Location: Oconomowoc, WI
Journal No. 4
Story:I felt called to a page with a black and white fragment stitched that looked like a spine or snake to me. I settled in and breathed deeply and slowly, and chose a feather from my art table altar to stitch down. I then found a scrap of black and white yarn and knew it was meant to be part of the page, so I slowly couch stitched it and focused on each breath moving in sync with the stitching by hand…one breath in, one stitch in, one breath out, one stitch out. It was peaceful and spacious inside me, like this hush fell over me. Then I burned palo santo and infused the page with the sacred smoke, smudging marks along the bottom. I added white stitches to the top and then I felt inspired to add red stitches to the wrap of the book. I call it a poetic stitch. I completed it all by infusing the whole book with sage smoke and saying a blessing for all who have and will touch this book. That we all will be blessed with deep creative expression and courage to follow our heart’s desires to create, that all fears, worries and doubts will be lifted away so we can be open to the gifts of our soul without restriction. And so it is.