THE BLESSING WAY

In the house made of dawn
in the house made of evening twilight

in beauty may I walk:
with beauty above me, I walk
with beauty around me, I walk
with beauty it is finished.

.......Navajo chant

Tomorrow I begin my creative pilgrimage, following the trail of the Spider Woman, crossing this vast country, following whatever threads She may care to cast my way as I seek to find out what this work of art will become. And to find out how to weave my own spirit into a kind of co-creative harmony I, in all honesty, haven't felt for a long, long time.

It's occured to me what I’m really seeking is a BLESSING. And, from that, to give a Blessing back. The logic of Spiderwoman, at least as I conceive of Spiderwoman, the logic of nature, is circular.

If synchronicity can be the touch of the Spiderwoman, if a synchronicity or two could be touchstones along the path, well, I'm off to a good start as I pack my car. Just two days ago, I was helping playwright Randy Ford, the creator of El Ojhito Springs Creativity Center in downtown Tucson, to pack up this lovely and much needed venue for artists and performers.........into a moving truck. They have been evicted, and like the Muse Community Arts Center two years ago, the wheels of real estate, progress, and cultural soul loss turn in Tucson relentlessly. (I could say a lot, but I won't, not right now and not right here.) This Journey is about renewing my unitive vision as an artist, as a person living in these confusing times. And, taking the journey, making the effort to tell what is seen. I determine to not focus upon the many opposing forces each and every day brings.

How "individual" are we, really? I tend to feel, when engaged in the creative process, that a lot of my "separateness" breaks down, and the unitive nature of mind makes itself more obvious. That's a far cry, I suppose, from the Modernist concept of the artist as alienated genious.

Forgive my digression - I was reading that morning about Spiderwoman as She occurs in Navajo mythology, reading as well some of their beautiful chants. Chants used by "Singers in various curing ceremonies, among them, the Blessing Way. Randy needed boxes, and so I went to U haul to purchase a few. Standing in line, I saw I was behind a couple with a little girl, heading for Window Rock, Arizona. They were speaking in Navajo.

"As opposed to the other Navajo [Diné] Chant Ways, which are used to effect a cure of a problem, the Blessingway [Hózhó jí] is used to bless the "one sung over," to ensure good luck, good health and blessings for all. It is sometimes referred to by English speaking Diné as being "for good hope." The name of the rite, Hózhó jí, is translated as Blessingway, but that is certainly not an exact translation. In the Navajo language (diné bizaad) the term encompasses everything that is interpreted as good - as opposed to evil, favorable for man. It encompasses such words as beauty, harmony, success, perfection, well-being, ordered, ideal. The intent of this rite is to ensure a good result at any stage of life, and therefore the translation of Blessingway.* 

Well, let the road lead on. 



** Wyman, Leland C. ,  1983    Navajo Ceremonial System. In Handbook of North American Indians. A. Ortiz, ed.  Pp. 537, 541, Vol. 10. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Washington.