The Season of Returning Light

by Terah Kathryn Collins

‘Tis the Season when short days and cool temperatures beckon us to spend more time indoors. Winter is the time when the Sun, Nature’s primal source of the Fire element, offers the least warmth. To maintain our elemental balance, it’s the time to illuminate our homes with enhancements that bring the comfort of the Fire element’s warmth indoors.

Candlelight is an archetypal symbol of Fire. A room can be transformed by lighting it with the luminous magic of candles. With safety always in mind, group pillar candles, tea lights, votives, and tapers to create multi-tiered arrangements of illumination. Choose any hue of red, the color of the Fire element, and add reflective trays and holders to multiply and magnify the light.

Soft lamplight accentuates the warm ambiance of any room. Turn glare into glow by installing rheostats or dimmers that let you adjust your lighting to fit every need and mood. Consider replacing fluorescent lights with more versatile and appealing track or recessed lighting. Or, add task lights, ornamental lamps, and other alternative lighting so that the fluorescents are rarely needed.

The fireplace or hearth symbolizes the heart of a home and inspires the timeless feelings of comfort and safety. Keep a wood-burning fireplace at the ready with fresh logs for the next fire as this connotes continual warmth and light.

In the Nourishing Cycle of Feng Shui’s Five Elements, Wood feeds Fire. When you combine them together, you can create a particularly welcoming wintertime environment. Interestingly, their color associations – red and green – correlate with the classic Christmas colors. Arrange evergreens, ribbons, candles, flowers, ornaments, and other seasonal decorations in reds and greens to create your own beautiful displays.

The element of Fire is also enhanced by your relationships with your loved ones. Include “mementos of the heart” that remind you of your favorite people and display photos of them from previous holidays, as well as ornaments made by or given to you by them.

Winter is the time to create an environment that invites us to renew ourselves and deepen our kinship with friends and family. We seek places to settle into deep introspection and meaningful conversation. Let’s light the candles, cozy up around the fire, and share good times with those we love. With our home fires burning, we open our hearts to winter’s essence and celebrate the returning of the light.

(c) 2013 Terah Kathryn Collins