I have always had a personal relationship with Fire which, in recent years, has extended to building and tending bonfires... so last year I was tapped as Fire Tender for the Forest Dance event held at Circle Sanctuary. I am extremely grateful for the invitation, because I probably would not have attended otherwise... and it was one of the most transformative events in my life!

I spent a couple days prior to the event itself with the Forest Dance organizers (Incus and several others), people I had never met before since I don't attend PSG. By Friday evenning, we had already formed a bond of community which I still feel... even though I have not seen any of these folks since. During the first night of dancing and trancing around the Fire, I started out very business-like; I felt my job was to feed the Fire, rearrange the logs, water down the peat moss dancing area, etc., with a minimal amount of disturbance to the people who were there to dance and trance. I remember patroling the edge of the Circle, with my water can and Fire gloves, always in the shadows, just at the edge of the light, ready to scury in, do my duty, then scury back out. Sometime during that first night, someone stepped forward and invited me to come out and play. That first night, I stepped out, oh-so-tentatively. But the next evenning I became a part of the Dance. Since then, we have had several Fire Dances at Circle, and each time, my Fire Tending/Dancing has become more integral and more natural... to the point that some have said they can't imagine a Fire Dance without me out there. For someone as shy as myself, this is an incredible transformation! Recently, I have been working with Coyote (a transformer god)... and Coyote came out to play at the Fire Dance in May!

I am writing these words for people who are in the same position as me a year ago... who question what this experience will have to offer them. My guess is that it is a little bit different for each person... and it will NEVER be what you expect!

Reed