Thursday, August 4, 2011

The Prayer Flag Project

A beautiful project is taking place. You need to visit Vivika DeNegre's site http://theprayerflagproject.blogspot.com/. I had never heard of Prayer Flags.  They are an ancient Buddhist tradition. A flag is made with a prayer, intention or devotion on it, then, hung outside to blow in the wind. In Vivika's words,  "it is believed that the prayers on the flags are lifted to God and spread throughout the universe as they flutter in the wind.  Everyone who is touched by that wind, is touched by the prayers.  The wind spreads the prayers through the world, extending happiness, good will, and peace. What a wonderful concept."
 I hand dyed my flags in the traditional colrs of the elements. I added purple. My hubby strung them on our back deck. I see them many times during the day and I am reminded to remember what is important.
  The first flag is blue(space). I used thread from all the other flags and sewed in a chaotic manner. My prayer is for "Peace".  My thought is peace can come from chaos.
 The second flag is white(air). I have been involved in raising two of my grandchildren. This series of flags are dedicated to grandparents and their grandchildren. This flag shows an elder person holding the hand of a child. "Hope"
Red(fire) flag is a prayer for "Love".
After dyeing the green(water) flag, I placed it in the sun to dry. I made a sun print of a fern leaf on it. I beaded the fern imprint and the prayer "Dream".
 Yellow(earth) flag is a classic Prayer Flag with a picture of Wind Horse or Lung Ta. The Wind Horse  is a symbol of the idea of well-being or good fortune.
 Last flag is a purple flag. I constructed the Flower piece by piece. My prayer is "Believe".

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