Circles

First Friday Celebrations in Portland Maine are free and spirited. There is a surprise around every corner. Anyone who reads my facebook posts will recall my sightings.

An unexpected find was the Museum of African Culture. One of their exhibits was of pottery and the collective energy of women working together in the creation of it. Here is an excerpt from the Healing Wisdom of Africa by Malidoma Patrice Some:

They are seated in a circle, and they chant until they are in some sort of ecstatic state, and it is from that place that they begin molding the clay. It is as if the knowledge of how to make pots is not in their brains, but in their collective energy. The product becomes an extension of the collective energy of the circle of women…..The product of work here, the pot, embodies the intimacy and wholeness experienced over the course of the day… They understand that it is necessary to reach a place of wholeness before they can bring something out.

A few hours later, and the purpose of my visit, I had the privilege to experience a 6-hour session with a collection of accomplished musicians, singers and songwriters from the area. Arranged in a circle in the instrument shop Acoustic Artisans, about 12 musicians took turns leading songs - swapping out instruments with each other as easily as changing a shirt. The synchronicity between them was like watching a school of fish change direction in a millisecond, with everyone in position, as if following a predetermined plan.  The undetectable communication that comes from a place of intimacy and wholeness... almost as if making clay pots.