" Singing her song and weaving the Web of Life, Grandmother Spider continued with her work. The Sky World filled with light and life as her creative process unfolded. As the stars, suns and planets prepared to give birth to their children, Grandmother Spider spun her cord even longer, so that all of the newly born could be included in the Web of Life. Grandmother Spider continues to weave the Web of Life throughout every cycle of creation. ...every Creature Being who has ever lived knows her song and dance as the weaver of the Web of Life." from The Web of Life by Spider - Taino Ti
( Stories of Grandmother Spider are found in many Native American cultures. In some she weaves the Universe and the web of life and in others she teaches humans to weave and weaves webs to hold them safe.)
As I mentioned in my last newsletter, on September 11th, 2018 I evacuated my home because of a fire on Mt. Barnabe in Lagunitas CA. Thanks to the Marin firefighters no houses burned in my community that day but thousands of other Californians have not been so lucky.
About 10 days after the fire I hiked up Mt. Barnabe as I often do and I was curious to see the burnt area. Over 100 acres had burned and black charred grasses and coyote bush covered the hill sides. It was getting late and the sun was low in the sky and as I walked past one section of burnt hillside I noticed the sun shimmering on spiderwebs in the blackened grass. I bent down to look more closely at the beautiful webs and from that angle I could see the sun glittering on thousands more strands of spider silk all around me.
As I continued to walk along the burnt area I could see that acres and acres of spiderwebs covered the whole of the burnt hillsides. It was so gorgeous and awe inspiring to see the work of the Spider Grandmothers. They had woven their webs, it felt to me, like a protective network of light and love to help the plants, the animals, and indeed the whole mountainside heal.
I am a weaver, not one who weaves on a loom with actual threads but a Weaver who works to re-weave communities together and weave people back into Earth and the web of life. It is something I have done all my life in one way or another. Currently I am on the Core Team of the Work That Reconnects Network Weavers.
Our mission is to help weave together a global network of Work That Reconnects facilitators and community members for mutual support, the evolution of the Work and to help grow the Work so it can better serve a world that so needs what it has to offer in this planet time.
Network Weaving is sacred work as the Spider Grandmothers show us and it is how the web of life is created and maintained. The web of life is getting dangerously frayed and torn apart by our capitalistic, colonizing, industrial growth society. As a result our nervous systems are on high alert, and our souls are crying out for connection and are longing to be rewoven back into the web, our communities and our planet.
Network weavers are needed who can learn from the Spider Grandmothers how re-weave the web, darn the holes, and weave together the new networks of communities that will co-create the future we want for our grandchildren. The threads of the web are made of our love for the world. And we grow our love for ourselves, each other and the world through our connections.
“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” Rumi
We can all be weavers and there are many ways to participate in the Great Turning and the re-weaving of the frayed edges of the web of life and the networks we need to survive on our planet home. Gardeners do it by feeding the soil and the networks of mycelium so essential for growing healthy food. Outdoor educators do it by reconnecting children with nature so they learn to love the earth and care for her. Therapists do it by helping people love and reconnect to themselves and the support networks of their communities. Naturalists do it by re-weaving eco-systems. Social Justice activists do it by weaving webs of connection across politics, class and race, Network Weavers do it linking together people and organizations in a living system to support emergence.
We can learn from the Spider Grandmothers and from the vast living system of Mother Earth herself how to support life and then consciously choose to participate in weaving the safety nets, the support networks, and the ropes of connection and love that will keep our communities and the web of life together in hard times. Life will continue with or without us humans. We can learn before it is too late that we have the ability to support life for future generations not just destroy it.
I visualize that huge mountainside covered with spider webs made by thousands of tiny spiders and I have faith in the self organizing power and possibilities of the web of life. The nets of light and love created by those spiders were so beautiful and so expansive. Humans can relearn that we too can actively weave webs of creativity and compassion. If we each move towards life and connection then do what we love no matter how small then together we can help reweave the web that will hold life on this precious planet on into the future.
Yours in weaving the Great Turning.
Constance
P.S.
Some of the other networks and projects I am weaving myself and you into.
From Despair to Joy – A personal and world healing weekend in the Work That Reconnects – Salt Lake City, January 18-21 -
The San Geronimo Valley Visions group is working to weave together the community around a common vision for the San Geronimo Valley golf course.
Gaia Girls Passages - A group working to reweave girls into their power and into nature.
Elders Action Network - Weaving Elders back into our society and empowering them to act on behalf of life.
The Spiral Journey - A Work That Reconnects Facilitator Development Program that is weaving an international network of facilitators from Japan to Jordan and Brazil to Canada.