Skip to main content

Creativity.























I love to bead and I love aboriginal art. I appreciate the notion that my creativity can be the expression of nature and the stars moving through me. In aboriginal culture the idea behind creativity is to be able to touch the experience of Creation and Creator. It encompasses the awareness that we have of ourselves, our environment whether it be nature, the stars or our human world.

When I create I fall into an introspective trance; which allows me to float in a state of pure potential. Time seems to move at a quicker pace when I’m in this reality and it suddenly feels like everything is possible. I have this strong impression of being in tuned when I’m in creative mode. I can honestly say that my journey of creativity brought me to understand what God/Goddess medicine means and offered me the experience of omniscience and omnipotence.

Creativity from my perspective is actually a process and can also be a journey. At first when I started doing crafts, I remember disliking the silence. It was almost oppressive. My thoughts would get tangled up in dark spots and all that circled my mind were old, painful memories, daily tensions, and unresolved issues. I started noticing that with the conflicting thoughts also came more knots and lots of mistakes. So many projects ended up in the wastebasket just because I couldn’t let go my limited, linear thinking. Learning to be more patient, more attentive and more committed to my work was part of the discipline. With time I came to understand that the slow and steady development of any kind of crafty skill is helpful to bringing balance, wholeness and wellness to life.

Recently I had the pleasure to speak to two MicMac women who were on the pow-wow circuit. They were mother/daughter partners who had a tent and table where they sold all kinds of crafts that were made out of sweet grass. They also sold sweet grass braids. They were two beautiful women who were humbly forthcoming with stories and information concerning their craft.

“Always wet the sweet grass before working with it,” explained the younger woman while holding delicately one of the braids between her fingers, “this way it won’t break or mold later on.”

Behind her sitting on a lawn chair was an elder lady, her mother, who spoke the traditional Mic Mac language. It was great to watch these ladies basically chat at the same time, in two different languages; both eager to answer my questions and share their stories. At some point I was just waiting for the translation with keen curiosity. The young woman lastly said: “It’s like anything in life. You have to wet it to bring forth the perfume, the experience and the lesson.” It helped me remember all those times where I needed to cry to be able to reason out why some experiences were so painful and to understand what they were helping me learn and change in my life.

Lots of aboriginal artists see their artistry as a kind of cultural or spiritual attitude. When I learnt to do beaded rosettes I was dealing with chronic kidney infections. I had lots of time on my hands and I absolutely wanted to stop wasting time worrying. I could have chosen to learn how to do peyote beading for example; but NO! – what came to me in a dream was a beaded rosette. When I asked around to find a teacher I was told by a friend who learnt every aboriginal stitch out there before she was 10 years old that rosettes were traditionally done when people were ill. It was said that the symbol that was intuitively stitched with the help of beads expressed the experience of a particular illness. When the rosette was finished it was usually given to the healer who helped cure the disease. The rosette would protect the healer from the disease it represented. I was so impressed and moved by the story behind beaded rosettes that I decided to not only learn to make them; but also get to know the different symbols and the diseases they speak of. I’m someone who suffers with chronic disease and the idea of giving form to my experience; sharing it in beauty; and giving it a purpose is priceless to me. I’ve given my rosettes to caregivers, nurses, medical doctors and people who have supported me in my journey with illness. I’ve also been petitioned to make rosettes for people who struggle with disease. Making rosettes for me is a profound experience.


I thought it would be great to share some of my artistic projects with you and at the same time give you some interesting information on how they connect to Spirituality and the Sacred Circle Tradition. I do hope you like the pictures and the crafts.

Also I’ve been collecting some of your ideas for blog entries. Thank you to everyone who sent me messages. Keep them coming. I do plan to cover many of your suggestions.

