Omamori

Six empty cases hung outside the entrance to the main place of meeting for my faith family. For a long time. Hm. Looked like the perfect place to hang a little show! Why not?! Partnering with my creative buddy Marian, that’s exactly what we did.

Hanging the show.

Marian creates these lovely omamori: Japanese amulets for protection, which contain prayers sewn inside small pouches of embroidered brocade. We decided to display them, and since hers didn’t have any prayers inside, I wrote a poem/blessing of protection for the last panel in the set of cases. It’s a “welcoming in” and also a “sending out” blessing. Both are important.

A Blessing For Protection

The card (not pictured) posted with the poem reads:

I invite you to imagine this stitched blessing tucked into each omamori. Perhaps held in your own heart too, to companion you as you come and go from this place we call home.

Marian’s work was textile-based and hand-stitched, so I sewed the poem onto the same backing fabric we used in the other cases. The vintage kimono fabrics used as the “o”s are from her stash, and the sewn letters were created using traditional sashiko thread.

Some process shots:

The plan.

The backside of the sewing process, interesting in its own right.

back

front

May you find protection wherever you go. And may that protection invite you further into the places where the courage and love only you can bring is so needed.