The Concise Oxford defines a book as: “a written or printed work consisting of pages glued or sewn together along one side and bound in covers.”
To me, a book is also a sacred vessel. It’s a portal. As well it is a gathering space for dreams, stories, poems, songs, experiences, thoughts, emotions, memories, conversations, teachings, transformations, rites of passage, inner and outer journeys; expressed by words and images with various media in infinite creative combinations.
As I pick up and smell the pages of a favourite book, or gently crease paper into a signature for a journal I’m making, I’m reminded of how books resonate with the elegant, generous, expansive, connected energy of the trees from which the paper is made. Sometimes paper is made from rice or cotton or mulberry bark and it vibrates a little differently – and still with the grounded wisdom of rooted beings.
I’m creating a book right now to celebrate my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary. I was honoured when they asked me to create them a gift for each other. So one of the words that has come up for me during this particular creative endeavour is: commemoration. I went on a word origin search and found it comes from the Latin words for “with/together”, “relate” and “mindful.”
The combined meaning and energy of these words feel to me what books are for us: holding spaces in which to relate, share, storytell together; to be in the wholeness that we are.
What does a book mean to you? If you feel called to answer, please do so in the comments below or send me an email. I am grateful to hear from you!