At Suzy Meszoly’s World Peace Retreat at the beautiful Ashokan Center in the Catskills the place was buzzing as we prepared for the big day: 12/21/12. We had gotten 108 people together (as instructed through Suzy’s channeled beings) that day to chant the sacred sound of OHM for the entire day as a way of doing our part to balance the rapidly shifting energies and promote a vibration of peace.
As I was doing my Yoga the day before Spirit said “You will lead the fire ceremony”. With that my intellect countered by saying in my head “2 people are coming up from the city to do the solstice fire, plus it’s supposed to rain, though I could be there to help out.” Later in the day I learned that the people driving up to do the fire had to cancel and Suzy asked me if I could take care of it. I agreed but I still was tentative due to the forecast of heavy rain. Still I made sure that the firewood was tarped, and that the folks from the retreat center built the fire in a manner that could be lit and maintained through the rain, which they had. So after dinner Suzy announced to me: “Alden is going to help you with the fire”. When I asked around for Alden an 11 year old boy raised his hand and he told me he had looked forward to lighting the fire for weeks. I mentioned to him that if it rains hard we cannot do it but he looked at me very disappointingly and said “I just took an outdoor survival course and could light a fire in the rain with one match”. Still I told him that he could help but that I would light the fire and only if the rain was not too heavy.
So as the evening’s activities were winding down I decided to meet Alden at the base lodge early next mourn’, instead of by the fire, which was expertly set up next to the sweat lodge, and give him a lift up, as after all he is an 11 year old boy. He found me right around this time so I told him” We will meet here at about 5:20 AM and if the rain is not too bad I will drive you up there. I will do the prayers but your job will be to light the fire”. Right then his eyes lit up in such a way that I knew that permitting him to light the fire just totally made his whole weekend, and at that moment I decided that I could not disappoint this child no matter what and if the weather was anything short of a hurricane that I would take him up there and get that fire lit. Right then it started to snow. During the night, heavy snow turned to heavy rain and when I got to the lodge at 5:30 AM it was 37 degrees with torrential rain. I was prepared with rain gear, warm vest and a change of clothes. Suzy had already advised me to light candles indoors instead of having an outdoor solstice fire but I told her I needed to do this, plus I predicted the sun would come out at midday and that we’d be happy we had the fire.
So, we went up to the soaked, dark fire site and I did a round of prayers, held my soaked poncho over the fire wood and with one match Alden lit that fire. I then did prayers at 6:10 AM, the moment of the fated 12/21/12 solstice. Then stood out in the pouring rain with Alden and 2 amazing ladies chanting Ohm – the synchronistic fire crew of Adam, Alden, Bonnie and Connie and we all did some prayers at sunrise noticing that our fire was completely surrounded by a “mote” of water as the flooding rains continued pouring down, cleansing the land and heralding in a new age of love, light and community. Meanwhile at the lodge the Ohms began at 6:10 and were to continue non-stop until sundown on the shortest day of the year. Individually we took brakes, and switched off but there was always a group continually ohming. I did some of my ohms with the group but spent most of my time tending fire, ohming by the fire and as the rains abated around 11AM I got into my dry clothes and wandered back to the fire at midday to bright sunshine and 50 degree heat. Slowly more people joined us at the fire and for midday we chanted ohm in a group by the beautiful solstice fire.
As the day ended and we went into a Kirtan, then at night Suzy publically thanked me for the fire and I aptly point out that we had Alden to thank for that fire, not me. For if it was not for his youthful enthusiasm, and my desire to not disappoint him, the fire never would have happened – a fire that became an integral part of our world peace day heralding in the new age
