spiritual energy, everything that pervades the universe. It is the transformational principle of enlightenment. It becomes a conscious shedding of the Self until there is no Self left. It is a meditation technique to create a relationship to the five aspects of reality, namely:
Heaven - the cosmos as the sacrificial fire. The Gods offer their faith into the fire of the solar system and the moon is produced.
Atmosphere (Rain God) - the whole rain system as the sacrificial fire. The Gods offer King Moon as the offering and rain is produced.
Earth - the world itself as a sacrificial fire. The Gods offer rain as an offering and and food is produced.
Man - man as a sacrificial fire. The Gods offer food as an offering and semen is produced.
Woman - woman as a sacrificial fire. The Gods offer semen as an offering and children are produced.
When humans die, the Gods offer humans into the sacrificial fire (cremation) and if it is done correctly, the human emerges in radiant splendour. He or she is cleared from the cycle of rebirth.
The fire, as explained by Dr Svoboda, always gives you the exact Truth and the Rishi’s are always trying to align with that exact Truth. In order to get to the Truth, he believes it is a good idea to personalise anything you worship and this is especially true for Fire because its Nature is to incinerate anything. Therefore, seeking a relationship or common ground where your personal Fire can do good will serve you and the cosmic rhythm of the world, together.
According to Dr Svoboda fire is a living being that will try and communicate with you. It will make noises, create colours and unusual shapes in a room. The more aligned you become, the more you can allow the awareness to descend upon you. In this way a relationship can be formed; it’s messages sparking insights and visions within you. To be a visionary is to be aligned with fire. In Ayurveda, the eyes hold a sub form of Pitta. It helps us to see on the bigger picture scale and the minor details.
Outside of the basic biological need to cultivate a healthy digestive fire to consume food well, which should be done according to your individual Vikruti and Prakruti, I recommend an actual fire worship, both externally and internally. Creating a Homa, or fire ritual is outside the scope of this article, but you can do a simple daily practice called Tratak or candle gazing
Tratak
Use a beeswax candle and place it at eye height and light the wick.
Stare at the tip of the flame until your eyes water.
At this point close your eyes and you will see an image of the flame, hold it as long as you can, when it disappears, do another round.
2-3 rounds is enough.
Rub your palms together and cup your eyes afterwards.
Blow the candle out via your palm. Apparently it is not ideal to blow directly onto the flame. In theory a fire should go out of its own but this may not be practical.
This practise is excellent for eye strain, great for concentration and calming for the mind.
As wrong food causes indigestion and issues for the physical digestive fire, allowing confusing information into your system that does not align with your higher self creates doubt and causes a subtle indigestion for the mind. The more aligned with your truth, the better you cultivate the inner fire of discernment.
The pathway I suggest to cultivate a sacrificial internal fire is to take on a creative project and seek to match an inner vision with an external manifestation (without the intention to make it serve you in anyway). It can be a drawing, a gardening project, a new recipe. The options are unlimited.
It is the process of trial and error until you sense an alignment occurring of inner and outer world that is important. It will take you on a journey of discovery down unexpected pathways. It will test you and call you to action to align with your true self. It will probably be difficult, frustrating, disheartening, and doubt will seep in. You will need to find a way around the doubt and in this determined effort, something happens to you - you shed an old belief pattern about yourself and create a stronger kinship with source energy. Serendipity becomes loud and omens project themselves onto your pathways. Your faith becomes knowing.
And if the creative venture serves a purpose, you will need to serve this venture as a servant. And if it wants to dissolve itself, it will require you to gracefully allow its demise, as an offering, for your next stage of development, going in spirals until you emerge in radiant splendour.
Until next time,
Sandra
The blueprint I need to move forward. 🙏🏼 Loved reading this and our magic day together.