If you know me at all, you know that I’m a big believer in the magic that occurs at the intersection of sisterhood and creativity.
I’ve seen it time and time again. When we women come together to work with our hands, we remember the wisdom of our great great grandmothers. As we step into a space of creative sisterhood, judgemental insecurity melts away and is replaced with delight, wonder, and connection.
Creating together in sisterhood is an ancient practice.
The women in our lineage would commune together during their major events in their lives (their moon time, births, sickness, mourning death) as a sacred act of sisterhood. The would weave, dye fabrics, ferment foods, share home cooked meals at night and dreams in the morning, all together as a community. They would share the simple pleasures of a life lived in balance and harmony with nature.
Think about how powerful those creative women’s circles were.
When women give their full presence and intention towards creating something together, the emotional and spiritual impact of that moment is so powerful and is carried on in what is created.
A couple of times a year, I host in-person creative sisterhood workshops. I gather a group of creatively curious women ready to put away technology for a day, get out of their heads and into the joy of playing with their hands again. It’s amazing what happens during those days, and to see the women walk away with deeper connections to each other and the inspiration to bring more meaning and artistry back into their lives.
I wanted to share one of my most popular creative practices I’ve done with the women at one of these workshops, because it’s so beautiful and impactful and I’d love for you to try it out in your own circle of girlfriends.
Hushed Flower Petal Mandalas
A mandala is an spiritual symbol used in several ancient traditions, often meant to represent the expansiveness of the universe and the self. The creation of a mandala is used as a spiritual guidance tool to calm your mind, enter a meditative state, or work through a problem. I’ve seen them drawn, colored in, made with colored sand, and (my favorite!) flower petals and things foraged in nature.
I begin this mandala practice by grouping the women together and telling them they will not utter a word over the next hour. They will be in complete silence, relying on their intuition and other methods of creating together.
Then I give them a big pile or flower petals and tell them the basics of creating a mandala - start with a center and work your way out, layer by layer. Dazzled by gorgeously colored flowers, the women quickly lose their attachment to speaking and excitedly create their mandalas together. Then I put on some music, take a seat, and watch the magic happen. Every mandala is beautifully unique in its own way, and is the co-creation of each woman in the group.
Once finished, and we’ve all ooh’d and ahh’d at each other’s creations, I tell the women heartbreaking news...
Like the buddhist monks with their intricately designed colored sand mandalas (that take them months to create), we will destroy our creations to release attachment and reinforce the fact that the creation process is what really matters. So I pump up the jams and we have ourselves a flower petal mandala destroying dance party.
As much as the women love the creation of their mandalas, it’s clear that the destruction is, by far, their favorite part of the process.
It’s such a release of our attachment to what we think beauty is supposed to look and feel like. In perfection’s place is an alleviating sense of freedom. We dance and sing and throw flower petals on each other’s heads and giggle uncontrollably. Sometimes there’s tears too. Beautiful, pressure releasing tears.
After those moments of silent creation, all in a community of sisters, the pure joy and freedom we all feel is potent and healing.
What about you? Do you recall a time when you collaborated with other women or in a community of creatives and felt the magic taking place in that circle? Share it with me in the comments below!
Photos via Rosa Delgado
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Today’s inspiration reminded me of being in my Grandmother’s kitchen with my Mom and my aunts and cousins….cooking, laughing, telling stories….then sharing a wonderful, lovingly prepared nurturing meal with the whole family….then cleanup, which was fun as well!
oh yes, the good ol’ days 🙂
I planned and executed a very large wedding years ago mainly through e-mail. I live in south Louisiana and the bride and groom, where American, were living in Hong Kong. It took many extra hands and much prep work. I had a great group of ladies working for me at the time and we created a magical venue for this lovely couple and their family. Once finished, and breathing a sigh of relief, it was beyond refreshing and uplifting to everyone.
wow, that’s impressive Judy!
I had a special creative bond with my mother. She always had a project of some kind in the works. As a little girl, she’d set me up with kiddo projects. As air grew up, we would sit together with our projects; she with hers and me with mine, so content to share our own individual creativity. But the real magic would happen when we shopped together. I remembered she’d get excited about a beautiful quilt, and she would SAY she wanted to make one just like it. But then she would tweak it with different fabrics in different colors, and she wanted to put the light fabric where the dark one was supposed to be, and she’d put crochet on it. Of course, the binding would be her own concoction. I would have to be the one to tell her that her quilt would look absolutely nothing like the original!
Oops! Air=I.
She sounds like an incredible lady, Stephanie!
She was! She was my best friend and I miss her every day!
The past several years I have worked with some wonderful women to create sewing rooms in shelters were women can learn the art of sewing while in a safe haven. Women come in from all over to share talents and contribute where they can to create the these spaces founder Terry Grahl /Enchanted Makeovers calls them Sacred Sewing Rooms. Handmade items are made and sent so that they can be a part of the room. They aren’t perfect but the live poured into creating them is. The spirit of sisterhood is a very special force of nature and mountains can move when the circle is strong!
Ohhhh Anita, thank you for sharing this. What a beautiful thing you and your sisters have created. Sacred Sewing Rooms <3 <3 <3
My fathers sisters, who have all passed now, lived about 40-50 miles from each other in CT. For the last 15-20 years of their lives they got together at one house or another to complete handmade projects. Weekly! They were all incredibly talented wonderful women. I had the awesome good luck to be invited to many of their sessions and truly reveled in the goodness they created. Most of what they made was gifted, often to their churches. I am so grateful to each one of them for the legacy they helped to create in my own family. Thank you for sharing your gifts Becca, and for letting me share as well.
These women sound amazing, Leslie! And the fact that they gifted what they made only shows how the gathering and making was truly what fulfilled them. Thank YOU for sharing!
thanks for starting this website!!!
thanks for starting this website, it is sort of inspiring.