I'm in the process of moving my workshop and now, by gaining space, I'm also discovering new spaces in my home. I'll talk a little more about the altar (altar) soon because it's been with me for a while and it's kind of my theme for this short story, to want to celebrate and honor the precious.
WHY CREATE AN ALTAR?
For me, an altar - whatever its intention - is to create a space for the precious and the sacred, for meditation, to reconnect with the present moment (of course, not to make sacrifices, there!) A space nothing only to oneself and for oneself.
It is also a way of creating spaces of beauty that do good. We do it a bit by bringing a stone from the beach or a branch from the forest and placing them on a shelf as a reminder of the moment or to admire their beauty - in fact, for possibly several reasons that we have not taken care to explore but mainly because this gesture makes sense to us in some way.
ALTAR TABLECLOTH
I like the idea of affirming this gesture even more by inscribing our altar in a clear way, for example by using a small tablecloth and bringing together these elements that speak to us.
I consider all my pieces of silk and cotton to be possible altar cloths, perfect wall decorations to circumscribe the space or scarves for meditations. They evoke nature and are of nature. They are created with intention and born from a gesture of love. They are different from each other and this difference can lead us to more or less connect with a piece - and there is precious when a connection is made with a piece.
SILK AND THE SACRED FEMININE
Also, there is a little something in silk that reminds me every time of the sacred feminine. Silk scarf, silk ribbon, silk pillowcase, silk kimono - all things that make me feel good and in the right place. A comforting softness.
The habotaï silk by its transparency evokes for me the lightness, the freedom. Charming, opaque, thicker and velvety silk - often used for pillowcases but also for scarves - evokes voluptuousness, sensuality. In both cases, characteristics often named when speaking of sacred femininity and which, at the very least, call for well-being and this idea of feeling and inhabiting one's body and soul.