Another season, another burn...

Last week was the Spring Equinox, and for the first time in a long time the weather was clement enough for a fire in the fire pit and a meditation in the labyrinth.

Back in 2020 during the shutdown, when everything was canceled, Burning Man and the regional burns were no exception. I hosted an AlterAlchemy via Zoom on the weekend that Burning Man would have taken place, building a little “mini-effigy” and burning it.

Here’s that first mini-effigy:

Since then, I’ve built mini-effigies for many Solstices and Equinoxes, often inviting others to celebrate.

Despite the word “effigy,” the structures are purely architectural abstractions, not meant to represent any person or thing. My favorite, probably, was the one I made out of an old palette that had been sitting around ever since 2015, part of a burn art project that never got off the ground at the infamous “Alchemuddy” of that year.

And “under lights”:

People who are attending their first mini-burn in my back yard always have the same reaction: “Oh, that’s beautiful! You’re not going to burn it, are you?” And then we do, and they get it.

ANYWAY, this past week I finally got to build a thing, the first in a while, and have a lovely evening in the still-messy labyrinth. I’m blogging about it here because a very Lichtenbergian thing happened in its construction.

Here it is:

Not very impressive, but it has secrets. The four walls enclose a floor, which has a spent pillar candle on it, i.e., an accelerant for the actual burn, but there is a gap between the walls and the floor to allow the fire from the fire pit to find its way up to that candle. Hold that thought.

A wide view of the labyrinth, for those who haven’t seen it before:

It was after I lit the candles for the evening that I saw what I had done:

In my haste to get the box built, I didn’t notice that one of the faces was seriously askew, but how interesting is that? If I had screwed it in straight, it really would have been a boring little thing. But with that one face out of whack it becomes some kind of mysterious monument, a reminder of some great loss. If this were out at Burning Man, twenty feet tall, you’d all be stopping and taking pictures for your Insta.

As one of my recent posts on Mastodon said, “Pay attention to your mistakes.” Especially if you’re going to burn them.

Another wide shot of the labyrinth:

For some reason I thought to take a shot of the inside of the effigy, and I was very surprised at how much it gave off spiral labyrinth vibes.

And how did it burn? As designed: The candle within the box began to melt immediately, and the flames whooshed up through those gaps and created a fire tornado. It was pretty glorious.