A tiny Sufi sampler – doll’s house size!

Sufi heart with wings 'Tot de Ene'

Here’s a tiny ‘doll’s house sized’ sampler that I made for a friend of mine, for her birthday.  It’s not that clear from the photo how small it is – it’s about two and a half inches across. I stitched it with one strand of Anchor stranded cotton, on 32 count evenweave fabric. The phrase ‘Tot de Ene’ is in Dutch (because my friend is Dutch!), and it means ‘Towards the One’.  She is a Universal Sufi (same as me), and on this spiritual path, we often say this phrase, as it’s the beginning of the Sufi Invocation:

Towards the One,

the perfection of love, harmony and beauty,

the only Being,

united with all the illuminated souls

who form the embodiment of the Master,

the Spirit of guidance. 

 

The heart with wings is a Sufi symbol which signifies the idea that when the heart is responsive to the light of Sacred Unity / the Divine / God, it is liberated.

Read Full Post »

Finished embroidery: look at this ‘Om’ cushion!!

I have recently returned from a Sufi Ruhaniat summer school in Germany, which was amazing – very uplifting.

As I had to travel from England, I was a bit limited in what I could take, so I had to leave my meditation stool behind. Fortunately, when I got there, there were a lot of meditation cushions of all shapes and styles available for the use of the students, and this one really caught my eye.

Om cushion with beautiful satin stitch embroidery

It’s worked almost completely in satin stitch of a really high quality, with a little back stitch. The colours are incredibly vibrant. The cushion is about 12 inches diameter, and about 8 inches deep.

Detail of the stitching

The motif in the centre is the ‘Om’ symbol. In Hinduism, it represents the unmanifest, the essence of the entire universe.

I’m very tempted to make one of my own, now

Read Full Post »

My weekend of Dances of Universal Peace at Luddenden, near Halifax – plus embroidery again!

Last weekend I went on a retreat to the Heart Centre, in Luddenden, Yorkshire, where a dozen of us learned a cycle of Dances of Universal Peace based on the Beatitudes in Aramaic, created by Neil Douglas-Klotz. The Dances were led by Jilani Prescott. The setting was really peaceful and spiritual.

As usual, I am always on the lookout for embroidery, and spotted these lovely hangings above doorways in the house:

The fireplace in the dance studio was very prettily decorated, with the hearth set out as an altar:

Read Full Post »

I’m on a Sufi Retreat

More when I get home…

UPDATE 1st March 2010: OK, so I’m home now, so I’d better explain! I was at a three-day break at Wistaston Hall Retreat Centre at Crewe in Cheshire at the weekend. Forty people met up to do Dances of Universal Peace (many being dances from the Buddhist and Aramaic Christian traditions, as that fitted with this year’s theme), meditations, and so on, in a wonderfully relaxing atmosphere.  The weekend was led by Saadi Neil Douglas-Klotz and Tansen Philip O’Donohoe.

Wistaston Hall Retreat Centre, Crewe, Cheshire

At the Centre, there was a room with computers for the use of guests – and one of the other people staying there  (hello, Fateah!) was interested in having a blog, so I showed her how easy WordPress blogs are to use. But I didn’t have time to do much, other than demonstrate how quickly you can put up a new post – hence the brief original entry!

The retreat itself was very refreshing and uplifting. I find doing the Dances gives me very intense feelings which work themselves out through my creative designing. So, after each retreat or single dance day that I go to, I get a ‘burst’ of energy that inspires me to design more embroidery, or plan something new that I don’t think would have emerged otherwise.

To anyone who was there at the weekend – thanks for being part of something very special.

Read Full Post »