When I create shamanic homework for life lessons, I like to
make the homework into a physical process, and then let my learning of the
process also teach me the lesson. I was
recently given a doll as shamanic homework, and understood that I need to help her
“wear the mantle” of sovereignty. I decided to make a little backstrap weaving
that the doll could literally wear.
Although I found excellent instructions on line from a web article
called
Backstrap Basics by Laverne Waddington, I soon found myself in a
terrific snarl.
My first lesson had to do with understanding the principle
of weaving: the ability to keep making
an X by first raising one group of threads and then the other. Understanding
the product of weaving—what I want the end result to look like and do—is not
the same as understanding the principle that results in the product. What a significant lesson about wearing the
mantle of sovereignty. The
understanding of authority does not come from the look on the outside but from
the wisdom on the inside.
My second lesson had to do with accepting mistakes from lack
of experience. As I proceeded, I became
dismayed at my uneven selvage edges, which I understand are the indicator of a
weaver’s skill. The temptation to quit
and start again has been overpowering at times—and yet the behavior of sovereignty
is not about perfection, but about the certainty that comes from clarity. However this little weaving progresses, it is
wearing my story of its making with honor, so how can I do any less?
My third lesson had to do with the cost of my choices. If I abandon this backstrap weaving, I will no longer have the
red thread to make into a second attempt, although I know that the red thread
especially represents the bloodline of sovereignty that I am following. The true tribute that is accorded to sovereignty
comes from acknowledgement, rather than from enforcement. The cost of my choice for expressing my
learning in this form is my accepting my lack of skill in this form.
When I think of my redesigning the form of my
Journey Oracle divination cards, or my new
shamanic painting whose surface is presently like a
battleground between old and new ways of applying paint—I have new respect for
how this simple backstrap weaving is teaching me to do my homework.
