Workshop Notes - 1/17/24
This was a week of beginnings and endings for making. I finished up my ritual rug for Wapato Island Farm’s future limpias offerings by completing the top twining, cutting from the loom, tying the finishing knots, and tucking the ends under the rug. Each stage was full of little spells for binding the magic of death and rebirth into the rug. The work here is to ensure that all the magic we have woven into the rug stays in the textile.
I talk about the importance of these lesser rites for binding and ending in the third installment of my Enchant Your Fiber Arts Practice essay series.
With all that complete, I actually made a reel for social media. I demonstrated what a set up for a ritual rug might look like. I brought some sacred items from my death altar up from the basement and took out one of my new ritual knives that was made by Ryan Fogarty. The concept was to demonstrate how one might use a ritual rug by anointing the knife and a rock my mom illustrated symbols on with lavender water. I hope folx see some use in that sort of offering. I know that I like to have something I sit on when I am doing rituals, rather than just sit on the ground. Theoretically, the hope is that others get interested in this sort of hand made, magically-charged ritual rug for their own practices and want to either buy one from me or make one for themselves.
The energy of the rug still feels quite good, even before the final ritual. It feels like a little protective pod extends up from the rug, offering safe harbor for those who are sitting on it. I suppose that shouldn’t shock me that image popped into my mind’s eye, because that was the precise intention behind the rug. Yet, it is always good when my intention is backed up by my experience with the sacred item.
I will be honest that the whole doing magic thing on social media still doesn’t feel amazing to me. I like to enchant the web, don’t get me wrong. We need sorcery and enchantment to counteract the tendency towards cold, hard technology. However, I always feel reticent to really go all in on sharing my magic or spiritual practice on social media. This was one of the big reason behind having this space to share more authentically and deeply to the core group of people who are interested in my work. This sort of feeling was also one of the impetuses behind this past weekend’s essay “Silence and Privacy.” I just feel so strongly that we must retain some things only for ourselves and our kin. Consequently, I have been holding back some of myself from the web just to have something for myself.
With my own art practice, I have been really practicing restraint by setting up various layers of visibility. I have set up this whole infrastructure as a sort of Matryoshka stacking doll, where one must make an effort to peel back a layer to see more of my truth reflected back to them. Yes, they must take off the top doll by clicking through to this space if they want to read my stories of failure, grief, joy and success. They must peel back another layer by directly supporting this project financially to gain access to some of my most carefully-guarded thoughts or to learn handweaving skills from me. In an age where we are encouraged to give everything to an algorithm in an exchange for visibility, I dissent. I refuse to play that game any longer. So, my representation on social media will become more shadowy and mysterious as I continue to develop that approach. I think today’s reel, which only alludes to the shadowy contours of magic, walks this line well.
Aside from that, I submitted a sketch to my next commission client for review. Specifically, I want to work through a new barrier design element, the inverted, blocky U. This design feature reminds me of a specific feature in a hedge labyrinth. I love bringing these sorts of hedge shapes into these barriers, because they so clearly mimic the sort of magical effect that I want to bring to those seeking to get at the recipient of the weaving. My magical intention is to have any person who wants to mess with my client get lost on their way to accessing them by getting distracted by someone or something else, lose their train of thought, or have difficulty accessing the recipient. As per usual, I create this protection boundary with nettle dyed yarn, which provides the added protection of the irritating sting of the nettle stalk. I always think of these as a sort of gentle barrier of protection. It's the sort of boundary work I use for myself. Fingers crossed that they like my idea!
Mix of the Week — Keen the World
“Nothing is sacred under the black moon” Oryx — “Oblivion”
This is a mix of dungeon synth and metal for keening, or grieving, the tremendous death present in the world in this moment. It’s grieving a world where 10,000 children can be killed without any justice, where nothing is sacred under a dark, funeral moon.
As always, thank you for your support, friends. I appreciate each and every one of you for directly supporting this project with your doll(h)a(i)rs. It is with ultimate humility that I approach this practice to share with you in our inner sanctum. All my best to you and yours, dear reader.
James
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