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‘In any creative work, be it the artist or the artisan, the creatve person unites with the material they are working with, which symbolises the world outside him/herself. The worker and the artefact become one. The human being becomes one with his creation. ‘ Erich Fromm
The word Poiein in Ancient Greek (ποιεá¿–ν) means making. It is where the word Poetry comes from. Plato had pointed at the connection between craft-making and poetry, calling us to gaze at the rich worlds of form and meaning that come to life when we take raw material from our landscape and create with it. It is possible, when we look at a handcrafted object, to appreciate the emotion and soul life that the maker had infused in it.
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Sefrou is located in the heart of the middle Atlas. Traditionally, a market town located amidst fertile farming lands, it is known for its fruit orchards, cherry festival and the large Jewish community that lived there up until the last century. Sefrou is still home to a large community of local artisans, metal smiths, woodworkers, weavers and button makers. Though the community is still thriving, few are the ones of the young generation who wish to learn these skills.
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Visiting local crafts people in their workshops, we will learn about their work and daily lives as a way to get a sense of the place through the people and their working spaces. An orientation of the city from the inside out hosted by Culture Vultures, will lead us into a deeper relationship with Amazigh women who spin and weave and we will participate in a hands own textile workshop.
We will be introduced to ‘The Loom in Local Rituals’ and how women used the loom as a sacred medium for protection. On Sunday we will make a day trip to a mountain market town in the Middle Atlas where the wool comes from, to meet women who practice unbroken textile traditions in the region.
Alongside these visits our work will consist of listening to the stories that emerge from our activities, as well as engage with traditional stories from around the world to bring into clearer focus the role of craft-making in the life of the Soul. On our last day we will share these stories in a storytelling evening (no previous experience necessary). Daily shamanic practices will help us access ancestral knowledge and seek healing for modern day’s rupture between skill and community, craft and Time.
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KARMIT EVEN-ZUR
El Khader & the Green Fuse
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A story is told in the Sufi tradition about Musa, the prophet Moses, who was told by God "At the confluence of two seas there is a servant from among my servants who is more learned than you. He can be found by those who seek him, at the crack between two worlds, between two bodies of water, between the now and the future. To find him, you must take a fish with you on your journey and you will find him in the place where you will lose the fish.” Moses set out on a journey to the west and when he reached the stretch of water between Africa and Europe he came to a big rock where El Khader was sitting at the water’s edge.
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El Khader is revered by both Hindus and Muslims. He dwells in the place where two oceans confluence, where two planes of existence meet. As a result, he remains elusive to many but reveals himself to seekers or those who, in their humble efforts, chance upon a bend in the road where he unexpectedly appears. Known as the green man, he embodies a state of viriditas, the innate life force propelling nature.
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El Khader and the Green Fuse is a performative lecture/story about the tutelary spirit Khader as well as the Strait of Gibraltar as I have encountered them both through my geomantic work over the past decade. After the sharing of the story I open a space to contemplate the work with images received in shamanic and geomantic work as a form of expression of the subtle layers of the land. We look together at the story’s encoded metaphors through the lens of eco-mythology to explore ways of thinking and being in the world.
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