Catsoul
March 29, 2012
Posted by request…there is more, but this is enough for now.
Maia (1988-2/15/03)
Catsoul is vast and mysterious, containing domestic cats as well as the little fierce wild ones, the great lions and panthers, and the ancient sabertooths and their ancestors. It is the tabby kitten curled up on a pillow, the starving stray waiting on the porch, and wary eyeshine in the urban night. It watches. It is the pampered show cat with long glittering fur and a jeweled collar, and the breeder’s castoff with a deformed spine and useless hind legs. It survives. It can see in the dark, and it can leap and hunt and play and dance. It is blind and crippled, deaf and incontinent, feeble of mind and wracked with seizures. It loves. It is the beloved skeleton buried in the garden, wrapped in a fraying blanket under a fragrant flowering bush that gives life to butterflies and hummingbirds. It defines a holy place. It is the ocelot crawling on a jungle vine, the tiger swimming in a muddy river, and the huge ancient fang shining like blue porcelain in the glacial dust. It transforms, yet endures.
A cat is a sacred companion whose presence embodies rest and concentration, affection and obligation, self-sufficiency and mutual dependence. Where cats have skillful, loving care, there is no need for a separate “spiritual practice” because the daily rhythm honors the Catsoul, and even scrubbing litterboxes or washing the floor is “serving in the temple.” An ever-changing maze of interwoven pawprints and handprints records this dance.
No domestic cat, however feral, is truly “wild” or beyond hope of ever forging a connection with a human. Even the shyest is descended from ancestors who purred at the touch of a hand. If they could, these betrayed ones would advise us: “In all of our souls, a place was made for You in the Long Ago, when we left our stripes in the long grass and came to live beside your First Fire. Somewhere between fleeing and clutching, there is a place for all of us to meet.”
A cat keeps and nurtures the soul of a home, and you can follow this subtle watching, resting, and loving presence from one room to another, as the sunlight makes its daily journey across the floor. A house that shelters many cats becomes a sanctuary for humans as well as felines, and here you feel the presence of Catsoul in all its complexity and power. The long-time residents anchor it. Those who will not be touched still give it raw vitality. The kittens renew it and the old and fragile show its precious tenacity. At its heart are the new arrivals, the ill, and those walking their final days on earth. These are held in austere limbo between lives, perhaps even in isolation, and form the stillpoint at the center of the turning wheel. This is a necessary transition that carries the weight of myth. It is an ancient method of initiation, drastic adjustment, and deep healing.
Each cat makes a unique contribution to the soul of the home and that of its caretaker. Upon the cat’s death, this special role is lost to the household but enters the enduring secret shrine of Spirit and Memory. Here, the precious one continues to offer insight and comfort, long past the raw, empty time of grief. Even after decades, you will still recall the way that one looked at you, the precise texture of the fur, the length of the tail, the gait that distinguished those paws from all others, the first meeting that transformed a kitty into My Cat.
Mountain Lion and Domestic Cat Skulls
Yin Yang Cats
Embroidered Patchwork Vest
November 25, 2011
I recently finished this vest which had been an intermittent evening project for several months. I love vests but it is difficult to find one that fits properly, since I have such a short back. It took me three paper drafts and two muslin ones to get this pattern just right, but it was worth the trouble and I still finished the pattern in one evening. It looks like a short bolero but the hem sits precisely on my waist and the whole thing is a perfect fit. The front is wider than the back (not the other way around, like a man’s vest) and the shoulders are wide enough to fit without slipping, even over my usual drop-shouldered dresses.
The vest is brown 100% linen, lined with teadye cotton muslin and bound with black/indigo batik quilter’s cotton. The binding is entirely handstitched. The shoulders and side seams are reinforced with commercial black bias tape, embroidered with french knots. Bias tape (overlain with woven running stitch in several shades of blue) was also used to bind the white/indigo calico that I used for the center stripes. The linen fabric is not a very tight weave so it’s rather unstable and needs the tape for a good fit. Most of the applique patches are from the “blue tiger” and “cat skull” fabrics that I had printed at Spoonflower, so they are my own designs. The indigo wave and charcoal bird fabrics are Japanese dobby cloth. There are a couple of flannel scraps and some vintage 1970s trim (peach/brown/white on black). On the back is half of a crocheted disk that is positioned to look like the moon rising over the waves. I picked up a bag of these round crocheted pieces (somebody’s abandoned unfinished table runner or something) at a thrift shop about 20 years ago. I made the front clasps from 14-gauge copper wire; they will look much nicer once they’ve tarnished. I thought they might be a bit heavy but they work fine. Each side is designed to be stitched down at four points for stability. They are slightly oversized for durability and ease of use.
