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SPIRIT
LODGE
LIBRARY
Tools
& Crafts
Page
17
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(Main
Links of the site are right at the bottom of the page)
The links for the 22 pages in this Tools & Crafts section
are below.
The Path of Crafting
© SilverEagleDreamDancer
I've mentioned it a few times in
posts about myself, I've just not written about it in depth
as of yet. So today I thought I'd start an article and see where
it goes. In part, I'm testing whether I have the words to convey
what I mean yet. And in part, it's been such an enrichment to
my life, I feel the desire to share it now that I have some
experience with it.
Coming from parents who liked to
work with their hands, crafting is something I've always done
in one way or another. My mother made everything from centerpieces
for tables, and massive quilts to sewing my clothes from scratch.
My father took machine parts being thrown out at the hospital
where he worked and crafted a gem faceter. I've always enjoyed
bringing things into a useful existence. People have called
me talented, creative etc... but I've never seen it that way.
I just like working with my hands and it's an opportunity to
create and share what I'd envisioned in a tangible way that
others could experience too.
Back in October or November of 2002,
I got curious about how to make a dreamcatcher. Around the same
time, I was looking for a logo for Spirit Lodge that we owned.
The one we had before was borrowed and I wanted to create images
for what later became the SL shops. It was a step in creating
a tangible sense of community for Spirit Lodge. I still have
my Spirit Lodge coffee cup and sometimes think about Minna or
Cedar wearing their Spirit Lodge shirt or Cinn mousing on her
Spirit Lodge mousepad. Some of you know this part of the story
already; some are just hearing it now for the first time.
An online search provided me with
the basic 'how to'. A trip to the craft store and a day or so
later, I was gazing at my first dreamcatcher, pretty darn proud
of myself. At that point, I'd considered it just another craft,
but this time, a craft of my ancestors. I was so tickled with
it, I posted it here to show everyone else at the lodge. The
bamboo rings came in sets of two so I had plenty of material
to make another one. As you may have already guessed, that one
became the red one you see in the banner above. The experience
with creating the dreamcatcher which would represent Spirit
Lodge showed me that my involvement with the dreamcatchers wasn't
going to be just any crafting experience. Something amazing
was about to happen for me. I just didn't know it.
At the same time I was creating all
these images for the site, I was meditating on the color scheme.
I think we already had the red background, something Cinn was
really excited about. She'd wanted one forever. I had to create
one of our own, since the one I had up was borrowed so the red
background came first. Guidance told me it was representative
of the passion of growth, the blood it takes to wade through
our lessons and the ties that bind members to one in other.
It's evocative of warmth, love and it's embracing. So, I tweaked
around on my imaging program until I got the shade guidance
wanted for the site. The one problem with a background like
this is that it's difficult to find a color to go with it. Red
doesn't like to play well with others, especially in text. I'd
seen gold with red and tried it. That eventually became our
original color scheme. Of course I wanted red and silver - but
the site didn't. Red and gold being the color of the site, the
dreamcatcher was born to match.
As I was creating the site dreamcatcher,
I was being instructed on its medicine. That was something that
didn't happen when I created my own so it was a surprise. At
first, I felt I didn't have the right to the information. Though
it's a craft of my ancestors, I'd had little formal medicine
training and that was in other areas. I knew that typically,
you go on a hunt with Creator for items that will assist you
in finding your path and those become medicine items. Usually
there's a giveaway, meditations etc. None of that happened with
my first one but on the second one, I'd done the meditations
for the site. At the time I had no idea what was going on. I
thought I was just bringing what Creator wanted to the site.
But in hindsight, the birth of the site dreamcatcher was done
in a very traditional medicine way and that snuck right by me.
Under the instruction of guidance, it was gifted to one of the
members and they were supplied with the information given to
me about its medicine. The condition of their acceptance of
it was that I could use the images for the site, which they
agreed to.
A few days after its birth, I spent
some time photographing it. I had to get the pics right so I
could make the other images from it that I wanted for the shops.
I had to position it were I could photograph it without a shadow
so I could make it transparent. Then when I resized it in my
program, I had to retrace the web because, in making it smaller,
it disappeared. Each thing that was happening with it in my
program, guidance was whispering more information about it and
I was feeling more and more of its presence. I don't think though,
that it hit me that it was an honest to goodness medicine item
till much later, after the distractions of the imaging was long
over. Up till then, it was just cool and I was excited to be
a part of it all. A few here can fill in some of my blanks because
I bent their ear along the way so I invite them to share their
side of the story if they like.
Finally, the time came for it to
continue on its journey to its new owner. Placing it gently
in its box for shipment, it finally began to dawn on me what
was happening and what I'd been a part of. But the implications
didn't till much further along the path.
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Libraries
are on this row
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INDEX
Page 3
(Main Section, Medicine Wheel, Native Languages &
Nations, Symbology)
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INDEX
Page 5
(Sacred Feminine & Masculine, Stones & Minerals)
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©
Copyright: Cinnamon Moon & River WildFire Moon (Founders.)
2000-date
All rights reserved.
Site
constructed by Dragonfly
Dezignz 1998-date
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