May 18, 2021

Mundane. Any clarity I had around this word has disappeared altogether. As I peek out of our MossTerra bubble of sanctuary at the new landscape of no masks and social gathering, I am resistant to the notion of re-engaging in old patterns. I’ve enjoyed the slower rhythms of pandemic hibernation which included sitting more and more frequently with the question, in this moment, in this now, what is it right time for?

These past months of deep connection to other rhythms and realms, of seeing what was once hidden, have shifted fundamentally how I engage in life and how I show up in the world. It seems I’ve slowed down to the speed of wisdom and have no desire to go fast again. Much of what I’ve experienced has been of a spiritual nature, or what I thought was of a spiritual nature as I also thought I had a sense of the difference. 

And then this jacket happened and what was mundane became profound. I say ‘happened’ because it was soon clear in sewing this new jacket that I was not in charge. I sew a lot. With fabric, a pattern, a plan, and the technology it’s become a comfortable and familiar process. One I control. But not this time.

I’d had the fabric for over a year, purchased when I was invited to participate in the Bealtaine Ceremony a Uisneach in Ireland in 2020. The invitation was to lead a ceremony with the elders and wisdomkeepers that would attend from cultures and tribes around the world. I was deeply honored and thought I would sew something ceremonial to wear for this auspicious event. Of course with the pandemic the event was cancelled and the fabric has been sitting and waiting. I thought the upcoming graduation ceremonies for my twin nieces was the perfect reason to create something. And so I began. 

It is the most challenging fabric I’ve worked with and as soon as I started cutting out the pattern pieces it became clear that I would be stopping at every step in the process and asking, in this moment, what is it time for? And there would come an answer I didn’t anticipate. I was not leading this process. I was being led through this process. The jacket seemed to create itself, complete with a name. Wavy Gravy. If you ever have the chance to see this jacket you will totally understand why. Talk about a counterculture persona.

I love this jacket. For the look of it and the lessons in it. What would have been a mundane and perhaps mechanical creative process became magical. It was a journey of new insights and an affirmation of the new rhythms in my life. It was also a gift of reconsidering the mundane. For is any of it really mundane?

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com