Ring of Fire

Ahhh...Johnny Cash. I can hardly stand to listen to him sing because my heart does a dive. He sings about a ring of fire, but there is a lot of symbolism associated with rings of fire. Here are a couple of things I read...

Likewise, a protective ring of fire was set around a woman, child, cow, house or man in Ireland to keep fairy magic from causing harm. Newborn children and infants were particularly at risk of harm and kidnapping by fairies. In Scotland, fire was carried around the mother and child “sunwise” both in the morning and in the evening as “a powerful means of preserving the mother and child from the ever present forces of evil sprites.”
The Ring of Fire: From vedic times, fire has been an essential ritual element. The outer circle of the mandala is often explained as a ring of fire, depicted by stylized scrollwork meant to represent flames. It has also been explained as the periphery of the universe, or the outer wall of the profane world, beyond which lies chaos. To begin the mystical journey, one must leave samsara, the world of phenomena, and pass through this flaming barrier to enter the sacred enclosure of the mandala. According to some interpretations, its purpose is not to terrify the aspirant from entering, but rather to show that the flame of the wisdom contained within the mandala can burn away ignorance and error. By means of the symbolic fire, understanding of supreme reality may be attained.