Vesta in the Modern Home

F or the better part of the year, I have been having problems with my water heater. Many plumbers later, I discovered that the pilot light of the heater kept going out. To protect the flame from drafts, the last plumber fashioned a shield to stop the wind gusts from gutting it. (I live in an old building.)

 

Then I realized that the pilot light was Vesta, the Goddess of the Hearth. The Eternal Flame, Vesta gives the fire for cooking, heating and light. Therefore, the hearth is the sacred focus of the home. In Rome, Vesta is the Goddess of Hearth of Private Homes (and of Rome, itself).

 

Since the fire is the axis mundus, the hearth is the place to commune with the Ancestors. It is the place of welcoming for Them to be with the living family. In the singing of the fire, the voices of the Ancestors are heard. In my case, their voices are in firing of the furnace and in the flashing of the pilot light.

 

In the modern home, the kitchen stove is usually considered to be the hearth. The furnace and water heater are usually someplace else. (Mine are in a closet off the kitchen). But together, the three comprise the hearth. Without any of them, the home ceases to be. No heat makes the home unhabitable. No stove causes the family to eat elsewhere. No hot water is considered to be an emergency.

 

Later the water heating unit had to be cleaned out. As with a hearth, before laying a new fire, the ashes need to be swept clean. In Rome, during the Vestalia in June, the Vestal Virgins cleaned the sacred hearths and relit the fires. Therefore, for me, cleaning the water heating unit is the same.

 

In “Fasti,” Ovid wrote, “Vesta is the same as the Earth, both have the perennial fire. The Earth and the Sacred Fire are both symbolic of Home.” For me, Vesta is Home in the furnace, water heater, and stove.

 

Suggested Reading: Claude Lecouteux, “The Tradition of Household Spirits.”