The latest wildfires in Northern California started the night of my 35th birthday. The timing of the fires, personally, was uncanny. Fire has been my teacher this year, it consumed my home in January and I’m still processing and learning from that event.

Fire’s effects are cleansing, renewing, in a non-contemporary human landscape. While fire looks to be a source of utter destruction- it is really a transforming element; matter and oxygen become fuel. What fire leaves in its wake are the elements of what was; these elements are the nutrients for the next phase of life and growth. Fire, like anger, is clarifying- it requires and creates movement. Heat opens and draws.

A native plant to California, the leaves of Ceanothus, or Red Root, contain flammable resins that actually fuel fire. The seeds of Ceanothus are germinated by intense heat, while the roots are fire resistant. Red Roots innate anticipation, and encouragement of it’s own destruction and renewal, is profound.

The medicinal properties of Red Root effect the positive charge of red blood cells, allowing for better movement and equilibrium between the blood, interstitial fluid, and lymph. Red Root allows for better flow in the lymph system, assisting the bods ability to move through infection and healing processes faster. The Spirit Medicine, accordingly, helps one deal with the inevitability of change.

Within the devastation of my home burning down, were the seeds of freedom and fertility. My life changed dramatically after the fire.

I am now 5 months pregnant. I believe the being that is growing inside me would not have come if not for the fire.

It feels overwhelming that so many people went through the loss of their homes and lives in the fires. They not only lost homes, but neighborhoods and communities. We live in ways now that feel so vulnerable. Our need for stability and control clash with a changing world of extreme weather and dramatic natural and cyclical events.

In the aftermath of the fires, we have the opportunity to channel the powerful energy of renewal for each other. Fat and the Moon is aligning with Undocufund, a relief effort supporting undocumented people affected by the fires who do not qualify for relief assistance.

If you know someone personally affected by the fires who needs toiletries, please reach out to us via our website.