HESTIA, SYMBOL THE HEARTH-FIRE

As the legend goes, Hestia was among the most modest of the Olympian gods and goddesses. Indeed, she could not be found on Mt. Olympus, but in the homes below tending to the hearth-fires. But her modesty was deceptive: without her steady warmth and life-giving presence, the light of a home would be extinguished. So, too, would the city, who maintained a hearth dedicated to Hestia. Thus in ancient Greece, everyday life was organized around the circular hearth - tending it represented both a personal and public sacred duty. Like the hearth-fire, Hestia represents the archetype of the fixed and immoveable center: the spark of life within the heart; the hearth at the center of our home; the soulful center of a city or country.

MEDITATION: To begin to attune to the goddess Hestia and the image of the hearth fire, begin by centering within your heart. Sense its emotional condition - are you shut down from fear and worry? Hardened from distrust and anger? Though there may be reasons for this that call for psychological introspection, we can also call upon our spiritual imagination to spark the inner heart-hearth fire.

 To do this, imagine the goddess Hestia as she manifests in people you know - men or women who, no matter life's hardships, radiate a steady goodness, warmth, and faith in life. Or, think of the great saints and mystics who enlivened those around them - like a fire that heats on a cold winter's day, most holy figures manifested a maternally protecting, life-giving vitality. Now imagine that something of that energy has been kindled within your own heart. You may think of a warm and crackling fire blazing with warmth, heating the house of your spirit. Bask in the light of this fire; relax in its loving warmth. Here you are contained, safe, and sheltered from life's storms. Allow this feeling to spread throughout the layers of your self - healing your physical, emotional, and mental bodies. Wholly centered within, you carry this hearth-fire-within-your-heart  - emanating love and light wherever life takes you.