Fire Walk with Me…Not!

I was at the Artemis Gathering at the weekend and on Sunday evening, I took part in a fire walk. Yes, I walked across a fire pit in my bare feet. In…my…bare…feet…across…fire!

I can honestly say it was a once in a lifetime experience, Truly!

Now, I imagine that at this point you are expecting me to relate how amazingly transformational, life-changing and profound an experience it was…but I’m not going to do that. I’m not even going to show you pictures because there was no photography allowed, so I don’t have the proof. Well, actually, I do, but we’ll come to that drectly.

No, the simple reason it was once in a lifetime is that I am never, ever fucking doing it again!

Don’t get me wrong, I like fire, I really do. It fascinates me and I could watch it for hours, as long as it’s not burning my house down or blistering the soles of my feet. Oh yes, my feet did get burnt (this is my proof). It’s alright, I’m OK. We’re not talking 3rd degree burns here. I can still walk, but burns bloody hurt and so do blisters, even teeny ones, as anyone who has ever touched a hot saucepan, oven, iron, etc., can tell you. Pain is not my friend, I don’t ike it and it can fuck right off!

That said, DD managed to walk through four times…yes, FOUR times…with nary a mark. I went through with her the first time (it was all her idea) and just as I was almost at the end, smugly thinking “Wow, that was easy!”, my tootsies started to singe and the air turned from red to blue as I “Fuck!”-ed and hopped my way out. All of which probably makes me a bit of a wuss but…(see previous comment about my relationship with pain).

Of course, my lack of success may have been had something to do with my inate cynicism and thus, my inability to enagage with the mass motivation frenzy. Oh yes, there was much building up the transformational quality of this exercise; there were arrow breaks*, complete with weeping, whooping, chanting, cursing and hugging *shudders*. In truth, it was really nice to see people who need that kind of supportive group therapy benefitting from it, but it was not for me, or DD. Fortunately, due to a lack of space, we were sat just outside the door at a comfortable distance.

*Arrow breaks are where you put the tip of an arrow to your throat and lean on it until it until the shaft breaks. (They are quite skinny arrows and obviously not travelling at any speed at all, but I can see how it is daunting).

So why did we do it? Well, DD was just enthused the idea of walking through fire and to a lesser extent, so was I, though I probably would have had the sense to stay away if she hadn’t been so keen and very insistent. Knowing that so many people have done it and, not only survived, but were willing to do it again, suggested that it was not going to lead to serious injury. Consequently, I wasn’t in the least afraid and, in all honesty, I’ve been more nervously excited by the prospect of a stomach-churning fairground ride. Perhaps this total lack of adrenalin rush didn’t help. Most people did seem to go through just fine and emerged euphoric and unscathed. No, I think it more likely that I was unlucky enough to step on a patch of embers that hadn’t been raked out properly, causing my delicate tootsies to cop it. It happens.

I’m still never doing it again. Been there, done that, got the blisters.