Sacred Woman Quilt Square, Food/Sacred Kitchen Fire

This is the season of Thanksgiving. The cornucopia brings to mind my Sacred Woman quilt and the square that represented Sacred Food/Sacred Kitchen Fire.

Sacred Woman teachings state: As we become Sacred Woman, we are consuming greater purity, self-knowledge, peace, healing and wholeness. We consume and become: The company we keep, our environment, visions we have, the sounds we hear, the smells we smell, what we watch visually, the food we eat, the men with whom we become intimate.

Our stove is our modern day sacred fire. Without this fire we would not be able to have our kitchen be a sacred healing laboratory as we make the teas, oils and healing foods.

I was guided to emblish this square with corn and a cornucopia, symbol of food and abundance. A wise Medicine Man once said that if a philosophy did not " grow corn" it had no value. So, I put the question "does it grow corn" on this square as a reminder of the importance of making wise choices over all that we consume.

Corn is a gift from the earth and a daily staple of the Native American people who consider corn pollen sacred . The pollen of the corn is dusted off the tassels and used in ceremonies by the Navajo as a blessing, and is offered in prayer. So I have included a corn stalk on my quilt to honor this plant. The roots of this plant are visible to speak to you about the importance of connecting to the Earth Mother.

Also found on this square is a cornucopia. I will quote Jamie Sams from The Sacred Path Cards on the teaching of this symbol:

When Great Mystery created our world, everything that would ever exist was created as ideas in the Thought or Spirit World. This nonphysical plane of awareness is eternal and can be drawn upon anytime there is a need. The thought forms that provide all that is ever needed on the Good Red Road of physical life exist in eternal readiness inside the Field of Plenty. To call these ideas into manifestation, one need only come to Great Mystery with a grateful heart, which will bring the needed ideas into physical reality.

In our Seneca Tradition, the Field of Plenty is seen as a spiral that has its smallest revolution out in space and its largest revolution near the Earth. This shape could be likened to an upside-down tornado. When our Ancestors assisted the Pilgrims in planting Corn and raising crops so they would not starve, we taught them the understanding of the Field of Plenty by bringing the cornucopia baskets full of vegetables. The Iroquois women wove these baskets as a physical reminder that Great Mystery provides through the Field of Plenty. The Pilgrims were taught that giving prayers of gratitude was not just a Christian concept. The Red Race understood thanksgiving on a daily basis. The Field of Plenty is always full of abundance. The gratitude we show as Children of Earth allows the ideas within the Field of Plenty to manifest on the Good Red Road so we may enjoy these fruits in a physical manner.
. . . the Field of Plenty houses all thought forms that supply abundant creativity to the Children of Earth. These new ideas are available to every Two-legged and can be made manifest through acknowledging the ideas, then acting on them. When there is a need, it is sent by the Field of Plenty, in idea form, to the consciousness of all life-forms. These ideas begin to manifest as they enter the physical realm and are acted upon by humans. Every need in our world can be met when we act upon any good idea that comes into our minds.