Have you ever watched a woman weave?
Her art is both the fabric and her participation in its creation. It's the gentle lean of holding tension as she becomes part of the loom. It's the skilled repetition of swapping and shifting and sliding spaces and bars with her hands. It's fine work, not fast, not always smooth, but rhythmic. Sometimes it's the careful, precise dance of teasing intricate patterns already alive within her out of an instrument of a thousand skinny strings.
Guatemala is known for the rich beauty of its weaving, which truly means it's known for the rich beauty of its women. I imagine the stories the women could tell, that weaving is a way of telling them, and so the textiles are saturated with color and detail. Perhaps these fabrics hold the textured tales of women passed between generations without words.
Have you ever watched yourself weave? I admire the many ways in which a woman weaves her meanings, her patterns, her wanders, her gaps, her tales, her experiences, her joy, her struggles, herself. The way she defines her own grace in the rhythmic, if not always smooth, motion of living.
At the retreats, we take a moment to invite ourselves back to the loom. We acknowledge and appreciate all that we've woven into our lives. We discern the stories that bring us strength and beauty from those that pale and weaken us. We play at threading in perspectives that bring out brighter hues and more vibrant patterns. Most of all, we recognize that we are each a woman of woven beauty. We also experience how interwoven we are. Ever notice? One woman's laughter is a window. Another's eyes are an invitation. Another's voice is a salve. Another's tale is a key. Gather together in a circle and you begin to see every woman weaves her wonder into the world, in a million different ways. I hope you enjoy these weaving-inspired writing prompts!
Much love,
Aimee
(From the Storyteller Within October 2015 Newsletter - Sign up to receive the next one!)