Moving Through Loss: A Wise Woman Ritual circa 2000

A Letter to the Most Illustrious the Contessina Allagia degli Aldobrandeschi, written Christmas Eve, Anno Domini 1513

I salute you. I am your friend, and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not. But there is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant.

Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in darkness, could we but see. And to see, we have only to look. I beseech you to look!

Life is so generous a giver. But we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering, and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love by wisdom, with power. Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel’s hand that brings it to you. Everything we call a trial, a sorrow or a duty, believe me, that angel’s hand is there. The gift is there and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Your joys, too, be not content with them as joys. They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty beneath its covering, that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it; that is all! But courage you have, and the knowledge that we are pilgrims together, wending through unknown country home.

And so, at this time, I greet you, not quite as the world sends greetings, but with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks and shadows flee away.

Fra Giovanni Giocondo

The Thousand Zippers

The thousand zippers,
One for each time
You were told to “zip it”.
A thousand times
When all you were looking for
Was an answer,
A response,
Someone to notice
That you were alive.

Your size
Made you hard to miss.
But even harder to reach.
Your hands,
Big as the basketball
You spent hours with
On the abandoned playground,
Had a gentle touch
That your grandmother
Knew well.
You carried her
From her bed
On the second floor
Down to her chair
By the window
Every morning,
Then back up the stairs
Every night.
No one ever saw
How you brushed out her hair,
Braiding it
When she was young
And beautiful.
No one knew
How much you cried
When she passed.

All that remains
Is this shell
Of who you appeared to be
But really weren’t.

Laura McGinnis
Pittsburgh, PA
May, 2019

Forty Years and Counting

Today is the opening for Fiberarts International. It’s pretty special. The best and the brightest innovation in a traditionally warm and fuzzy medium.

Meeting the artists and the guild organizers yesterday, I am awed by this organization’s influence and support of my personally arduous and circuitous path in an ever changing definition of the fiber medium and the fiber artist.

Craftivism

craft + activism = craftivism. Maker participation that uses the creative process making a stronger more compassionate voice, strengthening personal activism, connecting beyond the self, and making items that facilitate political thought and action.

My age old question on the hierarchy of art and craft rears its ugly head: studio art vs fiber art vs craftivism vs fine art vs contemporary craft when I listen to JULIA BRYAN-WILSON discuss her conclusions from her 2017 book: Fray:Art and Textile Politics.

I totally identified with her portrayal of the 70’s Women’s Sewing Circle and Terrorist Society, owning one of the original tee-shirts. I was completely aligned with her fine portrayal of relevant contemporary artists producing thought provoking textiles like Willam Pope, Cecilia Vicuña, Margarita Cabrera, and Harmony Hammond. Her information about the inherently progressive nature of the small hand-sewn tapestries depicting Pinochet’s torture, arpilleras (tapestries) and the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt were evidence of handcrafted textiles recruited to satisfy ambivalent ends. She also proved that the malleability of fiber means that textiles can be activated for many ideological debates about feminized labor, protest cultures, and queer identities.

But, please, when you articulate all of that so clearly, give the artists the credit they deserve. They are artists escaping the assertions of high or low, alternative or mainstream, professional and amateur, success or fail: They are the artists offering crucial insight into how textiles inhabit the broad space we call art.

THE WAY

Cleaning Piece IV
Write down everything you fear in life.
Burn it.
Pour herbal oil with a sweet scent on the ashes.
Yoko Ono

It is no easy feat to walk 115KM/70MILES, the minimum requirement to receive a compostela, the certificate of completion of the pilgrimage and be awarded the credencial, the official St.James stamp; but three of us, along with 9 new friends, made the effort and feel the significant benefits of such an exertion.

Along The Way

many

large

and

small

views

thoughts

talks

learnings

insights

revelations

a ha moments

challenges

laughs

cries

meetings

accidents

happiness

sadness

plantings

connections

synchronicities

hardships

symbols

awarenesses

extensions

non-judgements

horizons

fortifications

attractions

manifestations

sunsets

Buen Camino!

Teresa Of Avila

I began to think of the soul as if it were a castle made of a single diamond.

Teresa of Avila is the queen of Catholic mysticism. Her book, The Interior Castle, first published in 1588, derived from profound personal experience. Her castle is a metaphor for the human body with the human soul as part of The Oneness, dwelling within its innermost mansion. Our challenge is to overcome and forgive mortal short-comings to identify and unite that within us to the Divine Presence everywhere.

Entering the first mansion, the soul spends time in self-knowledge and humility, defending against the attractions of worldly pleasures, ambition and deception.

In the second mansion, the soul grows in holiness through perseverance in prayer, contemplation, conversations with forthright people, reading good books and listening to edifying talks. Contemplation advances its ability to concentrate the mind, withdrawing the senses from all outward things and consciously looks inward.

Souls entering the third mansion have overcome their initial ego defenses, are careful in their speech, consciously avoid committing negative actions, and practice works of charity. Souls in this mansion are still governed by reason, learning the value of perseverance and suffering that prepares the soul for the life of mysticism.

Entrance into the fourth mansion marks a significant advancement in the soul’s journey to a greater and more profound intimacy with Divinity marking the transition from the purgative and active stage of the journey to the illuminative and passive stage entering into the supernatural power of more direct Divine Communication. Teresa reminds us that the interior world of Divinity is always close hand and if we continue to persevere in the practice of prayer, overcoming obstacles, trials and servile fear, a greater, disinterested love of The Oneness will arise in the soul allowing us to experience a temple of solitude accompanied with great peace and quiet sweetness.

