The Braided River

SACRED DRUM is a good place in which to step into this Daweyo Journey and the whole arc of the Weavers’ Trail. As well as being a vessel of rhythm and song, the drum can be a threshold across which change and new perspective may be found; drumming unlocks the door and expands the drummer’s landscape. The gift of Kruttâ is that the drum teaches us first how to listen and then how to use our own voice. The drum fills our silence with possibilities. The drum is our guide into wise remembering. The drum is a very simple tool and yet empowering in its simplicity. A sacred drum is a steady and empathic companion with which to travel and learn and explore. Entering into the circle of the Weaver’s Trail is like stepping into the body of a drum. Once arrived, you are held safe and guided around the outer rim of the journey while being connected through a strong web to the source of mystery at the centre of the drum, with all the space and freedom in between to wander the wild and unknown landscape that forms the broad face of the drum. Learning to honour the sacred hoop of the drum and our relationship with it enables us to deepen our understanding about the greater circle of our life journeys and our relationships with everything.

SACRED COAT, our second strand of work within the Daweyo Journey, wraps us inside the protection and mystery of shape-shifting that will inspire and guide our steps. We explore the symbolism and use of Fflinnâ, sacred coat, within women’s ancient teachings and also the ritual mask, ceremonial belt, skirt or headdress or blanket or veil – anything in fact which is worn as part of an expression of prayer or spiritual protection or magical understanding. Wearing something that is imbued with sacred or mystical meaning is a profoundly powerful tool through which to step into transformation or healing or intuitive wisdom. The magic pinned into the coat comes from the resolve with which it was made, and repeated interaction with the women who wear it and the rituals they form around it. What is actually being experienced when you wear a sacred coat are the quiet prayers, whispered spells and murmured songs that have been given to the ritual fire, the wild shrine and the gathered circle, by all the women who have worn that coat before you. Fflinnâ can be a tool through which to channel sacred purpose, a focal point of ceremony, a statement of intent, a means by which to shift shape or enter dream, a different perspective, a threshold, a protection. Its power is both drawn from us and fed to us.

SACRED VESSEL draws us nearer to the fire and we enter this place of vessels on soft feet for there are ancient and fragile fragments scattered here, delicate pots that contain subtle ingredients, tiny bundles tucked into the shadows. The contents of the Dabâkâ may be visible, with texture or smell, hot or icy to the touch, spilling out or churning deep inside. They may be entirely absent to our physical senses and indicate their existence in more ethereal and intuitive ways. Or the sacred vessel may be empty and waiting for us to fill it with our lives. Our vessels are part of our everyday experience; our sacred vessels are intrinsic to our dream landscapes. They are sacred when they become symbols of the source and shape and edges of our life journeys. A sacred vessel set beside the hearth waiting to be emptied or filled has a silent grace. Each one of us, sat beside our hearth waiting to be emptied or filled, is a sacred vessel. We are the smooth patient pot and the wild knotted bag and the broad receptive basket. We are the hollow bone and the embracing coracle. The primordial vessel of women’s ancient wisdom and intuitive memory is held within the laps of us all. We may dip in a hand and draw from it what we need; we may place into it whatever we have to give. We wait in silent grace to fulfil our purpose as Dabâkâ women.

SACRED FIRE brings us to the final arc in the Daweyo journey. We have spiralled into the centre of the ceremonial house where the Hearth Keeper waits to share her prayers of smoke and her spells of flame and embers. Setting down our sacred drum coat and vessel beside us, we sit next to this hearth and breathe in the primordial remembering that we will find here. This fire has always been at the centre of our human dance; this Oibelo has always guided women to our source of wise magic. What matters is that each of us feels, inside our heart and belly and bones, the burning truth of our connection to this sacred fire. And that we learn how to mend ourselves within this smoke, to take up these flames and use them to change our world, to protect these embers within the lap our collective memory, to honour these ashes with our tears and love. The fires you will find here are bright or creative or intuitive or mournful or dark or difficult or solitary or ancestral or honouring or healing. They are all part of the same sacred hearth. Everything we bring to this hearth is held within the Oibelo. Everything we receive and gather here is given from the sacred fire.

WEGJÊ KERDÂ, this Weavers’ Trail, does not move along a line but around the curve of a spiral. As the moons turn you will meet fragments of myth that you have already glimpsed and pieces of story that you have travelled with before. You will encounter a few ancient women who already know your face. This is part of your deepening experience with the Kerdâ. As you complete your four cycles with Daweyo, the hearth keeper, you will have collected some tools into your travelling bundle to encourage and empower your steps if you choose to journey further out into this ancient dreamscape. Lagyâno, the shrine guardian, waits to accompany you into the wild heart of the land…