The Red Thread

Welcome To the The Mother magazine’s Blog Carnival: “Friendship and Connection” The Mother magazine is a holistic, natural mothering publication. It is with great pleasure that we share this topic with such a talented group of bloggers. You will find links to the each of the other posts at the end of this one. We hope you enjoy them!

written by Veronika Sophia Robinson: In my twelve years of editing The Mother magazine, the highlight for me was the friendships I forged with other women (not just mothers).

I live rurally, and the chance of meeting like-minded women locally is ridiculously small. I’ve met my closest friends through both the publication and the family camps I hosted for subscribers. These are friendships which will last a lifetime. They were founded on a shared passion for raising children consciously and investing in holistic family life, and the growth that each of us has experienced since then has been huge. We have been witnesses to each others’ journey: the laughter, the pain, the triumphs, the grief, the joy, the loss, the frustrations, and the ease.

This circle connects us, despite the miles. During the family camps, I facilitated Blessingway ceremonies, a Handfasting, naming ceremony and private rituals for grief.

Camp kitchen at The Mother magazine family camp 2013

The Blessingway ceremonies featured the red-thread ritual. I still have these threads, woven into old journals, and used as bookmarks. The miles may separate us, and the years may roll forward with increasing speed, but these women ~ these soul systers ~ remain connected with me through time and space.

Photograph by Jacqui Ferguson during a Red Thread ritual at a TM camp, from The Blessingway book.

The reason I choose red for the thread is because it is the colour of blood, and is what links all humans. During a Blessingway ceremony, the ball of hemp or wool is passed to the pregnant guest of honour who then wraps it around her wrist several times. She throws the ball across the circle to one of her guests. That woman also wraps it around her wrist several times before throwing it to someone else in the circle. This continues until everyone is linked into the web. This circle is a wonderful symbol of connection.

Handfasting at a TM camp bringing together love, friendship and connection

The guest of honour cuts the string each side of her wrist, and then cuts the string around the circle. Each guest wears the string until she hears the joyous news that the baby has been born.

Labyrinth at The Mother magazine camp

Even after the string is cut, we recognise our connection ~ that we all still come from the same ball of yarn. Women of the medicine wheel sense this energetically, and really feel connected to the circle in the weeks to come, and for some of us, for years to come.

Prayer flags made at The Mother magazine camp

In Native American myth, The Spider Grandmother (Spider Woman), created all life by spinning her web and connected all living life together using her magical thread.

The web that is woven in myth also symbolises how we weave a life for ourselves, and have the ability to always choose what and when to thread next; which way to weave. Spider woman teaches us about friendship; that we are all connected.

Friendship teaches us about trust, love, kindness, empathy, and awareness. The friendships I have found through The Mother magazine have changed my life.

I’ve also come to have friendships with women I’ve never met physically, but only know through emails. So many times I ‘forget’ that we’ve not met, because the bond is so strong.

I feel blessed by the integrity of those women who I call friends, and am deeply thankful for the bonds that knit our lives together, even when we’re separated by long distances and busy lives. We connect at a heart level. We know, that at any minute, we would drop everything to be there for the other. That’s friendship.

Thank you for visiting The Mother magazine blog carnival, read further and enjoy the other fantastic bloggers!

Hope in the Heartache, Light in the Darkness

“A child heats your lap with a fever that rages fire. Your chest heaves, holding an unimaginable weariness like a weight pinning you to the floor. Tears threaten at your lashes. In this moment you want to cry out; for help, for understanding…”

Follow Starr and The Mother magazine • Facebook • Twitter

The Mama Club

The Dream Friendship

“For me a true friendship is built on honesty, love, trust and belief in each other. When you have a friend with this kind of connection life is so much easier, especially the journey of motherhood.”

Follow Vicky from MOTHERING A DREAM

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Twins and Friendship

“After I had my twins and the weeks turned into months I began to feel afraid the words may ring true. I began to feel estranged from my old self, as if she had died but I had just then realized it. I felt as if I were imprisoned in my own home…”

Follow Miranda from Twinning It • Facebook • Twitter

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The Red Thread

“I feel blessed by the integrity of those women who I call friends, and am deeply thankful for the bonds that knit our lives together, even when we’re separated by long distances and busy lives. We connect at a heart level.”

Follow Veronika Sophia Robinson • Facebook • Twitter

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On Kindred Spirits

“At times, I envy the ease with which my toddler makes friends. When we are at the park, now that we’re (mostly) past the how-dare-you-play-on-MY-slide phase, making friends is generally as simple as “I’m small; you’re small; let’s play!” And off Bug goes with whatever other little kid happens to be there that day, while I look on wistfully.”

Follow Holly from Leaves of Lavender

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Where Moms Make Friends in the Digital Age

“Before the Internet, moms met each other at Mothers’ Centers, when they dropped off and picked up their kids from nursery school, at child birth classes, in their neighborhood where moms used to knock on each others’ doors for tea and a chat, and at work”

Follow Laurie Hollman, PhD • Facebook • Twitter