ABSTRACT
This chapter imagines into the metaphor of the alchemical operation related to the element of fire and how it relates to the colonial psyche. It examines how the colonial psyche has manifested the negative expressions of this operation through the intentionally spreading of diseases such as syphilis and scarlet fever in Indigenous communities, leading to the “burning up” and killing of Indigenous people in the deadly burning, heat, and fever of these diseases; the burning of thousands of residential school records to attempt to hide the extent and severity of the terror and crimes against humanity that were perpetuated there; and the forbidding of First Nations practices of controlled burns which have led to the loss of biodiversity, traditional food sources, and massive deadly and destructive forest fires. This chapter then examines how the settler colonial can instead engage now with the positive potential of this alchemical operation to work towards healing, and concrete changes in their beliefs, behaviours, and actions in their accountability, unsettling and decolonising practices related to this facet of colonialism today.