Entering the fifth mansion, the soul is still in the illuminative stage of the journey with hidden treasures to be found in the castle as the soul falls asleep to the things of the world while faculties are suspended, and virtual unconsciousness of a soul withdrawn from the body appears as a kind of mini-death.

Entrance into the sixth mansion marks the transition from the illuminative stage of the journey to the unitive stage. The soul has fallen deeply in love with The Oneness and is now ready for spiritual betrothal. The suffering experienced by the soul in the sixth mansion will be counter-balanced by many mystical experiences the soul undergoes of a truly amazing nature. It is in the sixth mansion that the soul begins to experience extraordinary mystical phenomena that one associates with some of the great saints including: visions, raptures, and/or jubilations. Teresa explains these experiences in significant detail through eleven chapters, but cautions the soul not to rely on them, fearing the soul might think too highly of itself or even become delusional.

When the soul comes to the seventh mansion, she enters into spiritual marriage with Shekina where self-forgiveness becomes so complete that it seems as though the soul no longer exists independently and has a marked detachment from experiences in almost constant tranquility.

The Interior Castle reminds us that:

The Oneness is always near dwelling within each of us.
Contemplation is absolutely, unequivocally indispensable, with humility and self-knowledge of personal weakness and Infinite Goodness being the foundation.
Profound interior peace helps soul deal with exterior trials. All harm comes to us when we fail to realize that Divinity is near and instead take your gaze off The Power.
The spiritual journey, although sustained by grace, demands intense effort, including detachment, mortification and perseverance, as well as patience.
Progress not perfection is the way of the true spiritual journey.

Another Ending Equals Another Beginning

In the fall, I joined the teaching network of SkillShare and created the first four of a series of SkillShare Classes, one of them covered how to make a basic traditional quilt top.

The samples I created for that class went on to become 4 different quilts. Two of them I turned into new tablecloths for family dinners and the others I sent to my reliable Amish quilter, Netty, to be made into a queen and throw size quilt. They all turned out beautifully- there is nothing like a traditional four-patch made with elegant quality quilting materials.

Here’s the big news: I am done making traditional patchwork quilts for my personal consumption. I have reached my limit.

I continue to make quilts- I’m not close to the end of that but acknowledging that I am finally and irrevocably limiting my traditional repertoire translates to a damn exciting mature phase of my career. Exciting!

Tu B’Shevat

Master of the Universe, grant me the ability to be alone;
may it be my custom to go outdoors each day
among the trees and grass —among all growing things and there may I be alone, and enter into prayer, to talk with the One to whom I belong.

May I express there everything in my heart,
and may all the foliage of the field —
all grasses, trees, and plants —
awake at my coming,
to send the powers of their life into the words of my prayer
so that my prayer and speech are made whole
through the life and spirit of all growing things,
which are made as one by their transcendent Source.

May I then pour out the words of my heart
before your Presence like water, O Holy One,
and lift up my hands to You in worship,
on my behalf, and that of my children!

Reb Nachman of Bratslav (1772-1810)

Tu B’Shevat, the 15th of the month of Shevat, is designated by the Talmud as the New Year for the Trees. It is the time of tithing: Every year, you shall set aside a tenth part of the yield, so that you may learn to revere your God forever.(Deuteronomy 14.22-23) The Kabbalists of 17th century Safed developed a Tu B’Shevat seder to further their model of tikkun olam, healing the world.

This Tu B’Shevat affords us the opportunity to acknowledge how the stakes of environmental stewardship are intimately connected to our well being. The enormity of destruction and degradation with global warming, massive deforestation, the extinction of species, poisonous deposits of toxic chemicals and nuclear wastes, and exponential population growth must be addressed and remedied. Tu B’Shevat is our opportunity.

A New Wall Equals A New Quilt

City Quilt 9-Patch in a 9-Patch Cutter Quilt
MaryAnn’s Napkin and Tablecloths
Sadye’s Napkins and Tablecloth
Bubbe’s Turtlenecks
Maya’s Tee-Shirt
Hailey’s Denim Shorts Romper
Ida’s Cable Afghans
Sadye’s Stocking Bag
Maya and Hailey’s Baby Shirts
Ben’s Sport Shirts
Run Around The Square Tee-Shirt
Bubbe’s Socks
Sadye’s Beaded Belt
SilkDenim Shirts
Leslie’s silkscreen Bird Fabric
Amanda’s Chuppah
Maurcy Gottlieb Print
Bubbe’s Hemp Shirt
Heath’s Wool Sweater
Bubbe’s Wedding Dress
Sarah’s Quilt Backing

Ecstasy Is Chosen

Choose it: right now! What happened? Did a flash of lightning knock you off the sofa? Did the TV go on by itself? Did God call on the telephone to tell you that you are good?

Chances are that nothing happened at all. Nothing that is, to our three-dimensional consciousness, which sees only what it can touch in some manner. When we consciously choose ecstasy, all of the angels in heaven are awakened at once to help us, to care for us on our journey.But we must remember: Ecstasy is not simply happiness, happiness that is the opposite of unhappiness. Ecstasy is the condition that arises when both happiness and unhappiness are seen to have common origin. When that happens, we no longer seek the shallow happiness of light, because we know that the happiness that includes light and darkness can never be taken away.

It is the choice of this form of ecstasy that stirs the angels. It is a law of the universe that you receive help with his type of request. Request. Choosing. They are the same thing. DO it now and then let go. The rest is up to God.

The Instruction Manual For Receiving God; Jason Shulman; page 61.