i am writing a zine (or a chapter of my book - you know the great american rainbow novel that all hippies have in the back of their grey matter (or what's left of it)) and i need your input. the subject is "one match fires". i need any personal fire starter ideas you might have; best way to start wet wood, items you carry to use as firestarters, road-dog tricks, etc. i would love your stories on great fires; small intimate ones with airy flutes or base-tone didges weaving thru all night poetry readings, hot raging bon-fires with cosmic drummers on a primal beat til dawn and how it made you howl and dance. i'm open to hear the stories you're dad or troop-leader told late at night to scare you on your first night in the woods. how did you become a fire dancer? what's the best thing to do immediately if a spunyon falls in the fire at 3am? what's the best configuration to dig a heart fire pit? is my personal research true that most dedicated fire-trolls are also fire signs (aries, sag, or leo)? do you have a burning poem you want to share? feed me your fire!!
Hey Chime. I don't know if this pertains to your novel but I just wanted to share. My son is a Leo, a fire sign of course. I named him Ashton. I tell him all the time how I chose his name. I read in this book that Leo's ruling planet is the sun, and Leo's, like the sun will forever be burning and will be the center of your universe. He is too. He loves fire, anything to do with fire. He is only 5, but it is so great to watch him. He will sit in front of a fire for hours, And he gathers wood so he can "feed his fire when its hungry." Look for him in the future, he will be a great fire troll someday. Luv and Lite
Hey Chime!!! I've been teaching for over a year now how to start fire from Water, Or start a fire in water. Fire from water I teach to those in Artic (frozen) conditons as well as Desert (Dry) conditions. Here's the Main 2 and then the Sites for several more ways. http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/water/index.html http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/ice/index.html - read ROb's version and the others....... http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/ As for starting a fire in water..... We use small PURE Pine pitch rafts. These ignite and burn while Floating down river for Ceremonial purposes. a GOOD THREAD!!!!! Missing and Loving you guy's already!!!
missin' & lovin' you too bill! thanks so much for the info. i can't wait to read your links. thanks for ashton's "naming story" too sister. i am attached to a leo right now and have a leo grandson. they are definately all fire. i think it's really important to teach a child when they are young how to handle themselves around fire, and then let them.
Hi Chime, YES! My Leo son has always been intrigued by fire. Been playing fire troll since he was 5. When we are out he usualy starts and keeps up most of our fires. Him and Bill definantly enjoy the fire (leo trait,lol) What do you expect from someone ruled by fire and warmth, they will make sure that you are warm too, they also seem to be pretty good cooks who enjoy cooking, could be related??? I can't say about any of the other fire signs really, I know a few Aries and none of them seem to be quite as enamored as the Leos. I only know maybe 3 Sag's and only one of them is a pyro. pull them out??? LOVE and BLESSINGS
Once my friend Kage and I were hitching to Portland back in 1970. We ended up in Wyoming for some reason and it was a tough one. Arrested and harrased for days they laughed and threw us to the road like dogs. Two days two bad rides later we were dropped off at the sign and noticed we were cutting line for a ride so we walked down to get behind them. As we got closer they started yelling and whooping. It was long hairs, brothers and a sister. We hugged and talked and walked together until we came apon a great spot to camp behind this big rock. They come big there. We had a big fire that night as we ate and danced and partied hard until the early morning hours. Like chargeing our shields from babalon it gave us the energy we needed to go on, and life wasn't so bad after all.
lovin' you busmama! where you been hiding? we missed you in ocala whole bunches. i have a question to ask you but i'll pm you. the last time i saw a bad fire incident this really, really drunk red-neck looking chick was dancing around the bonfire at a drum gathering. she fell in on her side and burnt herself across her belly pretty good. she never even felt it! thanks for the advice to "pull them out". lol!! sometimes i wonder if they're that fucked up, maybe you should leave em there. ohhhh, i feel schwag hippie points headed my way. captseaweed - loved the story. it's amazing how the universe gives you what you need to lift your ass up out of a tight spot time after time. thanks too for the pic. the coyotes are so beautiful. be sure you read tradinbill's link on starting fire from ice. that was pretty damn cool. p.s. it's 80 degrees here today
here/ pine cones an sift thru the nedles fer dry kiln, gitter goin ever time.. may have to do a walk about to find dry kiln.. but i getter goin.. an if that dont work,, theres always tiki torch fluid,,. dont leave home without it..
