The warmth has returned. My home has come full circle since our house fire in January 2025.
The descent into the dark half of the year has officially begun. With the autumn equinox in the rear view mirror and almost no time to spare, the new woodstove has been installed. It’s cold, rainy, the full moon in Aries is high in the sky, and the snow is starting to creep down the mountains. It’s 10 pm and I took a moment of silence to lay down on the floor near the woodstove, while the rest of the house sleeps.
My terrier Harlow cozying up to the new woodstove. She missed the magic as much as I did.
If you have never experienced wood heat, it is like no other. I noticed how my body was able to fully soften laying next to it. A warmth that nourishes to the core and nature’s original red light therapy. These qualities are easy to appreciate and even more so now, since my family endured a winter without one. For some context, allow me to paint you a picture of my home.
This photo captures the original schoolhouse established in 1923 to serve the pioneer families in the area. The school was closed in 1972 following the decline of the local forestry industry and the centralization of the local community.
I live in an old 1920’s schoolhouse and despite some very obvious upgrades and additions over its lifetime, it has always relied on a woodstove for sustainable, reliable heat during the cold Canadian winters. It is the way of winter life where I live, and power outages even in 2026, are extremely frequent and extended. The home has outdated windows, minimal insulation and horrible exterior doors that needed replacing years ago.
It sounds like I’m roasting my own home (I’m not, I LOVE my home), but my point is: our woodstove was not a cozy aesthetic feature that we lit a fire in when we felt like it. It was, and is the heart of the home.
At about 6 am on a cold January morning in 2025, the attic in our house caught fire next to the chimney. Through one miracle or another, the house didn’t burn down. We sustained a partial loss including entire rafters burnt through and much more. Our home is located outside a fire protection zone, meaning that no one aside from the neighbors came to assist us that morning. LONG story short, we were able to continue living in the house but had to negate using the woodstove. We utilized several plug in electric heaters at the expense of $1000+ hydro bills, and still struggled to keep the house comfortable during cold snaps.
The aftermath of the January house fire. About 90% of the damage is what you can’t see!
It was a very, very, long winter. It took a long time for the dust to settle before I could connect with the spirit of my home, as my emotions were clouding my situation. As spring approached after the house fire, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I felt ready so it was time to tune in, and I was surprised at what came through.
The spirit of my home was showing itself as a cocoon. It’s energy was there, but distant, quiet, sleeping or dormant. It was clear that there was a metamorphosis happening and I could feel it in my bones.
The physical changes and damages that resulted from the fire had rippled into the unseen realms. The unplanned, yet highly anticipated renovations as a result of the fire, seem to be fertilizing this new version of our home, literally and energetically. A divine assignment in disguise.
The spirit of our home feels more evolved, like a caterpillar transformed into a butterfly. The fire lit inside this new woodstove carries a new different energy and feels like the air under the butterfly’s wings.
There was something so wrong to me about re-installing the old woodstove. The basic utility of its function was still intact, and there was technically nothing wrong with it. However, considering the trauma connected to that particular stove, we were very fortunate to have the option of purchasing a new one. A new woodstove that carried no energetic imprints, or old timelines attached to it.
So that we did. In addition to the new stove, we also decided to install it in a new location of the house, which has also helped shift the energy in a big way.
It feels like my home has had a heart transplant and a blood transfusion. I can say without a doubt, that the heart of this home is the hearth.
The vibrational difference between the electric heaters and the woodstove is astonishing. It is fascinating to observe how my dogs too, are drawn to the woodstove in particular, yet I have never witnessed them seek warmth near the electric heaters.
Ancestral stillness.
Dr. Zach Bush explains how humans have sat around fires for thousands of years which created a deep genetic memory within us. He also talks about how staring directly into a fire unlocks a deeply ancestral stillness. If you have ever looked into a campfire anywhere, you will know what he is talking about. Not to mention the physiological claim, that gazing into a fire can trigger stem cell activation within the body.
It’s also interesting to consider that a wood fire is the sun’s energy captured within the tree, and it’s energy is released once more during the burning process. That similar heat and brightness similar to the sun.
It makes total sense to me why using a woodstove in our home releases a completely different energetic signature, which influences the entire aura of the home.
I would like to close out this blog post with a little story and a fire ritual to share with you!
This summer I did a property reading for a client who was needing to sell her home. The house included a centrally located indoor fireplace, which happened to be a highlight of the reading. The home and my client both had mixed feelings about moving, but the spirit of the home shared an interesting ritual idea using the fireplace, to help close the end of a chapter.
Moving Out Ritual with Fire:
Grab a pen and paper and find some quiet time.
Take 3 deep breaths and bring your home into your awareness.
Let the memories of the home enter your mind, good or bad.
Using your pen and paper write a letter to the home. It can be short or long, as long as you feel a sense of closure. You can write to the house like you would write to a friend, and include why you are detaching from the home.
Build a fire in your woodstove or fireplace. You can improvise with an outdoor firepit or even a candle if need be.
Release the letter into the fire and allow the words to be carried up and out of the house with the smoke.
Sit with whatever feelings arise.
Consider an offering of gratitude to the home. This could be a crystal, some singing or even a bouquet of flowers left on the table.
I love that the spirit of my client’s home suggested using the fireplace as a conduit for transmuting difficult emotions. My client’s home sold after a few months and she was very happy to hear that a couple from the local area were going to be moving in to raise their family there.
If you live in the northern hemisphere like I do, I hope this writing infuses you with some extra warmth as we descend into the cold half of the year.