Emerging

"The phoenix must burn to emerge."

~  Janet Fitch, White Oleander

I dreamt of the Phoenix ~ tremendous, fierce, immense and majestic. Then I dreamt of becoming the Phoenix. Every inch of me, every cell and every breath was alive with fire. Wait... what? Alive with fire? Doesn't fire kill? Not this fire. This fire cauterizes. This fire cleanses. This fire births.

I felt the heat and the searing intensity of pain. Like a wave, it washed over me. Bringing me to my knees with its force. Until I had no knees. No body. The wave of fire on which I rode was ferocious, abundant, extravagant. Then there was nothing. A deep void surrounded me. Lub~lub, lub-lub ~ I slipped inside the sound, rising and falling with its rhythm ~ a beating heart. Is this what it's like to be reborn?

As I woke, I felt the seeping away of the heat. It diminished to a warm glow that remained in and around me. It colored my day with gold and orange and the glory of being alive.

What creature or creatures do you dream of? What does it feel like inside your dream? How are you affected or changed?