Witness Pin

Here is my version of a witness pin. I created this one after seeing G. Cyr's version in a book called Crafts for the Spirit. According to Cyr, its purpose is to help you contact the still, small voice - your witness - during your times of contemplation. It is also helpful to make contact and listen to it while dealing with the stress of decisions and the perceived failures or disappointments of daily life. A tailsman to remind you of your witness can be a useful tool. This witness pin can be worn over the heart to remind you to listen to your inner voice at any time.

Materials and Background Info

Creating a Sacred Woman Quilt

Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers made quilts in a private mind, heart and hand meditation, or in a circle of women friends and relatives. It has always been a womens’ ritual. Pieces of cloth of different patterns and colors were sewn together to unify them into one tapestry. They were sewn together over conversations which created a spirit of togetherness. We sew ourselves into a tapestry as we heal ourselves with each stitch. As we embrace new pieces of consciousness in our journey through the gateways we gathter ourselves into a cloth of unity.

This is a ritual of beginnings and endings, linking one piece of cloth, one piece of self, to the whole by hand and spirit.

After the shawl/quilt is completed, sew a silver or grey strip of cloth completely around the edges of your shawl or quilt as a border. You then may choose to applique’ a patch of silver or grey on all the other colors to represent the overarching of Divine Spirit.

Steps:
1) Observe what signs and symbols appear in your life. How do these signs and symbols represent you as a Sacred Woman? Collect items you wish to sew onto your shawl or quilt.

2) As you sew, meditate on thoughts of wellness in your life, stitch the thoughts and your highest vision of yourself into your design with prayerfulness.

3) The first color goes into the center. The other colors surround your center. The last thread is sewn as you leave that particular gateway.

Materials needed:
Material (preferably cotton, linen, silk, wool) squares in the following colors: 1-light blue or light blue with some white; 2-yellow; 3-brown; 4-orange; 5-green; 6-purple; 7-red; 8-white; 9-midnight/indigo blue. Gold material for trim around the 9 squares. Silver or grey for backing/border.

Notes on Colors:
Gold represents ceremony.
Grey or silver stands for spirit. It is a mixture of black and white.

Notes on the labyrinth, gods and goddessess

The labyrinth itself is quite meaningful.

As a unicursal (one way in, one way out) path, a labyrinth is showing and teaching centeredness. This differentiates a labyrinth from a maze which has many paths & dead-ends leading to confusion. Like life & destiny, a labyrinth may be a long journey but it has a specific beginning and a definite end. Like mandalas, a labyrinth offers a holistic route (meandering radius) from the periphery to the center. A labyrinth imprints a 'royal groove', a ceremonial pathway designed according to principles such as Harmonic Proportion and Alternance of Energy. For instance, the clockwise (sunwise) and counter-clockwise (moonwise) spins of the meanders map out a balance between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

The seven circuits of the classical Cretan Labyrinth pathway have also associated with the seven primary chakras of the body. Chakra is a Hindu word meaning 'wheels of light.' They are spiralling vortexes of energy that make up the energy field of our bodies. Yoga works with the chakra system as do various complimentary healing modalities.

Notice that you don't walk these paths in order from one to eight. The sequence of the paths is 3-2-1-4 and 7-6-5-8. This is a pattern that repeats itself twice: 3-2-1-4 and then 7-6-5-8.

While I am on the subject of creation here is a word about gods and goddessess:

When you study the mythologies of ancient civilizations, you realize they are all designed by the same geometric blueprint that follows into humanity's current timeline. In the physical we find duality on all levels, especially in the pantheons of creational forces linked to one another. We further find the pattern of creation and destruction ... repeating in the cycles of time ... embracing the human experience. Designing the gods and goddesses falls into the same categories of duality - good and bad - light and dark - forever seeking balance and the return to full consciousness.

The study of Ancient Alien Theory allows one to understand that creator gods more than likely were aliens who created the race presently called humans, in its various forms, by biogenetic experimentation and manipulation.

Always we find Gods who came from the sky (higher frequency) and those that came from the sea of creation (collective unconsciousness). Their creation myths speak to us about a beginning and an end for Earth, giving rise to something greater. We are reaching the end of the current programmed experience. Reality is a holographic projection seen through the eye of consciousness in time. The eye is a metaphor for the place of creation through which all things emerge as consciousness and are experienced and archived as it moves to the next.

Who the Gods are, and what they symbolize, are all part of the myth, math, metaphor and magic of realities.

More on creation square

I can’t believe a month has passed since I have taken the time to work on the symbolism in my sacred woman quilt. I can only try to do better.

I will continue with notes on the symbolism of the “Creation Square.” It includes my version of the Man in the Maze Labyrinth because I feel strongly that we are the creators of our lives through the decisions we make. Honoring our role as creators, I have included the Man in the Maze on my quilt.

The figure known as the “Man in the Maze,” depicts a man entering or exiting a labyrinth. It is a theme seen on baskets from as far back as the nineteenth century and in Hopi silver art. Such depictions of labyrinths are also found in ancient petroglyphs (Native American rock art).
The symbol can represent a person’s journey through life. The maze contains many twists and turns, meant to represent choices made in life. The center is round and dark, so the journey can be from darkness to light or vice versa depending on which way you are headed!
Some interpret the center as a representation of a person’s dreams and goals. When you reach the center, you have reached your goals and the sun god there blesses you and helps you pass into the next world.
Another interpretation of this symbol is that the man represents the human seed and the maze is the womb. As the man enters the maze, he creates new life which represents reincarnation or eternal life.

The Man in the Maze labyrinth, an archetypal symbol of the Tohono O’odham Nation, describes not only the path to wellness and wholeness, but identifies life as a spiritual journey that invites one to find deeper meaning in life. That deeper meaning is Himdag. Himdag is a gift from the Creator. It describes the culture, values, and general way of life of the Tohono O’odham people. Embracing the individual and the communal, Himdag becomes a life-long journey nourished by maintaining strong family relations; respecting self, others, and nature; engaging in cultural rituals (storytelling, music, games, crafts, ceremonies, hunting and harvesting); and celebrating the uniqueness of the four seasons. Through these activities, spiritual, emotional, physical and relational health is maintained. To embrace Himdag is to walk in balance, alone, with others, with nature, and with the Creator.

There is an emergence story associated with the Man in the Maze as follows:

The Man in the Maze labyrinth, an archetypal symbol of the Tohono O’odham In the beginning there was only darkness, inhabited by Earthmaker and Buzzard. Earthmaker rubbed dirt from his skin and held it in his hand, from which grew the greasewood bush. With a ball of gum from this bush, Earthmaker created the world. As Buzzard created the mountains and rivers with the passage of his wings, the Spider People sewed the earth and the sky together.
In time Earthmaker brought about a race of people in the desert. They lived for several generations, but they all became sinful except for one, Iitoi, the Elder Brother. Earthmaker saw that Iitoi was true and told him that a flood would kill all the people. The Creator placed Iitoi high on the sacred mountain Baboquivari and let him witness the disaster. Afterwards Iitoi helped create the Hohokam peope, from whom the Tohono O’odham descended. He helped teach them the right way, and they lived in harmony for many years.
But in time some of the people turned on Iitoi and killed him. His spirit fled back atop Baboquivari, where he remains to this day. From time to time Iitoi’s spirit, in the form of a small man, cunningly sneaks into the villages and take things from the people. Despite their attempts to catch him, the twisting path he takes returning to his home always confuses them. Thus in the labyrinth one can see Iitoi on the pathway and trace the mysterious and bewildering turns he makes on the journey back to his mountain home, Baboquivari.