The Firebreak, Cerro Verde, Andalucía
I hadn’t planned to do an energy report while in Spain, but the firebreak fascinated me. It was ‘a moment’ - in a ‘gap’ - on top of the world. And how could the destruction of trees feel so magical?
I was in Spain courtesy of my friend Jane Wake who had invited me to teach at her annual retreat at Finca el Cerrillo: a beautiful traditional farmhouse, nestled in the Andalucía Hills. Morning hikes began at dawn, before the heat gathered, and today we were doing ‘the big climb’: the 1200+ metre Cerro Verde in the Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama mountains.
I’m a slow walker, which I like. It allows me to take things in, and to observe the energies (or maybe that’s my ego talking as I am overtaken by everyone in the group :)). The scenery was gorgeous, hillsides fizzing in the rising heat as the sun rose to blanket them. Feet climbing, upon a different land; bodies moving like ants up a mountain. And about two thirds of the way up: an expanse…the surprise of a firebreak. A chance to breathe. Like nature, itself.
With nearly 600 wildfires in the Andalusian region in 2023, burning some 1,700 hectares of land, you can see why the need to remove such a vast strip of vegetation and trees. I thought I would pick up energies of devastation, but instead I felt a surge of a different kind. Stripping the land bare creates a gap. A ‘weak spot’ energetically which allows the fire to drop. But this is just one aspect: the intention of the firebreak was super-strong and it is the combination of these energetics which creates the magic. That is how magic works: an intention entering a ‘gap’. And this really did feel quite magical.
The heat from the white ground was radiating and powerful. Tuning in to the intention of it - of the effect and affect of the workers who had created it and of all the locals from the surrounding white villages, for whom this firebreak brings safety and security, a near constant awareness in the background of their minds projected towards it - the benefits feel ongoing. As our path took us up part of it, a real sense of gratitude could be felt - which was beautiful. And where, further down the mountain the vegetation was suffering from drought, here, it was flourishing. I had a sense of the vegetation and nature being grateful for the firebreak…that it understood that part of itself had to be removed, to safeguard it; and a feeling of symbiotic and flourishing co-existence between people and the natural world.
In a world increasingly affected by wild fires, I now have a new perspective: that despite - and because of - the destruction, connection and a deeper understanding and engagement with the natural world can happen. It doesn’t have to look pretty to be powerful and real and alive. We can enable the magic; and usually, it starts with gratitude. From both sides.
A firebreak is a beautiful thing.
Love,
Delilah
Visited: 07.07.24