In the Fire is a movement song. It generates physical movement with its rhythm and spiritual movement with its message. Hindu Goddess Kali dances in the fire, and is a fearsome, dark and very popular manifestation of the Goddess in India. She destroys what is ready to be reborn, and in this way she urges us to move through our own cycles of death and rebirth in attitudes, energies and our physical reality.
What needs to be gone from your life in order to make room for growth? Giving that up to Kali, in Her fire, is the first big step.
The Crow Women use this song in fire rituals, often while dancing around the flames and burning symbols of what we are ready to give up. Often we write a note on joss paper, or make an organic effigy out of sticks and dried plants to represent what we are burning. We can celebrate the joy of letting go, or channel the rage of the destroyer if we need it!
In the fire, in the fire! Gonna burn my burdens in the fire!
Give it up to Kali, give it up to Kali, give it up to Kali, give it up!
Purify me in your holy flame! Purify me in your holy flame!
Give it up to Kali, give it up to Kali, give it up to Kali, give it up!
For more information about Kali see Julie Peters’ “Kali, Goddess of Rage and Resistance” on Spirituality and Health: the Soul/Body Connection.
The Crow Women recorded In the Fire in 2006 on our CD Crow Goddess. We learned it in the 90s from the cassette “Such is the Garden” by Pomegranate Rose. The song is by Cynthia Crossen (c) 1987.
