Hestia Speaks

by FireHawk

Background
Hestia was the Greek virgin goddess of the hearth. There were no grandiose myths praising her name, no temples devoted to her, yet she was at the very center of every home and every temple devoted to others. She was the hearth fire, and even though not prayed to in the temples she was well loved and revered. Very few images exist of her because she was said to have never taken human form.

The following Goddess story was channeled after spending some time developing a relationship with Hestia. The resulting text was her response to my question "What would you have me tell others about you?"

Her Story
You will not find me in the flickering candle nor in the forest ablaze from a lightning strike. My hearth fire is the heart of a home, its pulsating center. For mine is not a fire for the sake of fire, it is a fire that serves. I cook your food day after day, I warm your back and your heart, I entertain on a long winter's night, I set a romantic mood for the lover's gaze, I mesmerize and hypnotize for shaman journeys and trips of fancy alike.

As the hearth goes, so go the dwellers of the home. If I am ignored, I will leave quietly in the middle of the night and you are left with cold feet, raw meat and a cranky disposition. If I am well attended, I will treat you well and your life will have many more blessings than just hot food. For I am the unity between the individuals that share the same dwelling place. Wherever they may travel, they return to me. I am their anchor, their place of rejuvenation and renewal. I am the glue that holds family and community together — not too tightly for it will smother love and creativity; not too weakly for it will allow for separation and departure.

Tend my hearth in your home for the sacred temple fire that it is. As you stoke the hearth fires you stoke yourself — your passions, your dreams, your destiny.

Graphics Credits