The Ragtag prompt today is “Like a Circle in a Spiral.” I think that one requires its own post—this time a photo post. I bought this round spiral tile at an antique store nineteen years ago and had it installed over the door of my studio when I had it built a few years later. It is the reverse of the prompt, actually—a spiral in a circle. It has always reminded me of the Pueblo symbol that played a central part in one of my favorite books, The Man Who Killed the Deer by Frank Waters. “A circle enclosing a dot” which was the symbol for man’s place within the tribe and the tribe’s place within nature. Those similar symbols—a spiral and a circle surrounding a dot show up elsewhere in the decorations of my house. In a poem written by Isidro in response to a piece of mine entitled “In Mexico there is always music,” in the symbols painted on the Purapetchan bowl and in the mural painted by Isidro eighteen years ago, as well as a poem painted on the wall outside the entrance to my bedroom. Some of those symbols remind me of an illustration I saw years ago of droplets exactly like some of these images falling as a spiritual blessing from the skies. I always thought they were labelled as “yod” which is a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, but I can find no mention of yod having this significance, although the letter is similarly shaped. At any rate, I love these shapes that seem to show up time and again in different cultures and religions and how often they signify the same thing–spirituality, man’s place in nature, the cycle of nature, life.
Click on photos to enlarge.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 
Judy,
The poem by Isidro is wonderful. The music of the birds and insects as a language we once spoke is profoundly moving. What a great post! The colors, wow!
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Just added some text from “The Man Who Killed the Deer.” If you want to understand the Pueblo culture, best book ever.
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I love that saying.
Sent from my iPad
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This is a wonderful post. I have long admired/revered the symbols of the native peoples around the world, and the spiral inside a circle is especially meaningful.
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The book is lovely, Janet. I recommend it if you are interested in Native American culture. I taught courses in American Indian Literature and it was one book I had them read.
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Thanks, Judy — if I had ever finished my degree it might well have been in cultural anthro, with my interest sparked in particular by Pacific Northwest cultures and Navajo and Hopi cultures. I will look for the book!
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So love how you wound the circles around and made a spiral of photos that tell a story. Wonderful Judy 🙂 thanks for two posts to my prompt ❤
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Well I finally found it. I am horrible at finding prompts. I always end up at the blog of someone who followed it rather than the person who is sponsoring it. I think it is my locational dyslexia..I just wander around in circles if not spirals.
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I often find prompts the same way Judy 🙂
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Oops.. I am wrong. I have no trouble finding Ragtag as I have it in my favorites.. it is new prompts I have trouble locating. I see that someone else has posted to it, but they don’t give the link and I wander around the internet looking for it. I didn’t know you were one of the Ragtag crew..See how confused I am?. And I just realized my spiral is actually a maze, to boot.
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