Transformation & Hope - Part 2

 Part 2 of 9; 45 rows of 114.

I've pondered the meaning of transformation as I circled around this work's center, Still Point, wondering what transformation is, really. I am transforming balls of yarn into a mandala, a work of art, of utility. The yarn itself is a transformation of wool into thread. The wool is a transformation from food and water and sunlight into fiber on the back of a sheep.

Could it be this simple, the change from one thing into another? Etymologically the word is trans - across, beyond, through, on the other side of; plus, form v. - create, give life to, give shape or structure; to make, build, construct, devise; n. shape, character.

Certainly this work of crocheting, then, is a transformation: from sun and grass to a Mandala. This thought literally sets me back on my heels: I only see the surface, the thing, the noun of items around me, when, possibly, probably, they are actually sunshine and grass transformed into shoes and curtains, tables and hammers. What life a toothbrush is when I hold it in my hand - holding sunshine transformed - the power and mystery!

In the 14th century the definition of "transform" leant more toward metamorphose, which means to change form, alter or modify the shape or character of. By the 15th century, metamorphose was connected to the ancient mysterious arts, especially witchcraft. And like all good things mysterious, pagan and inexplicable, the Church shifted the meaning of the word, took it for its own use, divided it into good and bad. Women and men who created, regenerated, devised, formed and reformed objects, health, people, and lives - metamorphosed - were burned at the stake. Perhaps they understood the power of transformation, the power of sunshine in the hand when holding a sprig of lavender, and it cost them bitterly when people around them could not see.

I want this year's crochet project to transform me. I want to be expanded by seeking deepward, inward, transformed, shape shifted, edge sharpened, edge blurred, alive in the best magical sense of creative, intuitive, inquisitive, re-formed, trans formed. Around the still point, not fixed nor moving, not flesh nor fleshless, not moving from nor toward, where the past and the future gather. This still point is where transformation happens. 

Transformation & Hope - Part 1

This project is an exercise in Transformation. It begins as a mandala, circular and contemplative then slowly and spectacularly transforms, reshapes, into a finished square. I am looking forward to this metamorphosis in the project.

Last year's work, Mandala 2020, was about grief, despair, resolution as treasured people in my life left and the pandemic raged across the globe, nation, state and community. We are still in the throes of COVID-19; some restrictions have lifted, the vaccine makes us braver and we feel lighter and more "normal". As always, time has eased the bright personal grief into a grayer, poignant memory, and the massive national and global grief of lives lost to this disease is simply becoming a new normal. 

Like the pattern of this work, life today is about Transformation and Hope. The last year of reflection, consideration, meditation, exploration and resolution resulted in a shift in me, in my outlook on life, my understanding of myself, my willingness to pause and consider, breathe in and begin the arduous chipping free of the chrysalis built around me. Us.

How can I not be anything but different? How can I not be in the midst of a metamorphosis, a change in my being, a transformation?  The world is different. My family is different. My friends are different. Work is different. Our lifestyle has shifted and is different. The way I get food, clothes, basics is different.

Like last year, this pattern is not my own. It is called Sacred Space CAL copyrighted by Helen Shrimpton of crystalsandcrochet.com. I followed her recommendation on the yarn - Stylecraft Life DK at 75% acrylic, 25% wool - and am very glad I did so. It is beautiful, perhaps the nicest I have used for many years. Thank you, Helen, for sharing your experience and craft freely and generously.