Umber and indigo – used together, often with black and/or deep grayish-purple, are my personal ”shaman’s colors”. Indigo is paired with dark brown in several traditional and/or ceremonial textiles around the world, such as Japanese clothing, Batak ikat weavings from Sumatra, and old Zuni mantas from New Mexico. It would be easy to say that this is just because these two colors are common in naturally-dyed fabrics everywhere, but there seems to be a bit more to it than that, since the same pattern (brown with a blue border, or vice versa) seems to turn up over and over in “special” garments that have been lavished with extra work, even though they aren’t brightly colored. The blue/brown combination also occurs in nature in several creatures that are both common and conspicuous, such as Steller’s jay (western U.S.), the blue tiger butterfly (Asia), and the pipevine swallowtail (U.S.).
Embroidered Patchwork Vest, Front
Embroidered Patchwork Vest, Back
Copper Clasp
Tucson All Souls Procession 2011
November 7, 2011
Last night was Tucson’s annual Day of the Dead celebration. Some of our photos (and many others) can be viewed on Flickr’s ASP group page:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/tucson_all_souls_procession/
As usual, we walked in the procession but skipped the finale. This year’s finale was held at a new location, so the procession route was longer (2 miles one way). We left it at Stone Ave., after it had made the high-energy traverse through the 4th Avenue underpass and had begun to unravel a bit. This year’s crowd (walkers and spectators) was a bit more somber and most costumes and props were very traditional. The Urn and its Guardians and other attendants are draped in different “theme” colors and costumes each year. This year’s colors were especially beautiful appropriate – deep purple, lavender, and white. The attendants wore angel-winged masks on top of their heads.
The Urn group is usually spectacular, with drummers, stilt-walkers, and dancers; Guardians circulate through the crowd with tiny Urns, gathering photos, notes, prayers, and other small items that will be transferred to the big Urn and burned. This year they dispensed with most of that, leaving only the big Urn, the traditional beast-masked man who pulls it, and a small contingent of dancers riding behind it. This left no doubt that the group who organizes the procession has decided to devote most of their attention and energy to the Finale (a performance, not a participatory event), and let the Procession take care of itsef for the most part…which it may indeed be ready to do, since creative costumes, carettas, and decorations from “ordinary people” were abundant and beautiful this year. The ASP is an evolving event, and is so completely contrary to Tucson’s increasingly conservative, xenophobic, and confrontational culture that it’s a miracle that it happens at all.
We chose a relatively quiet place to walk, next to the big red AIDS banner. Curved in the shape of a memorial ribbon, it’s attached to poles and takes a large and well-coordinated group of people to carry it. The center is an island of quiet open space, which people occasionally enter to take pictures or exchange greetings.
Since the night was chilly (an unusual early cold front brought rain the day before), I wore a heavy hemp/cotton dress and a rebozo. The photo shows last-minute additions to the iron black cat mask: “fangs” made from a deer antler tine and a large catfish bone; tiny pawprint milagros made from copper foil on metallic-painted stampbord, and the spangled fabric pennants that I made two years ago for the copper jaguar mask. I carried a copper flute (a homemade hybrid instrument based on a Bb tin whistle but with two extra holes so it is tuned like a recorder) and a short walking stick made from an agave stalk, to which I attached one of my iron bells.
All Souls Procession 2011 Costume
Update on Oracles
November 10, 2010
Project updates:
1. LICHEN ORACLE: I refined the shading on the ink drawings to make glyphs stand out in relief and look more realistic. I’m cleaning up the scans and using RealDraw to put together the final card images and the back design (predictably, this will be a drawing of the lichen as it appears on tree bark, with tiny versions of all the glyphs). As shown in the sample below, each card will have only a glyph drawing and a smaller, simplified version of the glyph. This is so they can be used like runes, without the clutter of additional images or text. All interpretations, numbering system, and background material will be in the book. I haven’t updated the webpage yet.
Graphis Lichen Oracle Card
2. STICK ORACLE: I made slight changes on six of the drawings and am re-drawing two of the cards. Text is nearly done.
3. STONES ORACLE: I’ve sketched a simplified version and am still deciding on the drawing medium. It will be a companion to the Sticks but can also stand alone.
4. BLACK CAT DECK: I’ve decided not to complete this project as a playing card oracle. I have felt for some time that the drawings are too emotionally charged for such a frivolous project.
