I’ve been thinking about creativity and its importance to the woman spirit. Creativity can be many things, but here I mean something that is new, created, dreamed and thought into being. Creative activities involve an intention for the future, where we imagine the world how we would like it to be. I think creativity both nurtures and expresses the woman spirit.
My favourite creative activity is cooking. I love the act of cooking, of preparing vegetables and the smells and sounds they make on my chopping board. I love how the sound of running water brings a sense of coolness to the hot kitchen, and how the steam ever-so-gently softens the broccoli in a matter of minutes.
I love the sizzling of meat and vegetables on a pan or in the stove, when scents of herbs and spices whirl themselves around the kitchen and spread out into the rest of the house. But most of all I love to imagine a meal.
When I plan a meal I can taste the flavours and smell them in the air. Thinking of how textures and colours go together on a plate, I let my senses explore my dream. Sometimes I draw on recipe books – I have a few by now. At other times I draw my inspiration from ingredients, or from a flavour that comes to me, quietly when I least expect it.
Laying the table always feels like a sacred ritual to me. Here we are, about to consume the fruits of my imagination, my creation. I like to sit at the table for a long time, and not have to run off and do other things.
In my house, the perfect dinner is perhaps three or four hours long, over conversation and laughter. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t like this every night, but we work towards it and usually manage three or four nights a week like this. That’s not bad, considering how busy we are.
Dinner becomes a focal point for quality time, and keeping each other close. It’s noticeable that if we don’t manage to come together for meals in this way, soon there is so much we haven’t told each other, so much that we haven’t shared, that it’s hard to know where to begin. There’s a togetherness that comes with sharing a meal that I find most inspiring.
Now that I am reflecting on this favourite creative activity of mine, I am acutely aware that for me it is both an act of worship, a celebration of life and an intention for its continuation. Cooking, and sharing a meal, is for me also a celebration of love and togetherness, and of a commitment to each other.
We invest in each other, intending to be there for each other and sharing another day, another meal, weaving and dreaming the world into being. And if that isn’t magic, I don’t know what is.
Finding the community of Cycle Harmony has made a huge difference to me. I am delighted to be writing to you from the Red Tent and hope to share thoughts and experiences you recognise, or find useful to ponder upon. I look forward to working with you all in exploring what it is to be women, and hope to hear from you. ~ Vild
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