Red Thread of Belonging

Red Thread of Belonging A SOLSTICE STORY

She said, “You aren’t from around here, are you?”

I replied, “Nah, I am a long way from home now.”

She offered me a chair and poured some tea.

“Well, who are your people then, your land?”

Looking across at her, I measured my reply,

“I know where I was born, but I’m not exactly

from there. We’ve been on the road

a few hundred years or more now.”

She smiled and said, “I see. And, I see you.

There’s someone I want you to meet.”

She parted an invisible veil with her hand.

Colorful women began to circle around us.

So many colors of clothing, skin, energy and story.

She took in my amazed expression, and said,

“We are the Cosmic Cowgirls,

women from many lands

who walk between worlds.

Our archetype is woven from a kiss of stardust.

Sparked from the soil of stories.

Woven with threads from all of our Clanmothers.

Our creative lineage stitches us together

into the fabric of belonging.

Some of us are from right here,

and we remember more than the others.

Some of us, like you, are from a far away family,

but you can hang out with us now.

We are called to remember,

charged with awakening ourselves

and then the others.

Those of us who choose each other know

that togetherness is the key to navigating

the rodeo of the soul.

We are kin because we choose.

We choose one another.

Some of us don’t even feel like

we belong to our family.

But here…

we choose conscious connection

with minds that are open,

bodies that are in motion

hands that raise a commotion

hearts that see with wisdom.

We are sacred disruptors.

Allies of the animal queendom

and the earth and star.”

With that she offered me a basket.

I wonder what my basket would hold?

With my whole being, I said yes,

jumping out of my seat.

Thankfully awkward enthusiasm

delighted the women.

I yelled out, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

The women welcomed me,

and called out,

“YIP YIP YIP!”

To which I replied, “YIP YIP YIP!”

Then we all YAHOOOOOOOOOOOO’D

howling like she-wolves on a full moon.

It felt like lightening quickening my being.

This place felt so new, and suddenly so familiar.

I asked, “Where are we?”

She smiled as if she was expecting the question,

“The Red Thread Cafe,

a place between tomorrow and today.

This is a quantum and concrete reality.

We have been waiting for you…”

I loved the idea they had been waiting for me

and I asked, “Did you know I was coming?!”

They all nodded in agreement.

How cool is that? I thought to myself.

They saw my joy and I let them see it.

One in a long red coat trimmed with gold spoke:

“Cosmic Cowgirls is code.

We can’t tell you our real clan name.

We can offer you a paintbrush, and a pen

and a palette of colorful inquiries.

That way you can find your own name.

We do this through the field of our common practice:

Intentional Creativity.

We make art with mindfulness,

creating with and through our desire.”

I cocked my head to the side,

thinking about those two words:

Intentional and Creativity.

She went on, “Whatever we make with our lives, our

hands, our bodies, we are making with love. That’s how it works.

Around here, we transform our Lives into Legends….

Women have always been in kinship with big animals:

horses, bison, antelope, cows, deer, goats, tigers, fox

bears, wolves, elephants, jaguars – these are our allies.

We have always been in kinship with the feathered allies:

owl, eagle, raven, hawk, hummingbird, dove, heron,

bluebird of happiness, hen, falcon, osprey,

and all the rest.

We have always been in kinship with insects: dragonflies,

butterflies, grasshoppers, bees, crickets, lightning bugs

and the salamanders, gecko, lizard and frog and

all creepy crawlers.

We have always been in kinship with the waters:

dolphin, whale, fish, eel, seal, shark, otter,

and all that swim the deep.

We have always been in kinship with the mythical

middle-ones: selkies, mer-people, pegasus, fairies,

phoenix, and an occasional werewolf.

Cosmic Cowgirls are women between worlds,

honoring and navigating all dimensions open to us.

We have our feet on the dirt and our head in the stars.

We live large, because as the art matriarch said

we are larger than we think.

You will learn to take up space in a new way.

You’ll see.”

She paused then,

focusing her gaze intently on me.

“After you meet…the Muse…

things will be so very different

than you can ever imagine.”

I exclaimed, not all together cool,

“That sounds like the best thing ever!”

She laughed, “Then you are in the right place,

let’s get movin’ little darlin’!”

I felt some of the old loneliness part.

With another wave of her hand,

all of the women formed a giant circle.

I joined too, taking my place…

We formed a circle, within a circle.

There seemed to be circles further than I could see.

Feeling my body begin to quiver I looked around

at the many many women in the distance

far behind us, I said, “Who is that?”

She looked in the direction where my eyes were wide

and said, “Those are the Clanmothers who came before.

They sang you here. You can thank them later.

There will be time, more time than you need.

We are time expanders.”

Turning inward, towards the, circle I saw a ring of

creatures and knew those were the allies she spoke of.

She said, “Here women have powerful allies,

and in time, we understand ourselves as being

our own oracle. It’s a big idea, but you will

know what I mean soon enough,

when you get a paint brush.”

Then I saw the glowing center circle ring,

I saw children playing in the middle

of the circle we were making.

I knew, but I asked anyway,

I wanted to hear her answer, “Who’s that?”

She and another woman patted me on the shoulder

and said out loud as a call to all gathered,

“We are a circle within a circle

holding yet another circle!”

They began to pass a beautiful soft sparkling ball

of red thread, handing it to me they said,

“You have your own piece of the story, we all do.

Each one of us is responsible for what piece

we carry, but as you can see, we are not alone.”

Tears welled up in my eyes and spilled onto my

cheek, onto the thread, onto the earth.

One of the girl-children in the center saw me.

As she walked towards me, my breath

caught in my chest…

She reached for my hand and said,

“We are the future.”

Red Thread of Belonging

A Solstice Story by Shiloh Sophia Written for our Intentional Creativity® Community