The Children’s Fire

The Children's Fire is a call for us to take responsibility for our future generations - now!

you may have come across the masculine and feminine principles before represented by the Eastern concept of Ying and Yang
judgement is the determination that something is 'right' or 'wrong'. What we need to establish in it's place is discernment, which is objective and reasoning. We may use the benchmark of 'does this thought, decision or action support life?'


What is the Children’s Fire?

Many generations ago, our ancestors understood that the balance and wisdom observed in nature should be reflected by our systems of governance and institutions of power. In response to this they established a deep democratic system of governance known as the Circle of Law and implemented a circular structure, known as the Council Wheel to facilitate this.

The Council would be comprised of eight pairs of representatives (or Chiefs) who would come together to respond to the needs of the People and any questions that they may be holding. They placed a small fire in the centre of the Council Wheel to remind all present that the primary consideration should always be the continuation of life. They called this fire the Children’s Fire.

So, the Children’s Fire, in a nutshell, is a calling for us to remember a simple and yet profound way of being…

to always place Life-First – in every thought, word and deed!

We use this phrase as a foundational principle of the movement: to bring focus to our future generations. To hold the question, “what kind of world do we want our children, and our children’s children, to inherit?”.

 

 

The Underlying Two Sacred Laws (if you want to look deeper under the bonnet!)

The phrase ‘life first’ is actually derived from two natural laws (they are not a call to litigation in the conventional sense that we understand law, nor are they religious laws) that are held sacred by the Delicate Lodge Tradition – an indigenous wisdom tradition that has both informed and inspired the Children’s Fire Movement. The two laws are…

1. All things are born of woman

2. No law shall be passed that will harm the children

Maybe you now see why we have used the term ‘Life First’ to promote this 21st century movement! It’s perfectly fine to not want to go deeper into them – ‘Life First’ is a powerful and wide-reaching statement in itself. And, from our perspective it is very important that these profound laws are included here for those that want to go deeper, as once understood they provide a wider understanding of what we mean by ‘Life First’.

They can both be used in their literal sense – and, they are so much more….

All things are born of woman

Or in other words: the birthing ground of all things/life is sacred and to be considered of primary importance.

This is referring to the feminine ‘being’ principle of life – the still birthing ground from which all comes into being. It is the no-thing from which every-thing emerges. This may literally be a mother’s womb, or it could be an organisational structure from which an action is birthed. You can even look at our consciousness as the birthing ground of our thoughts – deep eh? This is actually a very important factor when we look around at the state of our environment – the quality of our thoughts (which in turn may become actions in the world) are determined by our mental state and the structures of mind that we have created since birth.

No law shall be passed that will harm the children

Or in other words: anything that is birthed into life  is sacred and not to be harmed, or judged, in any way.

This is referring to the active, masculine ‘becoming’ principle of life. Using the above examples: by ‘children’ we do on one level mean human children, and it is not limited to this. It could also be a project that is birthed or a thought, word, or action! The word ‘harm’ may relate to physical harm, and, also more subtle forms of harm such as judgement - how often do we judge, push away and then isolate both ‘guilty’ thoughts or people? And where do harmful actions come from? – often from a form of judgement! Both can have destructive consequences in the external world we inhabit.

As we mentioned above, this isn’t a call for litigation – these are natural laws that describe how Life, which is what we’re talking about here, evolves. If the two Sacred Laws are understood, and honoured, life is able to do it’s thing – unimpeded, unharmed. When something goes pear-shaped, whether in our societies or out in nature, it’s very often the case that humanity has ignored these laws, got involved and confused the process somehow. These laws helps us to work with life and co-create with it in a life-affirming way.