A Letter from the Red Thread Cafe 

by Shiloh Sophia 

Dear One, I am so glad you are here. I have so much to tell you! I feel like I have waited for years to sit with you, here. I invite you to imagine something with me. Even if we are just getting to know each other, our time has come, because here we are! I have set out two cups of tea, one for you and one for me, your favorite kind, and fine chocolates from Paris. There is paper for journaling and colored pens and a candle between us. Together we are entering into the sacred space ‘Red Thread Café’. This is an imaginal field, a place living within our hearts, where we can meet to connect.  

We know that many of you are new to the Red Thread and our Intentional Creativity philosophy and want to learn more about our work. This is a talismanic symbol that has so much depth and beauty, that it continues to surprise me, even after close to 20 years of working with it. When I first started working with it, I had no idea what it would bring into my life, and our life as a community.  

The first ball was given to me by Elizabeth Gibbons when I was going to teach a class to Native American women on my coloring book, Color of Woman. She got it for me because it was a beautiful sparkling ball. Neither one of us knew what it really represented. (Or so we say lol) That night, I made a long trip to Bakersfield California to work with the Tribal Taniff. I was guided by my Elder Tonantzin in how to use the thread, and she said I would know what to do. And then that night, I lead my first Red Thread Circle.  

At the time I had no idea how many cultures were using the red thread in some way. When I got home from the trip, I looked up red thread on the internet, and there was nothing listed save for a few yarn shops. And now... 1,370,000,000 results (0.65 seconds). Clearly we are a part of something bigger, a bigger weave. We are one thread in many threads weaving the world. The red thread is not exclusive in any way to us, yet we have been developing how we work with it since around 2000.  

Many years after that first circle, I had led hundreds of circles. Then in 2013 I was at the United Nations, in the General Assembly. I was sitting behind a placard for one of the nations who wasn't present that day. I asked myself, what would the placard say if it was my nation - what nation did I represent? I knew then, the nation that I was a part of was the nation of the Red Thread, a community of women creatives and their families worldwide. On the plane trip home I said one day I might like to teach women how to lead the circles with the things I had learned - and he said - you better write a manual then. I thought, what is there to say? It is so simple. Little did I know it would take another 7 years to complete the manual I started on the plane on the way home that is now a book over 300 pages long. 

In this video, Quantum Connection, I share all about the red thread and the quantum connection it represents for us. There is truly a depth and breadth to the meaning behind the red thread and its power to weave us together, if we choose.  

I hope you enjoy the material and time with me - and learning more about the power of our community.

With a red thread of quantum connection encoded with love, 

The Red Thread Is...

The Red Thread is a sign of connection. A reminder that we are already connected. A symbol of protection. A gift of blessing. The color of life. The Red Thread is a legendary Talisman throughout the world with different meanings of the sacred, of destiny and taboo, which makes it a dynamic symbol that wild women love!  

The Red Thread is the hem of the garment of the Great Dancing Lady Our first red thread is the umbilical cord to our very own mother, of life force in the womb, our red room. The Red Tent from times of old that women gather in to rest and tell stories during their moon cycles. Red, the color of the thread the Blessed Mother was using to weave the veil of the temple, the red gateway to the holy of holies. A place forbidden to women has a gateway woven by women’s hands.  

Red! The color of desire, sex, passion, romance, devotion, the red velvet box for wedding rings. Red. A color used symbolically in stories, like the sturdy red thread from Little Red Riding Hood’s coat, with which she saved her life. The red thread the fates are spinning, the color of memory the red rubedo in the final stage of the magnum opus in alchemy, and the cover of Jung’s Red Book and the Llibre Vermell of the Black Madonna with the songs of pilgrims for singing and dancing The red roses associated with the Guadalupe, Magdalene and Mother Mary The Red Thread tied around the expectant mother’s wrist, and the women in her life who are supporting her. The Lover’s bond at hand-fasting with that red satin ribbon. The red thread wrapped around Mother Rachel’s Tomb. Red, the color of thread women in positions of power wear throughout history. The color of royalty, the sacred spaces and the red carpet rolled out on a special occasions for special guest.  

The color of the forbidden fruits, the apple, the pomegranate, chilli and the deliciousness of cherries and strawberries. Red, the color of the thread Ariadne gives to the warrior, along with a sword to navigate heart of the labyrinth. Some say that the words web and email thread come from that story of from that spool of the wise Greek princess.  

Many Asian traditions say that those who are supposed to meet are connected by an invisible red thread since before birth! That it may stretch or tangle but will not break - it will lead you until you are face to face with that person.  

The red thread can be the symbol of quantum connection when we say, I am sending you my love, representing energy moving across space and time. This the red thread we connect with in our Intentional Creativity Circles.  

The fiery core of our star, our sun, our heat, our life, red. Red, the color of our blood, the red from the iron of exploding stars from billions of years ago. If you need to feel our connection you can just tug on the red thread and imagine we are there with you, and we are. In our community we have legends of the Red Thread, that we feel make a life move beyond just a story into a legendary life -  

Dear One You are already connected, You are called to this circle, You have your own unique piece, You are only responsible for our own piece, and You, are not alone. We bear witness to each other’s red threads. Let us spin a red thread of story throughout our lives, finding a common red thread woven between us

~ by Shiloh Sophia 

The Way of the Red Thread : Ideas We Hold Dear

We hold dear the idea of ‘already belonging’.  

We believe in treating ourselves and others as if we already belong.  

We hold dear the idea that we have always been headed towards this connection between us.  

We love the idea that our path so far has led us to this moment of recognition.  

We hold dear the idea that each of us has a calling. Each of us is called to our own work. You hold your own piece of the red thread. The awareness of our connection helps us to trust that we are part of a story greater than our own, that we are not alone.  

Feeling connected can spark our desire towards a greater work than we had once imagined for ourselves. We each have something that is ours to cause and create. Saying yes to our call makes us available to see what we haven’t seen.  

We hold a piece of the greater thread that is an essential part of the fabric of the world.  

We hold dear the idea that gathering together helps us to discover more about who we are and our calling. That circle is a space for blooming and becoming.  

We understand that a circle can be sacred space and that each one of us contributes to that holy weave. Witnessing one another’s stories changes the stories that live in us. 

We hold dear the energy and power of Intention. We apply intention and attention to the circles we participate in. Intentional focus amplifies energetic and physical shifts for us and those we sit in circle with.  

We are creating a field of possibility. We weave our threads together and transform through the quantum connection.  

We hold dear the idea that we can choose transformation through curating our own consciousness. That we are co-creatives capable of altering our path and influencing the path of others for good.  

We hold dear the idea that we are actually responsible to our thread – to know what it is and to weave it. And that if we do our part, then others are more free to do theirs.  

We hold dear the gifts of creativity.  

Our experience is that that when we create we activate our own inner information. That we can become more and more of who we are.  

We are aware that our 'inner world' is more available to us when we are engaged in creative process.  

Many of us who hold our red thread as medicine, seek to heal our own suffering so that we may work with others to heal their suffering.  

Red Thead Circle during Color of Woman Visionary Gathering, 2018