photo and prayer flags by Catherine Just
A group of lady friends has been gathering at our home on Thursday nights. We come together, this small group of tight-knit friends, to set aside a time during the week for hope, for positive change - for our dreams. Over the summer, I had thought about having something like a devotional gathering every week, a time set aside to gather for prayer in whatever way spoke to each participant, and that wish for a positive time of reflection seems to have emerged as our dreamy Thursday nights.
This week, we took inspiration from one of my fellow Mondo Beyondo participants who made a beautiful prayer flag gardland out of her wishes and dreams. You can actually meet Catherine, this wonderful mama and artist, by visiting the blog she keeps about her sweet son Max and their family, or check out her brand spanking new Etsy shop, in which she sells her beautiful prints.
We sat together, seven friends, talking about our wishes, clarifying affirmation statements, envisioning how each of us would design our own prayer flags. I had foolishly thought we'd do this project in an evening, but soon after we started (I have a tendency to seriously underestimate the time it will take to do almost everything), it became clear that this get-togther would only be a jumping off point for us to create such an intimate and meaningful physical manifestation of our deepest desires.
In case you're thinking about creating prayer flags, I thought I'd share not only the photo above, taken by Catherine of her own prayer flags, but two links that have come my way since last Thursday.
The first is an article that gives a how-to for making Tibetan prayer flags with kids.
The second is a lovely blog post about an art installation of a canopy bed, where the canopy is actually made from the white ribbony streamers, each with its own wish. It's so delicate an beautiful - the friend who sent me the link said she's thinking about doing her prayers this way, and hanging them in a tree. How gorgeous - I just love the image of her words - her dreams - being carried in the wind like that.
I'm actually tempted to find some way to 'build' a tree where the other one died. crazy?
ReplyDeletenot crazy... this is reminding me of those bottle trees from down South... i think it's a lovely idea.
ReplyDeleteJust gotta get ryan on board..
ReplyDeletethe tree sounds beautiful and i hope you can get ryan on board. :)
ReplyDeleteoff to check out those blogs...thanks for sharing c!
Wow I am so touch with your post! Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteAnd I just love the image of the wishes in the tree. I hung my prayer flags outside to take that photo and left them there. i can see them in the window blowing in the breeze.
one of my dreams is for women like you to be in my circle. I think it came true!
Just lovely! You know, I have no idea how I give voice to my dreams. Something I should spend some time thinking about...
ReplyDelete