Buried Fabric Meditation Books

unearth

to dig or get out of the earth
to uncover or bring to light by search, inquiry…

These buried books emerged through the process of making my intuitive fabric meditation books. One day in 2021, I was sitting at my art table in my bedroom working on a fabric meditation book and paused to look out the window at the woods, when I suddenly heard, “Bury it.”

Then a few days later, I was wandering around in my favorite local bookstore in the Eastern Religion section and something told me to pick up a booked called, The Tibetan Book of the Dead. I flipped the book open and the page said:

“The Bardo Thötröl is one of a series of instructions on six types of liberation: liberation through hearing, liberation through wearing, liberation through seeing, liberation through remembering, liberation through tasting, and liberation through touching. They were composed by Padmasambhava and written down by his wife, Yeshe Tsogyal…Padmasambhava buried these texts in the Gampo hills in central Tibet, where later the great teacher Gampopa established his monastery. Many other texts and sacred objects were buried in this way in different places throughout Tibet, and are known as terma, “hidden treasures.”

I looked up from the book and had goosebumps all over my body and felt an immediate and clear connection to the message I received to bury one of my fabric meditation books. I went home and chose a book to bury, went out into my yard, dug a hole and buried it. My intuition told me to leave it in the earth for 30 days and then dig it back up.

What emerged has been a beautiful, sacred collaboration with the earth. I have now buried and unearthed many of the fabric meditation books I have created. I find the process deeply transformative and connecting to the earth and myself. It is a practice in releasing and letting go, of inviting subtle transformations and mysteries to come into the creative process and weave through my whole being. I find deep ties to what is happening within me to the process of offering these soft books to the quiet, rich darkness of the earth. I find myself reflecting on what has been buried inside of me that I couldn’t see and what past experiences have been hidden inside that are ready to be released and alchemized. This process has been gently powerful and incredibly healing for me.

I buried this book for 30 days in my yard in Wisconsin just at the edge of the woods within a circle of large stones. I buried it in June, 2022 and dug it up in July, 2022 then washed it in the lake near my house.

For the book, I used scraps of secondhand naturally dyed linen, a scrap of Japanese fabric, stones I collected, hand spun nettle yarn from India, indigo dyed, hand spun cotton thread from China and secondhand cotton sewing thread.

You can see more images below of this book along with a couple of videos of its journey.

Buried fabric meditation book by Emma Freeman from Deep Rooted Healing, buried art, textile art, spiritual art, slow stitching, book making online classes, mixed media book artist, nature artist, Wisconsin artist, art therapy project, eco art project

“Release”

I buried this book for 30 days in my yard in Wisconsin at the edge of the woods on our property. This was the first book I ever buried (along with another one I put in the ground with it). I had no idea what would happen to it down there but I knew it needed to go into the earth for awhile.

For this book, I used scraps of linen from a secondhand curtain that I had dyed with indigo by a fellow artist. I also used Japanese sashiko thread some that was dyed with persimmons, stones I found outside, a piece of sea glass a friend found along the shore of Lake Michigan. This book continued to evolve after it came out of the ground. I removed threads and sea glass, and responded to the marks and textures the earth left.

You can see more images below of this book.

Buried fabric meditation book by Emma Freeman from Deep Rooted Healing, soft aqua linen and Japanese sashiko thread slow stitching project, intuitive art making, intuitive stitching, spiritual stitching, mixed media book making

“Alchemize”

befoBuried fabric meditation book by Emma Freeman from Deep Rooted Healing, buried art, textile art, spiritual art, slow stitching, book making online classes, mixed media book artist, nature artist, Wisconsin artist, art therapy project, eco art pro

I buried this book for 30 days in my yard in Wisconsin at the edge of the woods on our property. This was the first book I ever buried (along with another one I put in the ground with it). I had no idea what would happen to it down there but I knew it needed to go into the earth for awhile.

For this book, I used scraps of linen from a secondhand curtain that I had dyed with indigo by a fellow artist. I also used Japanese sashiko thread some that was dyed with persimmons, and stones I found outside. This book continued to evolve after it came out of the ground. I removed threads and responded to the marks and textures the earth left.

You can see more images below of this book.