Fire: ever-changing, never still, never twice the same. Composed of energy, it doesn't fit into the classic definitions of solid/liquid/gas. Fire, as a servant, is the most powerful of all our tools, as a master, it is the most feared of all natural phenomena. In seconds a gentle hearth fire can become a raging engulfing inferno which cares not for emperor, lord or commoner.
Fire has built up civilization from a society that reacts to the environment to a society that controls it: one that can create tools and palaces; a society that can rule. It has also destroyed empires and dreams in a second.
Without the warmth and life-enhancing nature of fire society would have never existed. Whether this is in the home fire of the hearth or its mighty progenitor, the sun is irrelevant.
Is it any wonder then that the first monotheistic religion to emerge was one which venerated fire?
7. I bless in reverence and adoration the abiding offering, the joyous offering, and the devotional offering (offered) to you, O Fire! son of Ahura Mazda.
Worthy of sacrifice you are, worthy of prayer,
worthy of sacrifice may you always be, worthy of prayer,
in the dwellings of men.
May there be hope to that man who verily shall sacrifice to you
with fuel in his hand, with the Baresma in his hand,
with milk in his hand, with the mortar in his hand.
8. May you be provided with proper fuel! May you be provided with proper incense! May you be provided with proper nourishment! May you be provided with proper upkeep! May you be maintained by one of full age!May you be maintained by one wise (in religion), O Fire, son of Ahura Mazda.
9. In order to be burning in this house, in order to be ever burning in this house, in order to be blazing in this house, in order to be increasing in this house,
Even throughout the Long Time,
until the mighty Renovation, including the mighty, good Renovation.
10. Give me, O Fire, son of Ahura Mazda! well-being immediately, sustenance immediately; life immediately, well-being in abundance; sustenance in abundance, life in abundance; knowledge, holiness, a ready tongue, understanding for (my) soul; and afterwards wisdom (which is) comprehensive, great, imperishable.
11. (Give me) then the manly valor, which is ever afoot, sleepless, (for one third of the days and nights), watchful while lying in bed. (Give me) native offspring that give support, ruling over
the region, belonging to the assembly, thoroughly developed, possessed of good works, delivering from distress, of good intellect, that may further my house, village, town, country, (and) the renown of the country.
12. Give me, O Fire, son of Ahura Mazda, the Best World of the righteous, the shining, the all-happy, so that it may fulfill my wish, now and for ever, so as to attain to good reward, and to good renown, and to long happiness of my soul!
13. The Fire of Ahura Mazda
Gives command to all
For whom he cooks
The night and the morning meals.
From all he solicits
A good offering, and a wished-for offering,
And a devotional offering, O Spitama!
Extrracted from:
www.avesta.org/ka/niyayesh.htm#ny5
In this extract from the Khorda Avesta, the original and core teachings of the prophet Zoroaster, we see the veneration with which fire is held among Zoroaster's people: the Zoroastrian or Parsis (Parisee).
This veneration for Fire, the son of the great deity Ahura Mazda, is the veneration for the earthly representation of the god; and it is the teachings of this which are followed by those of the prophet Zoroaster.
Ahura Mazda is a god of light and his son, fire, gives the little light that banishes the darkness. In the darkness, devoid of the light of Mazda dwell the daevas and Ahriman, the djinn: the dark or evil spirits of Zoroastrian teaching. The eternal flame that burns in Zoroastrian temples banishes Ahriman, the darkness, who visits on all the trials and tribulations of life. In their faith to Ahura Mazda, Zoroastrians cling to the eternal fire and draw strength from it into their beings with the prayers and rituals of their belief; a strength which then enables them to resist the temptations of Ahriman and follow the path of Mazda.
Freddie was born into this flame: a parsis and follower of the teachings of Zoroaster. He was brought up a worshipper of the Flame, son of Ahura Mazda, and died as a Zoroastrian.
No matter what Freddie had done or said that did not follow the way of Ahura Mazda, as stated in the Vendidad, or book of laws:
In the same way the Religion of Mazda, O Spitama Zarathushtra! cleanses the faithful from every evil thought, word, and deed, as a swift-rushing mighty wind cleanses the plain.
It is possible, perhaps even probable, that much of the anguish felt by Freddie during his life was from the clash of his childhood belief against his adult desires. Whatever the case (and this is of no concern here), Freddie embraced the Way of Zoroaster as he died and in so doing was cleansed of any problems or fears that he may have held.
This peace gained on his deathbed is shown admirably in Jim Hutton's text "Freddie and Me":
"I looked down at him, knowing he was dead... His eyes were still open. I can remember very clearly the expression on his face and when I go to sleep at night it's still there in front of me. He looked radiant."
It is said that those who have breached the law of Zoroaster and are doomed to walk the Earth for ever more as a Spirit of Darkness, a Daeva show in the anguish of their dead face the horrible punishment they must endure. Those, however, who are accepted by Ahura Mazda as a Spirit of Fire die with the radiance of Mazda upon their face.
Freddie lived as the flame, brightly burning, yet consuming his own existence by his brilliance. His light touched thousands, perhaps millions, of people who held comfort from his voice: a comfort that for, however brief, a moment held back the daeva, the darkness that surrounds us all.
His enthusiasm for life, his desire to give of himself, even his tantrums - short but explosive - like wildfire, are all parts of the flame. His home was a welcome haven for those who needed such, his presence dominated like the great fire of the sun, encompassing all who saw him and holding all who heard him within his warmth, within his light.
Freddie Mercury was, without doubt, the Spirit of Fire. Not a prophet, nor some form of messiah, but a being who brought with him the passion and power of the flame and who, on his passing, made the world a darker place. Perhaps the last great Spirit of Fire has gone.