ABSTRACT
This chapter is a poetics of creativity in the image of fire; as apprentices of fire we learn its ways.
The nature of fire shows in the behavior of the image: its meanings have spread far into the collective imagination, gathering meanings contradictory and cohering. Fire unites in one image the creative-destructive forces of the soul. Fire is the birth of civilization and its apocalypse. The power of the created work is a dynamism of containment and conflagration.
Creative fire is imagined at the heart of Earth and matter. The nascent creative impulse lives in matter. Fanned to flame it guides by gradually illuminating creative intent. It radiates from the completed work. A consideration of Sky Father and Earth Mother creativity and alchemy leads to creativity as a union of subterranean and celestial fire.
The tale Zeus and Semele raises the question of the relationship between image and source. In Prometheus’ story we imagine creative fire as stolen and as divine gift.
Creativity is imagined in the images of heat, fuel, space and breath. Fire clears the way for new growth, releases seeds, makes matter malleable, reduces things to their basic elements and brings about rapid change.
