Pele, A Goddess on Fire

by | Aug 20, 2015 | goddess, Spiritual Growth | 0 comments

Have you ever felt the rage of betrayal?
The deep pain and grief of loss?

The crippling crush of rejection or disappointment?

Relationships can be the source of intense emotions. Even the gentlest person can become wrathful when crossed. My sister (one of the kindest and sweetest people I know) has such a temper that everyone scurries when it rages!

 Pele, the fiery Hawaiian Volcano Goddess, is the archetype of the wild woman of intense passion and wrath. She loves deeply, yet her fury can erupt without warning, spewing destruction indiscriminately in every direction. She has been described as having capricious, undisciplined, and almost wanton displays of emotions.

Pele’s wrath is feared by Hawaiians, but she is also deeply loved and revered. The molten lava disgorged during her eruptions also creates new land shaped by the lava. Then, rain and vegetation brings the land to tropical lushness in about a year. Interestingly, Pele’s red berries only grow on lava beds.
This is the paradox of Pele, the potential for both great destruction and creatively verdant beauty.

Pele is an archetype of the sensually alive woman who loves passionately and intensely. One legend tells of her steamy dreamtime affair with a chieftain from another island. So intense is her passion that she cannot live without him. Pele sends her sister, Hi’iaka, on a perilous journey to bring her lover to her so they can be united. Yet Pele grows suspicious and jealous over the delayed arrival and swamps him in a landslide of molten lava – so destructive is her raging mistrustful nature!

Still, Pele, a symbol of intense passionate destructiveness, is also a symbol of extraordinary creativity. Intense emotion, when constructively channeled and directed can result in astonishing beauty, moving artistic endeavors, inspirational poetry, enthralling story-telling, and impressive designs of all sorts.

We humans have intense natures. And being in touch with the intensity of our emotions is what enables us to feel vitally alive. A person who squashes their emotions, or stuffs them with food, cigarettes, substances, video games, or with any of the varied distractions we have in our culture today, is only partially alive. It is our connection to our emotions that enables us to feel true joy, redeeming hopefulness, inspiration, and exaltation. But to feel these, we also must feel their counterpoints: sadness, disappointment, anger, and fear.

Eckert Tolle, in his book The New Earth, talks about our egoic side. You know – that side of us that feels envy, jealousy, lust, greed, the desire to control, to want more than our fair share. Tolle claims that it is only human to feel the urges of our shadow self. What makes us a Consciously Aware Being is when we feel these urges and acknowledge them – because we are human – but do not act on them. That is the human challenge – to feel intensely, and yet be able to master the reactions to our emotions.This is self-mastery! When you lack self-mastery, then you can fall out of touch with your inner knowing. Your insight is swamped by reactivity. You lose your center, fall out of balance, and sink into your egoic, very human, self.

This is the lesson that Pele imparts; she is a Goddess on Fire. Her passionate nature creates great beauty, yet there can also be great destruction. The lesson is to feel our emotions, and acknowledge them, but to choose how we will react.

Pele is an intriguing archetype of the wild passionate woman. If you want to hear more about Pele’s mythology, and to learn what she and her sister, Hi’iaka, can impart to contemporary women, then join us for the In Her Name Circle on Friday, August 28, at 7:00pm at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 300 E. Santa Inez, San Mateo, CA. You will also have a chance to dance with Pele under the guidance of the amazing Dasha Bogdonava!

Pele is also featured in my upcoming workshop, Sacred Sexuality, the Shadow, and Loving Relationships, which begins October 10, 2015. Click here for more info. She is a remarkable archetype of the sensual, sexual, feminine, and fully alive woman!
Aloha!

 

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