Tucson All Souls Procession 2010
November 8, 2010
More photos from last night’s procession can be seen on the Flickr group for this event:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/tucson_all_souls_procession/
This year I had neuropathy to deal with as well as the usual asthma, so I decided to carry a walking stick. I strung my iron bells on a staff made from an agave stalk, and decorated it with devil’s claw pods and my copper cat and jaguar masks from the 2008 and 2009 processions. It made a great clanging, tinkling sound, and was fun and energizing to carry, despite its considerable weight. My costume was all white, which would be boring in daylight but is very effective after dark, under intermittent streetlights. I wore my Snowball the Shelter Ghost embroidered cat mask, hemp hiking dress, a Mexican rebozo, and my bell belt (not visible in this year’s photo).
This year’s crowd was huge, especially the spectators (the local newspaper predicted 20,000 people), but the procession had fewer and less elaborate carettas than in years past. There were several spectacular costumes, but more people with minimal or no special attire, and fewer drummers and musicians than in recent years. Still, it was lively and had all the usual excitement, especially with the dance through the underpass. After having been to five of these things, I have the following observations and suggestions to people who want to go:
1. This event is what YOU make it. Your energy and spirit – and your costume, music, dance, props, and whatever else you wish to offer – all help create the magic and meaning. Focus. Participate fully. Your contribution matters. YOU matter. (I’m talking about the procession itself here, not the finale. The final performance/street party is a completely different kind of event.)
2. It needn’t cost anything, and you don’t need any special abilities. Smile. Dance. Burn incense but leave your cigarettes at home. Play a rattle or ring a bell. Inspiration for costumes and art is all around you in the desert. Paint your face. Put seedpods in your hair. Make a mask out of paper, fabric, recycled materials, or a fallen palm frond. Carry a precious photo or memento, or a candle, or a string of lights. It doesn’t have to be fancy, glitzy, or “professional”. If it is from your hands and heart, it will have power.
3. Don’t worry about the spectators. There are thousands of them lining the procession route. Their faces are bored, vacant, sullen, or even angry. Scarcely one in a hundred holds a smile, an expression of wonder, or tears of sorrow – even among the children, or among those who are in costume themselves. Never mind. You are not walking for THEM. You are walking for those who accompany you, moving all around you in a chaotic river of footsteps. Most of all, you are walking for those who have gone before, unseen but remembered and loved, who ride the evening air and come very close to us all on this night of nights.
Bell Staff
My Costume: All Souls Procession 2010
Iron Spirit Boat with Mica Moons
October 20, 2010
Spirit Boat made from 1/8″ steel plate, forged into the shape and size of a Coralbean seedpod (Erythrina flabelliformis, a desert shrub). Drilled with six beveled holes and ornamented with three large catfish ribs that are tied in place with hemp cord. The ribs were originally several inches longer but I cut them down to a manageable size and polished them. They are from a collection of fish bones that I gathered in the swamps of western Kentucky about 15 years ago. The removable copper chain is made from 16-gauge rings and ornamented with 13 muscovite mica discs that represent the moons of the year. The boat is 9 inches long. It sits on a cradle of heavy latigo leather that was carved to resemble a seed, then charred to color and stiffen it.
Forged Iron Spirit Boat
Spirit Boat Closeup
Leather Cradle for Spirit Boat
Shaman’s Iron Ornament
June 18, 2010
This is forged from a cut nail and is about 1.5″ long. The wide end of the nail was split twice, drawn out and shaped, drilled, then ground and polished. It’s for a larger project and is intended to be sewn onto a piece of leather.
Shaman's Mini Iron Deer Mask Pendant
Turtle Shell Rattle
May 14, 2010
My New Moon project: dismantling a couple of older rattles to create a more useful and better-sounding one for mazewalking. I collected all the pieces in Kentucky about 15 years ago: a complete young box turtle shell (found on an abandoned railroad track), deer hooves (from a buck found dead in a wooded hollow at Midwinter – I have his antlers too), and hind foot bones from a young female coyote roadkill – she was the model for my “Coyote Uroboros” drawing. The turtle shell is filled with honey locust beans. Strung on cotton/silk/linen string. Makes a nice mix of organic, woodsy hissing/rattling/clicking sounds.
Turtle Shell Rattle
Ironwing Tarot Original Drawings
February 12, 2010
The Ironwing Tarot is completely sold out and is officially OOP. I have had a few people ask if there are any of the original drawings for sale. This post is in response to those requests.
All of the originals for the Majors and Minors have been sold, traded, given away, or recycled, and I have none left.
The 16 Spirit Guides are all SOLD.
