The Fire Person

Personality and characteristics of the Fire

archetype

Personality

People ruled by the element of fire are passionate, enigmatic, and full of life. Driven by the desire to experience the fullest and most potent expression of existence, these people chase after experiences that ignites their soul and make them feel alive. Charming, witty, and social individuals, they thrive as the center of attention and are the life of every party. Uninhibited and vivid in their expression, they are assertive, articulate people who know exactly what they want and say exactly what they mean. Often striking in both appearance and character, they are creative and vivid in the way that they dress, speak, and move through the world. Their unbridled, wild freedom has a radiant quality that can easily captivate the hearts, minds, and souls of onlookers who are drawn in like moths to their flame. 

In romantic relationships, they often fall in love quickly and deeply and are fiercely passionate in all ways. Sensual in their essence, they have a yearning for beauty and physical connection which makes them exhilarating, provocative, and captivating lovers. Because they are intensely protective of those they love, they have a hard time witnessing them accept less than they deserve and an inability to stand idle when harm is being done, causing them to respond with fiery rage to real or perceived threats to them or theirs. This fury can scorch the earth, leaving nothing worth saving in its wake. It’s not uncommon for Fire people to struggle to maintain long term friendships because of their tendency to leave relationships as quickly and intensely as they entered them, burning the bridge behind them as they go.

Fire people are the embodiment of our transformational potential and can make us believe in the possibility of new beginnings, and have the power to alter foundational characteristics of most other elements in this way. This gift has equal potential to be life-giving and destructive, and it is critical that people of Fire stay mindful of their impact and intentions in all that they do to avoid causing unintentional harm to those that they love.

Balanced Expressions

In balance, these are people of passion projects and inspired action who move with rhythmic joyousness through their lives and relationships. Playful and imaginative, they make exceptional parents and raise highly awake children. They are dancers, poets, painters, musicians, and artists with the capability to spark emotion, thought, and creativity in all that they do. Optimistic with no fear of change, they can be profoundly regenerative in their willingness to destroy what was to make room for something better. They are confident, self assured people who make engaging and entertaining public speakers and captivating leaders, teachers and mentors, effortlessly winning the adulation of their their following. Their outgoing personality and warm energy is inspirational, inviting us to break free from the limitations we have set for ourselves out of fear. Fire energy is what gives us the power and agency to take bold action towards what we want out of this life. 

Imbalanced Expressions

With an immense capacity for emotion, they are deeply effected by the experience of sorrow and severe or sustained heartbreak can cause their flame to shrink back until they are a shadow of themselves shrouded in sadness masked in anger. Likewise, if they are deprived of the freedom from which they draw their strength, their spirit can become explosive, and the resulting rage and fury can be cataclysmic. When faced with a situation or dynamic that feels inhibitive or controlling, they will burn it to the ground and walk away without looking back.

When out of balance, Fire people can be selfish, impulsive, or even reckless in their drive for excitement. This can lead to collateral damage in personal and professional relationships, which is something that Fire people will struggle to balance throughout their lives. With a tendency towards narcissistic behavior, excess, and delusions of grandeur, they have the potential to become consumed by their own desires and are risk of manipulating and abusing others in order to satisfy their inclinations. If they are not able to see themselves objectively and make honest assessments of their impact, they will find themselves in a pattern of self destructive and harmful behavior stemming from the distortion in their perception. Though they will rarely if ever admit it, even to themselves, these highly alive people do on some level know what they are doing, and the shame they feel drives them to validate their behavior through more of the same, thus perpetuating the cycle, or to double down it by accusing the ones they abuse of the very things that deep down they know themselves to be guilty of. If a Fire person cannot be honest with themselves about the harm that they do, they are at risk of finding themselves in a lonely existence of superficial connections and cheap thrills.

Advice

Fire people are light in the dark and warmth in the cold, and they remind us that we were born to feel alive and the pleasure we experience through our senses is a birthright. If they are able to control their more destructive urges and channel their combustible energies into creating rather than destroying, they have the potential to lead the way to a new world of infinite possibility.