A Billion-Candles Candlemas

By the Sun, Candlemas/Imbolc happened this evening, between 8 and 9 o’clock, Mountain Time.

And I was watching an episode of PBS’ American Experience called “The Big Burn.” Coincidence, I think not. 🙂

(You can find it streaming on their site.)

Ten minutes in, there must have been smoke in the room or something, because I was having trouble with my eyes.

This was my heritage as a Forest Service brat back then and as a rural volunteer firefighter today. I walked outside afterwards, Her cold white light shining through the pines, still on that knife’s edge of beauty and terror, life in the mountain West.

One of these days I will pass again through Coeur d’Alene, and I will stop at Ed Pulaski’s grave to do a full-blown Pagan/Shinto/neo-shamanic thing with incense, flowers, whiskey, and the rest.

But the way things are going, I might have to wait my turn. Firefighters, I have learned, are a ritualistic bunch.

One thought on “A Billion-Candles Candlemas

  1. Medeina Ragana

    The closest I ever came to a “big burn” was when I was living in rural Florida and apparently a farmer had decided to burn off the previous year’s dead grass etc. With the fire department there watching, they burned about 500 plus acres of scrub grass. I was on my way to pic up my ex and didn’t have a clue as to what was happening as I drove along absolutely shocked at what I was seeing. When I got to the farm where my ex was staying (the fire was literally across the street) I stopped to open the gate and when I looked up, there was a fire elemental standing there about 30 feet tall, blocking my way. I looked at it and said, “if you leave me alone, I’ll just be on my way”. The elemental shifted 90 degrees so I could open the gate and when I looked back it was gone. I still shiver at the memory.

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