The Fire That Frees Me

There comes a time in every woman’s becoming when she must walk through her own fire.
Not the kind that consumes, but the kind that clarifies
the sacred heat that burns away fear, doubt, and everything that hides her light.

The Fire That Frees Me is a sacrament a moment where courage meets surrender and transformation begins.
This Full Moon in Aries arrives as both mirror and torch,
reflecting truth and reminding us that bravery is not born from certainty,
but from devotion.

It is the holy act of stepping forward even when the heart quakes.

Fire is the great cleanser.
It purifies and reveals.
Under this light, we are asked to lay down the stories that have kept us small
the fears that whisper we are unworthy,
the doubts that dim our brilliance.

Aries, ruled by Mars, is the initiator
the first spark of the zodiac, the flame that begins the journey.
Her light burns hot and honest,
calling us to rise from hesitation into movement,
from silence into declaration,
from self-doubt into self-trust.

This moon invites us to remember the sound of our own yes.
To return to the flame not as victim but as keeper
to harvest ourselves, whole and holy,
from the ashes of what we’ve outgrown.

🌕 Closing Reflection

When the fire settles and the smoke clears, what remains is not what was lost but what was revealed.
You have walked through the flame and found yourself whole.
This is your courage, your harvest, your light returning.

May this moon remind you that you are both the keeper and the kept
the flame that purifies and the vessel that carries it.
Go forward with tenderness and truth,
and let the fire that freed you become the warmth that guides you home.

✨ From my flame to yours,
Anna

All rituals and writings are original to Up the Steps and created with love and spiritual intention.

🌕 Corn Blood Moon: Crowned in Fire

The moon rises red — a Corn Moon heavy with harvest, and a Blood Moon eclipse, shadowed and aflame. She crowns the sky in fire and whispers that endings and beginnings are braided together.

This is the last full moon of summer. A season of heat and growth, of lessons that stretched us and blessings that steadied us. Some days the crown felt heavy, some days it slipped, yet still we carried it. Still we became.

The Corn Moon gathers what is ripe — the fruit of our labor, the wisdom of our growth. The Blood Moon releases what has burned away — the patterns that cannot follow us forward. Together they remind us: harvest is not only about plenty, but about discernment. To know what nourishes, and what must be laid down.

Pisces moves beneath it all, stirring the deep waters of intuition. Trust what rises within you now. Let the shadows reveal truth. Let the fire refine what is ready to shine.

🌾 Reflection

As you sit under this Corn Blood Moon, let these questions rise within you:

- What fruit is glowing brightest in my hands?
- Where has the fire shaped me into something new?
- What nourishment will I carry forward into the next season?

✨ Affirmation

“I gather the fruits of summer with gratitude.
I release what is finished.
I carry forward only what nourishes my becoming.”

🌙 Closing

This moon is medicine. She marks the threshold where Healed Girl Summer bows, and Healed Girl Harvest begins to stir. One season completes, another waits to be born. Both are holy, both are yours.

✨ For more about the meaning of this moon, its eclipse, and how to work with her energy, click below to explore the Corn Blood Moon Info Page and the ritual resources.

Closing the Gate: Honoring the End of the Lion’s Season

As the last golden days of Leo season pass, we feel the energy shift. The Lion’s Gate — that brilliant, roaring portal of light and transformation — begins to close. This isn’t an ending in sorrow, but in reverence. We’ve crossed the threshold, gathered our blessings, faced our truths, and planted seeds for the next chapter.

Closing the Gate is about sealing in the wisdom you’ve received, carrying it into the quieter months, and protecting the light you’ve ignited within yourself. The Leo sun moves on, and soon Virgo will rise, bringing its own gifts of discernment, grounding, and preparation.

Remember — this portal will open again after the deep winter darkness, in the fullness of spring and the brightness of summer. She will come roaring back, just as bold and generous, ready to welcome you again. Be ready. Keep your inner fire alive.

Until then, keep straightening your crown — as often as you need to. You are still becoming, still unfolding, still divine.

Crowned & Becoming

Your crown is not just a symbol — it is your sacred inheritance. It can be tall or small, heavy with the weight of your life’s lessons or light with the freedom of release. It may be made of gold, silver, flowers, beads, or dreams. The shape and size don’t matter — what matters is your awareness of it. Your knowing that it sits upon your head because you are divine. Your understanding that this crown is both a blessing and a responsibility — a daily reminder to nurture yourself, to grow, and to become.

Becoming is not something that happens by accident. If you leave it up to the world, it will try to mold you into something that fits its narrow story. But becoming must be your idea — your choice — your vision. Because when you choose it, you step into the role of conductor for your own train. You determine the direction, the pace, and the stops along the way.

The process of becoming is not without its aches. There is pain in growth, just as there is joy in the unfolding. But these are the sacred aches that shape you, that stretch you toward your fullest self. They are proof that you are alive, that you are reaching for something bigger than where you stand.

Your crown may tilt. It may even fall. But you will straighten it. You may straighten it once a day, or a dozen times. The number doesn’t matter — what matters is that you do it. Because each time you lift your head, adjust your crown, and continue forward, you are becoming again.

This is the joy and the power of being crowned — and becoming.

THE GATE IS OPEN

The Gate is Open

The Gate is open, a moment of crossing

what will we reclaim,

what can come into bloom from this alignment

with spirit, with self?

The gate is open and inner light is revealed,

radiant and bursting to tell the truth of the self.

Waiting to reveal the power of one’s own shining self.

The gate is open and freedom is here —

a time to release and move forward unabound,

unchained from the past.

This is the time to enter into your new sacred,

your new holy, your new divine.

Let the fire burn what it needs

to bring forth what you need.

Awaken the Flame:A Moonlight as Medicine

Awaken the Flame
You are not lost — you are in the fire.
The sacred forge of becoming.

This week, under the growing Leo light, we prepare to step through the Lion’s Gate with courage and clarity.
Let this be your reminder:

You are allowed to begin again, just like the burnt forest.
Let this hot summer month purify you with love
and open your heart to the fire that is you.

🔥 Ready to step into the flame?

This ritual is grounded in Psalm 51:
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."

Let this be your sacred start.