The fire that doesn't consume

We're in the middle of Navratri — five nights in.

Nine nights of Durga. Nine nights of the fierce feminine. Nine nights of asking: What is my power in service of?

And I keep coming back to Sekhmet.

The lion-headed goddess. The eye of Ra. The one whose very breath created the desert.

She told me something I'll never forget:

"Your devotion can be so strong that when you see those actively going against the divine truth, that same force can turn to rage. Just like Jesus in the temple. Just as Kali conquering the demons."

Sacred rage.

Not the kind that destroys you. The kind that transforms what needs transforming.

She continued:

"You don't hold it in and let it fester in your body. You express it on the narrow line of devotion so that it is divine retribution. You express it within the confines of doing what is for the highest good of all. It will eat you up or it will move the world."

It will eat you up or it will move the world.

There are only two options with fire.

You contain it and it consumes you from the inside.

Or you channel it and it becomes the energy that moves mountains.

This is why the 5th Pillar of Devotion is "Fanning the Flames."

Not starting fires. Not extinguishing them.

Fanning. Directing. Using the heat to create.

As we approach the end of Q1 — the end of this first quarter of the year — I want to ask:

What's the fire inside you that's been waiting to be channeled?

What's the rage that's actually sacred — pointing toward something that needs to change?

What would it look like to express it on the narrow line of devotion?

Fanning flames with you,Shanti