I never got the fire-making badge in Girl Scouts. In fact, I got kicked out before I had the chance. So, I’ve never actually built a fire myself—never stacked logs in a careful teepee, never struck a match and watched the flame catch, never hovered over embers, coaxing them back to life. But I know, deep in my bones, that fire is about more than just burning. It’s about tending.
And that’s something I do know how to do.
In the Celtic calendar, fire is woven into the rhythms of the year. The great festivals—Imbolc, Bealtaine, Lughnasa, Samhain—are marked by flame, by the lighting of hearths, the burning of bonfires, the glow of candles in windowsills. Fire is presence. It is activation. It is the spark of life itself.
But what happens before the blaze? What happens in the slow, unseen moments, when the fire is just an ember, barely alive?
That’s where we are now. The slow awakening. The quiet warmth beneath the surface. Imbolc, the season we’re in, is a threshold time—a time between winter and spring, a time when we begin to stir but are not yet in full bloom. And in recovery, we know this space well. It’s the moment when something shifts inside us, but the full transformation isn’t here yet. It’s the ember stage.
And embers require tending.
Fire has a way of teaching us what we need to know about ourselves. A wildfire devours everything in its path, burning too hot, too fast, until there’s nothing left. A neglected fire fades, cools, turns to ash. But an ember, when tended—when given breath and patience and care—will catch. It will glow. It will become something steady and strong, a warmth that sustains rather than consumes.
In recovery, this lesson is essential. So many of us have burned too hot, chasing intensity, urgency, the all-or-nothing. Or we’ve let ourselves go cold, afraid to fan the flame, unsure if we can trust its heat. But Imbolc, this quiet season of embers, reminds us that there is another way. A way of gentle tending. A way of trusting the slow burn.
I think about this as I sit in my little kitchen, watching the late afternoon light stretch just a little longer than it did last week. I think about it as I notice the first hints of birdsong in the morning, the slightest shift in the air. Something is stirring. Not rushing. Not demanding. Just slowly coming back to life.
So, how do we tend to our embers? How do we nurture what is awakening within us?
A Practice: Blowing on the Ember
Find a quiet place where you can sit comfortably. Take a deep breath in, then exhale softly, as if you were gently blowing on an ember. Feel the breath leave your body with ease, no force, just a whisper of air. Imagine the ember glowing brighter with each breath, coming back to life, not in a rush, but in its own time.
Place a hand on your heart. Ask yourself:
- What is slowly awakening in me right now?
- How can I tend to it with care, rather than urgency?
- Where in my life do I need steady warmth rather than sudden heat?
- How do I keep this ember alive without burning myself out?
In recovery, we don’t have to rush our healing. We don’t have to force our growth. We are not meant to be raging wildfires. We are meant to be steady flames, sustaining warmth, guiding light. And that begins here, in this moment, with this breath, tending to what is already glowing within us.
I may not have that fire-making badge, but I know this much: We don’t need to be experts to keep the fire alive. We just have to keep showing up, breath by breath, ember by ember, trusting that the glow will grow.
THIRSTY FOR WONDER: Anne Marie Cribben is a passionate recovery coach and spiritual companion based in Washington, DC. As the founder of Thirsty For Wonder, she offers 1:1 coaching, spiritual companionship, and recovery support rooted in compassion and empowerment. Creator of The Wellspring: A Celtic Recovery Journey, Anne Marie blends the Celtic calendar with sobriety, connecting participants to ancient wisdom and nature’s rhythms. A fierce advocate for sobriety as liberation and self-love, Anne Marie challenges the targeted marketing of alcohol to women and promotes authentic, joyful living. Her approach goes beyond addiction recovery, fostering a life of vibrancy and fulfillment.
In her personal life, Anne Marie enjoys baking, cooking, poetry, being a Swiftie, weight lifting, reading, embroidery, and creating mocktails. She treasures time with friends and embraces creativity in all forms.
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