Love As An Element
Fire is what is needed now, so can you ignite the fire in you and use it to burn away what is keeping you from your full humanity?
Part 1: Fire’s Lessons
I am ruled by fire in more ways than one.
As a Scorpio Rising I am ruled by the planet Mars - the red planet of war, strategy, passion, ambition, competition, and fire. With Scorpio being a water sign and feminine in energy, this is also the emotional side of Mars that feels deeply what it cares about.
Emotions are not “good” or “bad” -they just are. They part of what it means to be a person who is engaging with the world around them. So when Mars is in Scorpio (as it currently is: from Oct 11-Nov 24, 2023) all one CAN do is feel, and those feelings go deep into the underworld where Scorpio likes to go.
In my natal chart my “Soul Planet” is my Sun in Leo, sitting at the highest degree (28) in my 10th house (the top of the chart). As I am ruled by the planet of fire, I am also led by the element of fire as the Sun burns and shines light for the galaxy and Leo is where the Sun prefers as the fire sign of light and vision.
Funny enough the second highest degree planet for me is then…Mars. Fire comes up again.
I am also a daughter of Sango, the Orisa of fire, dance, drum, leadership, justice, and passionate love. He is a lover AND a warrior.
Needless to say, fire has been, and is, a prominent teacher to me.
Learning to work with this element has not necessarily been easy because fire can quickly get out of control if you give it too much oxygen and don’t respect the ways it can spread. But sometimes fire does need to spread, to consume what it can so that it burns away what is no longer needed and leaves behind more fertile soil for new things to grow.
Because at the end of the day fire is also one of the 4 elements that is required for us to live. Earth - Air - FIRE - Water. All 4 elements make up the foundations of life and we require their energy to live.
Which connects us to other forms of life as humans. We need the Earth for she gives us sustainability and shelter, nourishment for our bodies. Air gives us breathe because if we cannot breathe, we cannot live. And Water, well water is LIFE and is the life force we are born in and what we require for our bodies to function and live.
This is why the denial of food, shelter, and water to people is both dehumanizing and also an international war crime.
“Starvation as a method of warfare is explicitly prohibited regardless of the nature of the conflict, and the concept of objects essential for the survival of the civilian population includes drinking-water installations and supplies and irrigation works.” - International Committee of the Red Cross
To make fire you need oxygen, heat, fuel and a chemical reaction.
In this current moment all four are present, meaning fire is here. And we need to work with it to ensure what is burning are the structures and systems that allow for the use of brutal violence to be used and justified as the only way to garner “democratic peace”.
As we bear witness to the ongoing onslaught of bombings Israel is dropping on Gaza, there is no way one cannot feel SOMETHING about what is going on.
The perspectives, the words, the speaking of different truths on the ground in places suffering the brunt of Western freedom making and expansion is the oxygen being given. It is producing a new type of heat from folks as they sit with the oppressed’s reality, which is adding fuel to anti-imperialist sentiment as the foundations of these nation-state are exposed.
I hope you are feeling fire in your bellies alongside the sadness and grief because this should ANGER you. There should be a fire starting to burn within you, forcing you to look at what you are seeing and hearing with a different set of eyes and thoughts.
This is the power of fire, burning away the stories and histories fed to us - especially in the West overall and the United States specifically. So then what is being left in the aftermath? What are you letting go of, and what is replacing this space. This void. This more fertile ground that requires new seeds planted, that only you can grow.
This is the lesson of fire in this moment. And it is igniting a new way we understand and embody love.
Love Is An Element, Love is FIRE: A Reflection
I believe that love is an element, because love is elemental.
It is the fire within us that comes alive and burns with intensity when we are connected to one another and other forms of life.
It reminds us what it means to be human, even as we have lost parts of our humanity through these colonial projects.
Projects that reordered life to fit the colonizers perspective, which left the world in a hierarchy that keeps trying to reinforce itself through violent force and dehumanizing ideology.
Through the lens of the oppressor, love is a tactic that is manipulated, used to keep people docile by focusing on heteronormative patriarchal understandings of romantic relationships that are isolating and based on sacrifice. Giving up of ones self to another(s) and in the process loosing who you are….until you don’t even remember who you truly are….
But love is fire, an intensity of connection between life forces, between living beings that reminds us of how interrelated life is. How we need one another and other forms of life to be able to DO this thing called life.
To BE alive.
Love should light up the sky and fill the room with electricity. The spark that wakes the body up and gives fuel to Spirit so Spirit can do its work.
To BECOME alive.
Because we all have a Spirit, it is the essence that gives our body life. It is the current of life, the current needed for the body to fully be embodied.
Without love you are just a shell of a human…hardly human at all. So it becomes easier and easier to see those embodying love as the issue because they become the mirror to your own inhumanity.
It allows you to justify violence against others so you don’t have to see it (love)/them (humans)/it (love).
Then you might see yourself, the lack of Self that you have, and you may change.
Aaaah…but do you want to change? Really? Or are you comfortable in the uncomfortably of your inhumanity?
Change is scary even as change is the only thing that is constant - these the lessons of Uranus. But that fear is only what is not known, and we already know what happens when you stay stagnant in the current reality. Is the unknown really that scary when we are already living in the hellscape of the known that is rooted in inhumanity?
So love is an element, as it is the fire within us that reminds us of what the true meaning of life is.
It is required because it is fundamental to our existence, as are all the elements.
And also a reminder of how much we are not living.
Let love pour through you and ignite the fire that needs to burn bright so we can find our way out of the darkness that is the colonial, and into new futures that can hold and sustain life. Into a new light.
Upcoming Events: Dec 10th Virtual Conversation
This will be a good one! We will get into the “dark houses” of astrology - houses 4, 8, and 12 - along with pulling apart what Pluto is telling us about our past. This is about the ancestors, the dead, and what justice means for them and us. Please join me! Spaces are limited.
Learn and Dream More With Me!
I believe in the power of dreams and the dreamscape, and this is why I call my work “Abolitionist Dreamscapes”. Breaking and remaking in other ways, to build other worlds.
You can find my latest projects and work on my Linktree.
Please consider joining my Patreon for more - I go more into concepts there along with providing reflections and space for community gathering. It is a small but growing space, and I invite you to grow it with me.
I also have a Podcast “Abolitionist Dreamscapes” where I talk about these issues and more.
I am also looking for partners and sponsors for my work. And my calendar is open next year for speaking engagements. If you are interested in working with or booking me please check our my website.
Finally, I am an independent scholar and a single entity Black queer businesswoman. If you want to support my work, I have a FREE Guerrilla Resource Library along with providing teachings in the public on platforms like Tik Tok and IG, I accepted donations via Cashapp ($drnicoletruesdell), Venmo (drnicoletruesdell), Paypal and Zelle (drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com).
Thank you!