What are Zati Healing Masks?
About the Zati Healing Mask Series 2021 on Instagram
What are Zati Healing Masks? They are handspun, handwoven, naturally dyed, 3-D fiber sculptures that embody the human face and spirit. Each one is unique. No exact pattern is followed. The faces are woven flat and then the warp threads are pulled together after it is taken off the loom. The technique came to me in an transformative dream where I was given a mask by an ancient Elder Woman and shown how to weave it and told that this process of weaving and the results could help me and many others. So began many years of study and investigation into the subject of art and identity. Art is one way that we can express and perceive ourselves. Consequently, the way we understand our self affects the way we relate to each other and the world. Who we think we are, determines our life experience.
I decided to call this art form “Zati Healing Masks” because the process of weaving them itself has been healing for me. Zati is an Urdu word meaning from the inside out. Because once you understand the concept, you do not follow an outer pattern, this type of weaving is an inside job. Connecting hands with heart, a being emerges that is not who you expected, but an expression of an inner attitude or beatitude, each one individually, is a being with a blessing. The essence of the wild sheep’s wool with the roots, leaves and blossoms of plant dyes, ancient patterns and scenes in the headdresses are all part of my personal mythology, the healing of my life’s hurts and hardships and the elements that help me to heal every day in the sense of lifting my spirit into higher thought patterns.
So, for me, the healing part of the mask is a shift in my sense of identity from a beleaguered mortal to a Divine Being. I am learning to see myself as Divine through this process of Zati Mask making. It is an energy shift that I teach my students and have written about in my book, The Art of Weaving a Life. They help to heal my understanding of who I think I am.
How can we, as a human race, move from fear to love? That is a fundamental question many of us ask. Is peace possible? If so, how is it created? I have come to believe it is a Zati process, that it comes from the inside out. Or in other words, let it begin with me. The Way, as Lao Tzu says, comes from identifying with qualities that relate to Love. Like generosity, gratitude, humility, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, harmony, acceptance, understanding, trust and reverence for all life. These are the connections we make when we use our hands to connect with the earth, to weave our values into our daily actions, and to pull together our thoughts into positive patterns. These are our greatest teachers and we can do this ourselves with our own hands and our hearts.
All of us hope for a life filled with love. But for many of us, the joy of life eludes us. Being here in this body takes a lot of maintenance, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Sometimes it feels like we are in Earth School. Daily we are bombarded with new challenges that require our response and it takes work to know what to do. The Art of Weaving a Life, which includes the Zati Healing Mask, is one possible way to discover solutions. By weaving with meaning, using our creative minds, incredible hands and an open heart, we can discover a fresh view that heals, blesses and transforms the way we experience our own lives.