July: Wildfire Heart
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you.”
— Walt Whitman
July is the month of wild fire.
Where June asked us to embody summer’s fullness, July invites us to burn brighter, fiercer, without apology. It’s the heart of the season—the fierce blaze of sun and sweat and unfiltered desire.
The air shimmers with heat. The world hums with possibility. The wild woman inside you is no longer cautious—she’s on fire.
Burning Bright
July is the sacred flame. The fierce exhale after long breaths of summer air. The moment we stop watering down our truth and let it roar.
Where in June we owned our power, July demands we set it free.
This is your reminder: You are not meant to be tamed.
You are meant to burn wild.
To shine, to sing, to scorch the night.
Ask yourself:
What fire am I ready to stoke?
Where have I held back my heat to keep others comfortable?
How does my wild heart beat in this blazing midsummer?
The Wild Woman Roars
July belongs to the woman who walks through fire and doesn’t flinch.
She is sun and smoke, flame and earth.
She is both the storm and the calm that follows.
She no longer bends to fit into shadows—she is the light.
Her freedom is fierce. Her softness is strength.
She drinks the wild air deep, lets it fill her lungs, and exhales pure fire.
July’s feminine energy is untamable, unapologetic, unbound.
Ways to Stoke Your Wildfire in July
Move like the wind: Dance barefoot, swim in wild water, run through fields. Let your body remember its own rhythm.
Speak your fire: Say the words that set your soul ablaze. Write them, scream them, whisper them into the night. Your voice is your wildfire.
Feed the flame: Eat sun-ripened tomatoes, juicy peaches, spicy peppers—foods that carry summer’s heat and sweetness.
Breathe in wildness: Practice fire breath, sit in the sun, feel sweat bead and drip like sacred ritual. Let your body ignite.
Create a midsummer ritual: Light a candle for your wildest dreams, gather with chosen sisters, honor the flame within you.
Nourishment for Your Wild Heart
Herbs & Plants
Hibiscus — for cooling refreshment with a bright, floral kick
Ginger — the spice of courage and warmth
Elderflower — light and floral, to lift the spirit
Lavender — for calm in the firestorm
Wild Foods
Peaches — soft, sweet, dripping with summer’s essence
Fresh tomatoes — juicy and grounding
Spicy chiles — for heat and awakening
Watermelon — pure hydration and joy
Energetic Allies
B-complex vitamins — to keep your energy steady and vibrant
Turmeric — fire within, inflammation calm
Schisandra — the berry of endurance and vitality
A True Story of Wild Fire
The Spirit of Audre Lorde
Poet, warrior, wild woman—Audre Lorde refused to be silenced. She said,
“I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.”
This wasn’t empty bravado. It was a declaration forged in the fires of her life as a Black lesbian feminist confronting racism, sexism, and homophobia with unflinching courage.
Audre Lorde was a poet, activist, mother, and warrior of the wildest kind. She knew the power of fire—not just as destruction, but as fierce creation and radical transformation.
Audre understood that to be truly free, you must burn down the walls others build around you. To be wild is to claim your voice—even when it shakes the ground beneath you.
Her poetry and essays blaze with truth and vulnerability, wielding language like a flame to illuminate the parts of ourselves that society wants hidden. She celebrated the complexity of womanhood—the softness and the rage, the tenderness and the rage, the desire and the fury—all burning together in one fierce heart.
Audre taught us that survival is an act of rebellion. That joy and anger can coexist as fuel for liberation. That the wild woman’s fire is both a balm and a weapon.
She lived her truth loudly, and in doing so, she ignited generations to come.
In July’s heat, listen to Audre’s wild heart whisper through the crackling flame:
“Your silence will not protect you.”
This July, don’t just keep your fire alive—let it burn bright enough to light the way for others.
Let your wildfire be a beacon.
Let your truth be your flame.
Be deliberate. Be fearless. Be wild.
She used fire—not just the heat of her words, but the blaze of her life—to illuminate injustice and demand truth. Her power came from embracing every part of herself: fierce, soft, angry, loving.
Audre teaches us that the wild woman’s flame is a gift and a weapon. To burn is to live. To burn is to fight. To burn is to transform.
Books by Audre Lorde
"The Cancer Journals" (1980)
A powerful memoir and reflection on her experience with breast cancer, exploring illness, survival, and identity through her fierce, honest voice."Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches" (1984)
A seminal collection of essays and speeches on race, gender, sexuality, and activism. It’s foundational for understanding Lorde’s radical feminist and queer politics."Zami: A New Spelling of My Name" (1982)
A biomythography blending memoir, history, and myth. It tells the story of her childhood, womanhood, and identity, written with poetic grace and raw emotion."Coal" (1976)
Her first major poetry collection, addressing themes of identity, oppression, love, and resistance with striking imagery and fierce passion."The Black Unicorn" (1978)
Another poetry collection, rich in myth, magic, and personal reflection, expanding on themes of transformation and power."A Burst of Light: Essays" (1988)
Written in the later years of her life, this collection addresses creativity, oppression, illness, and hope.
This July, listen to your wildfire heart.
Let it roar.
Let it heal.
Let it set your world alight.