Power made me a coat. For a long time I kept in in the back of my closet. I didn't like to wear it much, but I always took good care of it. When I first started wearing it again, it smelled like mothballs. As I wore it more, it starting fitting better, and stopped smelling like mothballs.
I was afraid if I wore the coat too much someone would want to take it or else I would accidentally leave in the the dojo dressing room. But it has my name on the label now, and it doesn't really fit anyone else.
When people ask me where I found such a becoming garment, I tell them about the tailor, Power, who knows how to make coats that you grow into.
First, you must find the courage to approach him and ask him to make you a coat.
Then, you must find the patience inside yourself to wear the coat until it fits.
from The Book of Qualities
This coat belonged to a young female Imin Numinchen Shaman from Northeast Manchuria who died in 1930 at the age of 25. You can read more about it
here, where I found the image.
This is an incredible post. That coat! Wow.
ReplyDeleteIt's going to have me thinking about power all day. (Something I have shied away from in the last few years.)
I think a lot of women shy away from power, mostly through socialization by patriarchal institutions. And power with these institutions means power over - women, Nature, anything. Claiming our power in this paradigm isn't easy, but I think we must find the courage to claim it and put on that coat and never take it off.
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