Blue Blessings on Earth Day

Somewhere along the way blue became for me the color of purity. Not white–but blue. Blue water.  Blue sky.  And on Sunday I thought about this, listening to two people talk about a recent blue adventure–blue ocean water. So blue they could not believe their eyes. And truly, as I listened,I found it almost hard to imagine as well. But I’m trying. Trying to imagine this–imagining clean, healthy sparkling blueness…and blueness not just for the streams, rivers and oceans of the earth…but for the skies as well. I know this might sound simply like “pie in the sky” drivel-talk, but it’s important…this. This imagining of blue. Not just today, Earth Day, but always in all ways.

My sister is a cryptoquote whiz. And today in record time she completed this one.  A native American proverb.

And below today’s, the solution from yesterday, a quote by John Muir. No surprises here. Just two reminders of how it might become.  And so I will continue to imagine as well. The return of blue.

Nettle in the Mint–the shadow side of self

I like to taste words.  To roll them over my tongue.  Notice their flavor.    The emotions they evoke.  This morning over at windthread Grace posted briefly around the idea of “regret.”  I noticed the way that little six-letter word made me feel. The brief moment of sadness that wanted to arise.   And just as I was heading down a road of my own, lined with what I could have called regrets,  Grace flipped the concept on it’s back–answered my comment–clarified the idea of not applying the concept of “regrets” to things one has done — but to future things that would cause “regret” if NOT done. She re-framed and presented a more constructive use of the word…and i’m quoting “i realized i have a tendency to think of regret in…what would i regret NOT doing in any given situation?”  A total about face.   And this struck me as such a profound reflection–a moving away from a negative spin towards the positive.  From the ingrained response to a liberated restructuring of the concept of regret.  A point-of-view that implies if we know in advance what actions would cause regret, then we can take steps to circumvent it–or not.  But still it feels like a choice.

I’ve had my own word lurking around lately.  “Shadow,” as in the shadow side of self.   My shadow side specifically.  The not-so-pretty, often problematic part.  Bats in the belfry and all that.   They’ve been asking for attention. Persistent.  Clearly holding an important message.  Right now I sit here listening to the rain. Noticing what, in the past,  I would have called “weeds”–common nettle– growing on the bank right in the middle of mint and lemon balm. The nettle in the mint–bottom right hand corner.

It has meaning for me now. because nettle can be used as a dye plant.  It changes things. Improves cloth when used in a certain way.  I will harvest it just as I harvest the mint.  Now it has value to me. But the value of shadow?

Then I think of my grandson who totally loves his physical shadow.  He plays with it.  Runs full steam while watching it over his shoulder.  Sometimes it gets in front of him, sometimes it stays behind.  And sometimes he trips himself up in the process of watching it.  But he’s always aware of where it is and it delights him to no end.  Obvious I can’t actually see my own shadow side — although I can see the fallout from it, from time to time.    But I do see that it’s just like the nettle in the mint.  To be looked at as nuisance/weed–or something instructive and useful. An agent for change.

Oh Sunday I sat with seven women for seven hours in a workshop conducted by Jude Lally.   We discussed a lot of things. And we made felted objects. This one is actually a holder of sorts. Right now it’s holding memories. Old memories that seem to be arising from another place and another time. And it holds a feather.  

And this cloth, muted, eco-dyed fabrics in the early stages of becoming,  feels like it’s arising from that same ancient place.

Evolution

Sitting in stillness this morning. Then noticing. The play of light and shadow. How both are essential. How one part will either recede or move forward, wholly dependent on where I place my attention.  Yet each part of this lightness/darkness image requiring the other.

At a workshop this weekend I  experienced what I can only call a fundamental shift in the arrangement of pieces of self–the experience of coming together of disparate parts. A melding. Into one.  And I’m calling this evolution because it was an organic experience–  an adjustment, adaptation–natural selection.

For ever, my m.o. has revolved around “getting rid of.” Banning, removing, resisting,  purging the disparate pieces of self that seemed problematic.  This “getting rid of” model was a futile Promethean endeavor–exhausting and depleting.  So this weekend’s epiphany –that the getting rid of paradigm simply DOES NOT work for me–was both profound and a huge relief.    And the experience itself –well really words diminish it.  But put simply,  all that was required was a “welcoming” attitude. An embracing. A shifting–a making room for– a scooting over to offer ALL these pieces of SELF a place at the table.

And as a post script: One of the guests at the table is voicing doubt with this post. Wanting to be sure I clarify something–that being this: the welcoming is on-going. Never finished. Sometimes guests leave and return. This shift is only that–an opening, an awareness–and it will need be applied to almost each moment, each day, from here — to here on.

And as it happens so often,  again  the metaphor of whole cloth.  The integration of disparate parts and scraps that eventually merge into a unified, strong fabric.  Here is the continued evolution of Primordial Soup.  More kantha stitches completed on the tree curtain.  More on the way.  The addition of a few more thread bumps in the soup itself.  More on the way.

Metamorphose of Cloth

The healing cloth is finished now. The butteryfly representing the evolving process and lending Hope to the journey. And underneath one small square, etched in the fabric, was the image of an eye. Begging to be embroidered.  And viewed upon request. Thus the flap. And the blessings continue to flow outward.

Healing Intentions

I have a dear friend in need of healing energies. A dear friend. And I believe in the power of intention. If you are so inclined, please focus on this image with the intention that healing energies will flow towards her. Your intention will know where to go! With blessings. . . .