Thank you Chime. It may sound lame to most, but it was truly candles in the rain for us all that night. And thanx for making me read those links. I sure didn't see the sphere thing coming at the end. Thanx for sharing that with us Tradinbill.
while im at home in the ocala forrest, there is allways fat lighter knot, it will burn wet,and it will burn hot,can start a fire with wet wood
if you build your fire off the ground, and not in a pit. you might have a better chance of anyone falling in.our 2nd ocala a child hanging around our camp, fell into our fire pit, after that day i have always built our pit at least 8 inches or a thick log high. it does help a little. gravity has always been a trickster.
gravity sucks! i hate even thinking about children getting hurt. my favorite human-made fire starter is to pack dryer lint into cardboard egg cartons. then you melt down all your wax candle stubs and pour it over the lint. when they cool & dry you break them apart and just light one of the corners. it will burn for several minutes and starts wet wood well. i always carry those and fat lighter with me on my bus. i want to find some of that tree fungus that was in the article tradin bill linked to. i guess i'll have to go where there's birch trees though. i wonder if dried spanish moss works. has anyone experimented with that?
One time I was hitching to NY from CA and got stuck at an intersection in the middle of the desert. 80 and 80A in Idaho to be exact. 60 miles from Boise, 60 miles from Pocatello. The guy took off with my pack in the back of his pickup and never looked back or heard me. The first nite was long, cold and quiet. Some cyotes far off and a small red light to keep my little mind amused. All the days were the same. About 100 cars each day and closer to 10 at night. A car load of red necks would throw their empty beer cans at me in the morning in one car, and yell at me from the other side on there way home. The second night the cyotes got closer, and so did the light. Only now it didn't just blink and disapear. It moved more like it was scanning, them shoot off faster than I have ever seen leaving a trail accross the sky. An hour or so later here it comes again, closer until the the break of day. The next morning I started collecting wood for a fire. Saving the best club I found as a wepon in case the cyotes found me and attacked. I figured if I servived I would have some food and maybe a beautiful new coat. If the fire didn't keep them away I would need to cook one anyways. lol I could never understand what the red necks were saying and I have to say I was more worried about them. The third night started like the rest, but with a nice fire to stay warm. There was a fine line between warmth and getting smoked out, but I didn't have much else to do. Around midnight or so I ran out of wood and the fire died down fast. A cyote howled so close I thought he was in my back pocket. They were close now and so was the light. It was looking for something and I didn't think I wanted it to be me. The one red light became three red lights. I could never make out the shape in the dark bit the shape of the lights was a triangle. It got to within 300 yards of me at one point, took off and never returned. I have seem a lot slower crafts fly by than this and break the sound barrier. This never made a sound. The next day was the same again only instead of sticking out my thumb I was trying to flag someone, anyone down. I was getting sick and was one tired, hungry, scared kid. I put my hands down when the red necks went by. They almost stopped anyway after their usual acts of hatred. I still had my club and wasn't going to get beat down without a fight. All that day no one would stop for my apparent plea for help. A cop that had had his eye on me sense the beginning went by without a second thought. I noticed the most traffic went towards Pocatello in the morning and back to Boise at night. So early in the afternoon I crossed over, just after the red necks went through and tried to go the other way. Finally a car stops and I jump in. Three young short haired construction workers. They ask me where I was going and I said I was turning myself in for hitch hiking for a free meal. They said you don't want to do that, come with us. And I did. They threw a big hog leg at me to light and I was born again. After a big meal they told me they had an extra ticket for Sugarloaf and ask if I would like to go. I saw "Green Eyed Lady" performed live that night. The next morning they made me a new pack with an awsome old coat and I passed by my spot on their way to work. That's when I decided I would stop in Boulder to see some family.
i have this secret hobbie. i'll call it "drum circle psychology" - or - the study of personal interactions around the fire. drummers themselves are just a whole chapter! the strong arrogant loud ones that walk on everyone and want to just play their favorite beat. the quiet ones in the back just trying to keep up, that move closer as they become more confident. the women with their slower more cohesive beats. and when everyone all falls together into this one great down-beat drum-trance - oh my god! it's heaven. dancers, wow! the primal urge to "dance like no body is watching". i don't know if you've ever noticed but sometimes a dancer and a drummer will tune into the same channel. the drum beat can lead & direct the dancer like a marionette and the dancer lets the drummer know when to speeed up, slow down, or get back on rhythm simply with her body language. i love dancers! as a drummer & a dancer my advice is to just do it! dance your heart out! we don't care if you're cute, fat, old, too beautiful or whatever problems you think you have. dance! i went to a workshop with russell buddy helmes at a paralounge drum gathering (www.paralounge.net). he says the drummers job is to connect the goddess energy in the dancer to the earth and to release that out into the world - that creation energy. wow, what a job description for the universe! fire circle energies: the spunyons around the outside with glow sticks, the tired sleeping by the flames, the watchers prowling around the edges, the yuppie/custies that show up just to party and just don't get it, the small temporary pods that form and reform around whoever lights a joint, the poi spinners, and of course the fire trolls (this all depends on a good fire!!). i think that's the longest thread i've ever written! thanks for the great story captseaweed.
Your welcome Chime. Just another story out of my candle in the rain series. Thank you for yours. There are as many drummers, dancers and fire trolls out there as there are bellybuttons. It seems at least one of each you mentioned is always there. When it doesn't work, it just doesn't. When it comes together it's magic. Lov ya
