AGGRESSION, RIGID THINKING,
FOLLOWING ORDERS
Fire Ant energy flares up without us noticing. It's the force that attracts us to people and situations that feed our imbalances rather than those that counter them. Gossiping and blaming are a few indicators that misaligned Fire Ant energy is at play. You may also find yourself "stewing" on a person or situation, only making things worse. How can you break free from the drama and cool down? Fire Ants are surprisingly sensitive... don't pretend the heat isn't getting to you.
WHEN IN BALANCE: thoughtful, disciplined
WHEN OUT OF BALANCE: argues, excess heat, gossips
TO BRING INTO BALANCE: solo time, walks at night
Hello everyone! Welcome back to another dive into the wisdom of our animal friends. Each animal represents a different aspect of our human journey, helping us to better understand and connect to our inner and outer worlds. Every 5 weeks, we cycle through each of the 5 elements (earth, water, fire, air, space) and their respective animals in this card deck.
The fire ant marks week #4 of our series, in which we explore our human journey through the themes and intentions our yoga classes, inspired by the animals' symbolism. In week #3, we learned from the month. She taught us to recognize how easy it is for us to be mesmerized by many bright and shiny things in this life; things that may end up hurting us or deeply distracting us from our true path and purpose.
(As an FYI, I upload these blog posts the week after I present the theme in class. These posts are reflections that form throughout a week of meditating, communing with students in class, and giving each theme time to be alive within my own life and marinate, before putting it into words. Further, it gives yoga students the opportunity to have their own personal experiences of the card's meaning before reading about my interpretation.)
So, what does the fire ant have to teach us? The fire ant is, appropriately, associated with the fire element. This element represents change, purification, and vigor. I have a tattoo on my finger for the fire element, which reminds me that just like a forest must burn as part of its natural process and cycle for growth, I too undergo the same process. Fire clears away the old, outdated, no longer effective things in our lives. Fire is often uncomfortable and frightening, because otherwise we will not give it our attention, and therefore won't make the changes it asks of us. Alchemy provides another metaphor for the fire of purification. The process of alchemy begins with a metal, which is purified by fire, and that fire transmutes the metal into gold. Fire is a very powerful force - it can provide light, energy, and warmth... or it can wreak uncontrollable destruction and terror. With a power like this, it's important to learn how to balance our fire, so that we are neither lacking light, nor are we raging out of control. Here's what the book says about the creatures of the desert and grasslands:
"The creatures of the fire element lead us toward change. They represent the ego, and challenge us to become our best selves. Although these cards appear more frequently when conflict or discomfort is present, the heat they emit is the elixir of our transformation. Several Fire cards indicate the "heat" is on. It's a time of action and change. Deadlines and demands are around every turn, but it's all in the name of growth. You'll look back on it in awe of all that was accomplished. When all else fails, remember Fire is the only thing that transforms darkness into light."
This card caused me to reflect on "power in numbers". An ant on its own, seems pretty irrelevant... something to flick off your arm or accidentally step on. But a colony of ants, with its 100k - 500k members, can collaborate to achieve awe-inspiring success. Ants are known for being hard workers, but they can't do it alone - the power of the ant is in its company.
We can relate this principle to our own lives. When you assimilate and involve yourself in any situation, group, environment, or belief... you are giving it power. So, the question is... Are the groups of people and the situations that you are involved with, guiding you into greater alignment, or greater misalignment?
It feels good to be a part of a group. It gives us a sense of community, connection, safety, purpose, and power. However, as we grow, we may come to realize that certain groups with which we are involved, are leading us in a direction not meant for us. As the ant card warns, these groups can "feed our imbalances rather than counter them". And because we have many people in the group that agree with us, we're more likely to "stay comfortable" and not change... and less likely to think for ourselves. This tendency can cause us to have an imbalance of our fire, as we explored above. We lack fire by lacking the push make those uncomfortable changes, or we have too much fire by continuing to give energy to the imbalances supported by our groups. These supported imbalances, the card explains, are symptomized by gossip, blame, and rumination.
Reflect on this for a moment... when there is a "problem" in our lives, it is an easy (but ineffective) route, to blame something outside of ourselves, instead of looking within for the source. And if we are involved with misaligned groups of people, they will encourage this ineffective route, by encouraging the blame and gossip. This makes us feel supported and "right", but doesn't actually solve our issue. However, if we have people in our lives (this can even be ourselves or other resources like books or people we look up to) who challenge us in our times of discomfort and problems (when our forest is on fire), they will encourage the true and effective change that is available by recognizing that any problem we may have, is not really the other person or our circumstances, but how we react and respond to them.
Every problem, every forest fire, in our lives presents an opportunity to either transform our actions, views, and beliefs... or to confirm our misaligned stories that tell us that "we are right and everyone else is wrong" and it's "us against them" and "oh poor me, I'm the victim"... burying us deeper. In yoga, we call these beliefs and stories samskaras... as we work to dissolve our ineffective samskaras, the ego has less of a hold on us, allowing our soul, the one who trusts and loves, to shine through and gracefully navigate our experiences. Personally, I'd rather a peaceful, loving, present part of myself deal with my problems rather than a scared, defensive, indecisive part.
To wrap it up, the fire ant teaches us that we are sensitive. We try to cover up the fact that our problems are hurting us, by blaming others and gossiping... when the real issue might be that these people and situations are triggering a samskara... triggering an insecurity through jealously, envy, disgust, or judgement. And we confirm and solidify these self-created, self-protective stories by gaining support and agreement from others. So, when the heat is on, we dig ourselves into a deeper trench of separateness, instead of using the heat as a signal to get out of the trench! And if we are fortunate, we have, and will continue to foster relationships that challenge our imbalances, and support our positive growth. There is power in numbers.
And that's it! Next week, we'll learn from the Phoenix!
dream extreme!
♡ Kat
excerpts from my journal:
"You teach me to rest my searching mind… because you truly do have it all laid out perfectly for me. If only I can trust and lean into you more. I know that you will take care of me.
I am trying so incredibly hard. I am offering absolutely all that I am - all that I have to you. And I know you see that. I know you do. And it’s all waiting for me... so that I may be a vehicle of love and service. I just have to keep moving forward… to listen closer… to not distract myself… to align myself with the people who encourage positivity and growth. These are what the animal yoga themes have been teaching me. I'm learning. I’ll be patient."
*you = [my soul, God, the universe, the divine, the higher self, oneness, etc., ... whatever you want to name that higher power - the great mystery of life] that's who I'm talking to btw haha
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