Threads

"Consistently portrayed as three women spinners, each of the three Fates had a different task, revealed by her very name: Clotho spun the thread of life, Lachesis measured its allotted length, and Atropos cut it off with her shears. Sometimes, each of the Fates was assigned to a specific period of time: Atropos – the past, Clotho –the present, and Lachesis – the future.

The representation of the Fates evolved through time, and it seems that it often depended on the medium through which they were portrayed. Thus, in the visual arts, they were usually depicted as handsome women, but in literature, they are often imagined as both old and ugly. Any case, they are almost always pictured as weaving or binding thread. Sometimes, one – or all – of them can be seen reading or writing the book of fate."

The above was taken from a website on Greek mythology.

As a child I read.  A lot.  I read everything I could get my hands on, including fairy tales.  The Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson.  As an adult I read a biography of the brothers Grimm and found out that the brothers had collected the tales from an ancient oral tradition, and - because they were so filled with violence - cleaned them up.  What we came to believe were unexpurgated stories had been carefully edited for 'polite' society.

All that aside, it never fails to amaze me now how many of those tales had thread or spinning/weaving at their centre.

Rumplestiltskin, spinning straw into gold, Rapunzel letting down her hair to make a rope, Sleeping Beauty, pricking her finger on the spindle, some versions with Hansel and Gretel leaving a thread in order to mark their path, the Swan Princes, which is really about the sister who must process nettle fibre, spin and weave shirts to turn her brothers back into human form.

I suspect that because everyone in society either participated in the production of cloth or knew folk who did, everyone knew the kind of effort/labour that went into cloth making and how crucial it was to their well being.

Even today the language of cloth making has been co-opted for the technology of the internet and information.  This morning I followed a thread on Twitter, discussing the English language and how English absorbs words from other languages, constantly.  

Ask a child what a shuttle is and they will tell you it is a vehicle that goes back and forth.

And so on.

So many of the lessons of weaving can be directly applied to living.

During this time of uncertainty, I find myself relating life and weaving over and over again.

When I started weaving I was overwhelmed at the choices that lay before  me.  I had a really hard time trying to decide what to make, how to make it.  Too many choices!!!!

Eventually I realized I had to form a vision of what I wanted at the end of the process, then back track to decide what steps I needed to take to get me to my goal.

Living is much the same.  In terms of my career, I finally came up with a vague 'plan'.  I would give myself five years to learn the craft and five years to learn the business side of being a professional weaver.  I would weave for 25 years, then teach for 25 years.

Instead I wound up doing it all, at once.  

But I started with a vision.  A plan.  When I felt overwhelmed, I focused on what needed doing next.  One step.  The journey of 1000 steps was too big to comprehend.  Too difficult to conceive of finishing it.  It was like the times we hiked to the base of Mount Robson.  The peak was always there, sometimes clouded from view, but there.  Tantalizing.  Within reach.  If I could only take one more step.  Then one more.  Then another.

My goal was never the pinnacle, but the base - and I did it.  Twice.

I also wove for 25 years and taught for 25 years.  In fact it was 44 years and counting.

So why I do keep doing it?  

Because I have more to learn.  More I want to do.  More I want to explore.

Right now the first step in accomplishing that 'more' is to survive this time.  Once that has been accomplished, I will figure out the rest.  

Survive.  That is the first step.  The rest will unfold as it will.