The history of Firewalking certainly precedes recorded time.  Man has always had a fascination with fire, which has cooked his meals, provided comfort and produced a medium for change.  Indeed without the use of fire nothing that we wear or use in our daily lives would be available.

The reason for this fascination and awe as regards fire is because it is the primordial barrier between the animal and Man.  The best trained Police horse or Police dog will not walk the fire no matter how coerced.  Only Man has the imagination and requirement to challenge nature and produce metaphors to conquer his own fears.  The Vikings would walk on hot metal chains to show physical fortitude.  Buddhists use the fire as a spiritual endeavour.  Hawaiian Kahuna priests walk the lava flows, and Fijians still, to this day, dance on hot coals, privately as a path to adulthood, and publicly for the benefit of tourists. All peoples throughout all time and all religions, including Christianity, have used Firewalking as a “rite of passage”, or test of physical or psychological fortitude.

But what is Fire? This almost magical creation, found naturally, but appearing not to be of this Earth.  Science will tell you that if you bring two gases together and raise the temperature you will get a flame, but was is the flame? It is a living breathing entity that consumes and grows in a similar way to other life forms.  The smallest spark can produce the largest forest fire.  Fire can create, it can transform, it can destroy, all attributes also found in Mankind.

Fire creates a similar change in objects as it does in people.  As we know the flames of fire speed up the molecules in that which is burnt and this creates a change in the former object.  Similarly, the Fire, when used for personal development, speeds up the metaphysical molecules in the person and facilitates further positive change.  At every Starfire Firewalk, watching the incredible changes in the Firewalkers as they passed through the fire is very rewarding.  They started as normal people, some frightened, some exhilarated by the thought of challenging their deeply held belief structures.  As they passed over the fifteen feet of red-hot coals burning at over 1200 degrees Fahrenheit you could see the old restrictions and limiting beliefs burning off, leaving underneath the true qualities of the self, confident, pure and powerful.

Starfire Instructors have been taught by Tolly Burkan and Peggy Dylan, the founders of the American Firewalking Movement and trainers to every registered Firewalk Instructor world-wide.

Fire, as we have said, is a metaphor for change and a vehicle for confronting fears.  It’s Mastery actually produces in those undertaking such an endeavour, not as you would expect, a sense of victory, or complacency, but a deep respect, as you would have for any teacher.  For teacher it undoubtedly is, lose respect for an instant and it will teach you with what is call a ‘fire-kiss’ or ‘hot-spot’ reminding the Firewalker that this is a tool to be treated carefully.  The small blister is gone the next day but the lesson is learnt, the cellular memory of the Firewalker indelibly inscribed.

A wise man once said, ‘There are times when life offers you a square centimetre of chance, and if you have the courage at that moment to grasp that square centimetre, your life will be changed in an INSTANT!’ This is one of those times.