In my experience of Shining Flame, he has tended to be more no-nonsense, brusker, incisive, cutting through bullshit even as he moves you to do so as well. Where Star Seeker would ask me “What have you learned,” Shining Flame tells me, “Speak truth to me, Crowess.”
My call for Shining Flame is built on the same formula as for Star Seeker and the rest:
I invoke by the Wyrms that Are Wise.
Shining Flame, Shá-Rîn,[1]
Wyrms that Are Wise in the Flickering Flame,
Shining Flame,
Dragon of the Inferno,
Shining Flame,
Lord of Pride and Truth,
May I know your presence and blessing once again,
In this time and place,
In my life, my dreams, my work, my art.
Shining Flame,
I welcome you.
I will call Shining Flame while using a dagger/athamey blade.
For me, Shining Flame initially appeared—and continues to do so—as the Ninth Doctor as played by Christopher Eccleston. What this appearance suggests to me is that Shining Flame is far more the punk Guardian than the others, at least for me. He can be kind, but he does not coddle you. He may pace things and interaction and so forth to best help you, but helping you is not about making you feel good.
Indeed, I’d say that my first experience of Shining Flame focused primarily on Truth over Pride, and it still does. However, he has used Truth as a path for me to realize Pride. His approach with me has been to lead me to examine myself, my life, and others through the lens of the Fire of Truth to see the truth of why I should feel Pride. We’ve been quite adamant about Hubris and false pride and mere feel-goodery.
By turns, Shining Flame has also worked to make sure that we are not just talking about Truth-capital-T but ultimately also about Real things, but the Real includes also the imaginary. Or it can. I suppose another way to put it is that some Truths remain potential truths, unactualized, and thus while they are Real—we can imagine and create them and so forth—they are not Truth-as-Fact. Shining Flame cares less about Fact than about Truth and Real, especially where Facts wind up obscuring those concerns.
It took me quite some time to really get a good feel for Water Maker. In appearance, she has seemed like a woman with long dark hair, in a dark blue dress or gown with bare legs and feet glistening with the waters. She very much resembles the vision I’ve always had of Dana/Danu, and I suspect that’s very much a function of associations I already have. On occasion, Water Maker seems a bit more draconic—uncanny eyes, clawed hands—but she remains always the most serene and calming and soothing of the Guardians.
I invoke by the Wyrms that Are Wise.
Water Maker, Ilváyo,[2]
Wyrms that Are Wise in the Depths Within,
Water Maker,
Dragon of the Seas and Rivers,
Water Maker,
Queen of Love and Power,
May I know your presence and blessing once again,
In this time and place,
In my life, my dreams, my work, my art.
Water Maker
I welcome you.
I will call Water Maker while using a small ceramic bowl with water in it. I will trace the WtaW in the air before me in a deep, cool blue-green, call her, and quickly feel her hands atop mine as I hold the bowl. I will then drink lightly from the waters at the end.
Typically, Water Maker soothes and cools the forge fires of Shining Flame. The excesses that can flare up after Star Seeker and Shining Flame, Water Maker soothes, helps bring into harmony with the rest. She is Wholeness and Stillness, and we will typically sit, the black bowl full of water between us. I will often gaze into the waters in the candle light, seeing what reflects on the surface from the Otherworlds within the sacred space I’ve already cast at the beginning of the entire rite.
And really, Water Maker and I will talk. (Well, that’s most of what I do with the other Guardians.) We talk a lot about how I feel. And to a good degree, my conversations with Water Maker focus on allowing myself to slip into the waters of wholeness, my whole self. These sessions are meditative and reflective, though I will also often talk with her about how to get at wholeness and stillness, to get at Love and Power. Many of these talks have focused on learning Self-Love, but also Love. And of course, in talking about Power in this context, we’re never meaning Force: Power From not Power Over. These sessions lack the spectacle that can sometimes go with Star Seeker and Shining Flame—the emotional spectacle, at least—for I feel like Water Maker focuses on healing and reclaiming to the waters misspent energy.
Indeed, I will often conclude my talks with Water Maker by performing some variation on the kala/water rite.
I’ll also note that I typically, these days, transition to the next Guardian with a friendly “Thank you” to the Guardian I’m concluding with. Of course, they remain present until closing. And sometimes, one of them will interrupt: Shining Flame in particular has shown a flare for interrupting, sometimes Star Seeker. But most of my work is getting myself into the place of mind to talk with them: they’ve always seemed quite willing to actually show up.
[1] Firelight/Sunlight/Fire/Shá-Crowned. I find myself not translating Shá because otherwise I get into extended alternative terms strung together.
[2] All of the Waters
Image: Campfire by Marcus Obal