How do you connect with the element of Fire? How can perfume provide a pathway?
Fire is the element of transformation and alchemy, cleansing and destruction. Its flames dance playfully and it stokes our inner desires and passions. It illuminates through the darkness and represents health, vitality and creativity. It can be our beacon, bringing warmth to our homes & hearths; it can also be dangerous when untended. Even in its destruction, Fire gives way to new life, nourishing the soil with ash and making room for new things to grow. Fire commands respect and attention. Fire energy in balance is a vital part of the natural cycles of life.
We can intentionally channel the energy of Fire within us and around us, through focus and visualization, as well as through rituals, scents, plants, and symbols. Below are the qualities & correspondences associated with Fire, Elspeth’s Airs most fire-invoking perfumes & some of my favorite ways to connect with this energy. What are some of yours?
The photos in this post are of my friend, Mandisa, embodying the element of Fire for our Elemental Magic photoshoot in March. Read more about the fiery Mandisa below!
Mandisa’s makeup by Sabrina Blunt and photos by Trevor Mark.
Fire Qualities & Correspondences
Nature: Transformation, play, action, desire, alchemy, cleansing, destruction 
Colors: Red & orange
Direction: South
Season: Summer
Sense: Sight
Astrological Signs: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
Planets: Sun, Mars, Jupiter
Plants: Cinnamon, ginger, hot peppers, stinging, thorny plants like nettles, sunflowers, spices like nutmeg and clove
Perfumes: Elspeth’s Airs Through Flames & Eros
Rituals to Connect with Fire
*Use perfumes & scent to set intentions around what you wish to release or to invoke what you are passionate about creating or transforming. 
*Burn candles, especially red or orange ones. You can also dress your candle with herbs & essential oils that correspond with fire.
*Write things you wish to release on paper and then burn it (safely, of course!)
*Gather around a fire.
*Make a sun tea: place herbs in a glass jar and cover with water & cap. Place outside where the water can strike it for 3 to 5 hours. Once at desired strength, drink or refrigerate.
*Infuse flowers in water in the sun all day and then rinse your body with the water.
*Bask in the sun.
*Bake with fiery herbs & spices- a delight for the mouth & the nose!
*Use fiery scents or incense in your releasing & cleansing ceremonies.
Elspeth’s Airs Perfumes to Connect with Fire Energy
Through Flames
Affirmation: I already know the way.
Key notes: Lemongrass, clove, tobacco, woods & spices
Made under the influence of a Fire Moon, Through Flames incinerates confusion and brings clarity by fire. Built upon a solid base of Virginian Cedarwood, Opoponax and Vetiver, a stir of tobacco is used to ignite the fire. Siberian Fir and Rosemary stoke the flames and send Lemongrass into the air. Ginger adds heat, while Black Pepper jolts us awake & brings us into focus. A touch of Cardamom sweetens the blend just enough to balance the medicine. We are left feeling clear and strong.
Eros 
Affirmation: I am electric. Being with tension fuels my growth.
Key notes: Vetiver, citrus, cinnamon & ginger
“Eros is the unconsummated quality of the between.” – Catherine MacCoun, “On Becoming an Alchemist”
Cinnamon and Vetiver spark a playful tension between hot and cool in this blend. These two poles create an opening for Cypress and Lemongrass to arise to form a bridge between the contrasting elements. Magic occurs in this space of in-between.
Originally created under a Full Hunter Moon in Aries, Eros simultaneously pulls us in opposite directions and keeps us centered in that still place within. It implores us to be with certain tensions, as they can propel us towards growth.
About the Model 
Mandisa can’t help BUT radiate fire energy. With her Sun and Moon in Leo, born in the heat of August in the South, Mandisa is as fierce as she is passionate and loving. Her clear intentions, words & actions have the power to transform hearts & minds & all the world that she touches.
S. Mandisa Moore O-Neal is a Black Feminist, abolitionist and founder of The Moore-O’Neal Law Group, LLC, a Black feminist law and policy practice. Currently, she’s the Executive Director of The Center for HIV Law and Policy, a research and policy think tank and advocacy resource for People Living with HIV and surrounding communities. Before joining CHLP, she was a civil rights attorney with a focus on HIV De-criminalization litigation, education and advocacy; family law litigation, education and advocacy; employment and public accommodations discrimination litigation and education; and police accountability litigation and advocacy and her primary organizing support work was as member of the BYP100-New Orleans’ chapter, SONG-New Orleans and a founding member of the Louisiana Coalition on Criminalization and Health.
Mandisa is also one of my besties. We’ve been friends since college, when we challenged the “devil’s advocate” bros in a Liberation Theology class and emotionally supported each other through Hurricane Katrina. Over about 18 years, our friendship has grown us both through many shifts and evolutions, and I’m proud and honored that we call each other family.