Comments

Lili said…
Hi Lisa,
I love the idea of the rosettes that you do. The fact that you find an amazing way of finding beauty in dis-ease.
I love creating dreamcatchers. Im intent and content in making them for specific people. I feel focused energy is good for me.
I feel more connected when being creative, especially with my dreamcatchers.
I have enjoyed this Summer sitting outside the caravan, feeling, seeing, hearing everything around me when i am sat outside creating. A little girl E, about 5 maybe 6 years old, came and sat with me whilst i made a dreamcatcher. She remembered me from last year. I asked her if she wanted to make something and she chose to make a bracelet, she loved it. She had focus and was very happy creating something she could treasure. Her Mum told me later in the week that she carried in on her bag, so it would go everywhere with her.
I love connecting with the kids when they are making stuff. They have joy in the process of creating and are proud of their achievements.
Again, as i visited my family this week i sat with my niece and her friend as we made various things. We sat, chatting now and again but mainly focused on our creations. It was a way of connecting and sharing something together, yet independantly.
leanne
Lisa F. Tardiff said…
It's true Leanne, crafts are great to share and they do bring us together. In ancestral times they used to do crafts at Moonlodges.

LISA
Lili said…
Were crafts created at Moonlodges to enable the visionary to flow more?
Moonlodges are connected to the visionary right?
Change said…
really enjoyed this blog! I really liked the visual pictures of the work done!
Michelle said…
This Blog gave me a great idea for the lodges the pictures of the sweat grass designs were beautiful. I got to see some birch bark baskets this summer in BC they were amazing strong and some were even water proof! I bought some procupine quills my husbands aunt is going to show me how to work with these I like sitting and working in the silence I know I sit and think about things I feel calmer after I have been working on crafts. There is somthing also about smoked hide that sends me back somewhere I love that smell and the feel of bead work on the leather.
Lisa F. Tardiff said…
Leanne,

Women were responsible for making blankets, clothing, boots etc... as well as sewing the leather or furs to cover their homes and more.... The time spent together during their moon was also spent catching up on some work which we call crafts.

LISA
WampumBlueRaven said…
This Beautiful work Lisa!

Popular posts from this blog

Drums and Rattles.

Lately I’ve received a few e-mails and letters from people asking questions about drums and rattles. I don’t think I’ve written a blog on this topic yet. JB wrote in his e-mail: “I often read that Drums are connected to Shamanism and often the tool of choice for Shamans. How do Shamans use drums differently than anyone else who’s in Shamanism?” I thought it was a great question. For starters, one of the reasons why a drum is an interesting tool in Shamanism is because it can mimic a heartbeat and induce a state of trance. A rapid heartbeat can trigger nervousness, excitement and even aggression. A very slow heartbeat can help in relaxation, sleep and dreaming. Every rhythm can inspire an emotion and can bring about the memory of a past experience or a parallel reality. In Shamanic circles the drum can be instrumental in healing, teaching, ceremony or ritual, expansion of consciousness as well as dreaming and journeying. Almost a decade ago I participated in a Mohawk namin

Authentic Shamanism

I brought up the topic of “authentic Shamanism” at one of my classes / circles this week. I’ve noticed especially in the last three to four years that when people speak to me about Shamanism, they often make a distinction between what they are doing and what “is out there.”  These days if you are not into Ayahuasca you are not authentically into Shamanism.  So what is “Shamanism” if it changes its appearance every decade?  Is it about altered states of consciousness through hallucinogens? Is it about ceremonies and rituals; or about soul retrieval, dreaming and healing?  Since Shamanism isn’t a Religion and doesn’t have set doctrines, then how can you anyone be clear on what makes it “authentic?” When I brought up the question this week, I received a few interesting comments.   Many of the individuals in our circles have struggled with addictions and it’s because of the Medicine Wheel teachings that their lives are full and healthy again.   The idea of defining Shamanism as a j

The Seven Clans

Wow! I can’t believe that in the last three years, I haven’t written a single blog on the topic of “the seven clans” of the Medicine Wheel. For the last two months our Montreal circle has been exploring the subject. I think it’s the first time in fifteen years that I ask my students to go out into the World and experience the clans first hand. “Look at people and see which clan they can belong to; or look at behaviors and attitudes and try to connect them to one of the Clans.” We often speak of the clans as the seven faces of Creator. In Christianity or Judaism God can be angry, impatient, judgmental and destructive; but he can also be merciful, compassionate, forgiving and loving. The Medicine Wheel may not personalize Creator in the same way many Religions do, yet in many ways it accomplishes the same end result where we can see ourselves as children of divinity. Often in non-traditional circles the seven clans are understood as archetypes. Each clan holds particular att