Shoreline Edges:  Gathering in Vancouver

Lorette Woolsey

Three days after September 11, 2001, Singers of the Sacred Web met in Vancouver BC to lift songs of life and hope, love, beauty and peace into our world. Our coming together for this Gathering of Possibility declared our deep faith in the possibility of goodness and joy, at a time when our hearts, our minds and our lives were shaken by possibilities of darkness and death.  Our celebration in song became a celebration of life.

We gathered at the Roundhouse in downtown Vancouver, near ocean's shore, on September 14 and 15, 2001.  On those days of brilliant sunshine, with the bright blue skies innocent of airplanes, violence seemed an impossible fiction, unreal and far away— except for the sad, numb, shocked feelings within each of us.  We had been cut adrift from our certainties.

Even the Gathering itself had been in question. But we determined to carry on, convinced that it was essential at such a time, to gather in a life-giving community. When the flights were grounded, Carolyn and others consequently unable to come, Sue Watson's e-mail to the Vancouver Web read:

"Yes, the Gathering - and the Summit - are happening! ….How can we tire of hope?  Now, more than ever, may the voices gathered here sustain and make us community…. As the ebb and flow of the pulse of life brings us together once again…."

Norma (wonderful, valiant Norma!) courageously prepared to take on Carolyn's role in our public Summit event as well as at the Gathering, telling us that, together, we actually could do this.  Carolyn wrote[1], "My heart and song fly with the sun across the continent to ground with those of us gathering in Vancouver, first as Sacred Web, and then moving into a larger circle of people as a summit to affirm, nurture, and give shape to our profound capacity and responsibility to be a conscious part of creation unfolding…. I lean with you into this curve of purpose and heart."

The preparation of the room for the Gathering took place in unaccustomed silence—muted voices, serious faces (though punctuated by reunions, hugs, and even a little laughter when things, as they always must, went awry).  But as we continued to work together, bringing into being Marianne's creation—a shoreline evocation of the sea and its life for the center of our circle, hanging the Sacred Web quilt on its frame, placing the beautiful tapestries, hangings, and Sacred Web shawls all around the walls, delighting in the arrival of friends from out of town and out-of-province, something began to change.  Smiles awakened, laughter shouted out loud, someone began to dance, and anticipation and excitement arose.

And when all was ready, the room prepared like a bride for the Gathering of lovers of life, we began to sing!  And the sound of our voices filled the high, high ceilings of that room with such joy, and such promise, and such strength to carry on that our song ran out into the hallways of the Roundhouse, and out onto the streets of Vancouver, and all around the whole earth, releasing the breath of our love song into the universe.

Women came from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and from all over BC. Forty-three women gathered; seven women had to cancel. We listened together to dear Carolyn's letter, expressing her abiding love and confidence in us.   Norma honoured the somber background of tragedy and the effect on us, inviting women to speak to the circle.

One woman from Saskatchewan who had come to Vancouver early, before Sept.11, spoke of the wrenching anxiety of being apart from her children and husband when these terrible events occurred.  Another woman, her voice filled with pain and outrage, said, "When my patients asked me what to tell their children, I had no answer!  What can we tell the children?" 

We had no answers, so we sang, and our song carried our sorrow and fear and uncertainty, and brought us again to the knowledge that the flame of life still shines bravely on, illuminating the darkness, and showing the way forward.

On Saturday, our happiness thus restored, though with solemn bass tones beneath, the spirit of our Gathering lightened; fun, talk and play rejoined us.  Reconnecting with each other, preparing (lightly, gently) for the public event, singing, walking on the seawall, joining the multifaith Summit opening parade of smiling, chanting, singing, joyous people, (Barb Yussack wearing her crocheted sacred web of many colors), receiving peace candles that had been lit from the eternal flame…. And, oh, the food, the glorious food!

Works of art gifted us.  Katherine Roback's exquisite photograph, "Unfurling", conveying such delicacy, depth and intensity, was the cover for our programs.  Sue displayed a vivid quilted hanging created by her mother, showing a woman in her kitchen, looking out the window at a singing bird, with the motto,  "Woman does not live by bread alone!". Lois shared the moving story of her superb, evocative tapestry portraying the archetypal Woman, her loss of self/power, and her rebirth.  

At the Summit opening ceremonies on Saturday evening, we brought our gifts to them: "Listen, listen to the Voices that beg to differ from the rest! "[3] and "We have only begun to love the earth."[4]   Then on Sunday evening, we gathered in a circle with friends and Summit folks to sing together.   The most poignant, heartbreaking moment was when we all stood to honour the endangered species of western Canada[5] by singing their names, slowly and reverently, ending with the sung prayer, "Let them continue on, let them continue on…Continue, continue…Continue, continue…Oh, let them continue on."[6]

So, dear Sisters of the Sacred Web, let us continue on, singing these glorious songs, dancing to their music, weaving quilting, painting, writing, speaking; creating art, friendship, community; and renewing, by our delight in each other, our lives and our world, the goodness of life.