Outside Hoops
Sing Mother Earth Awake with the gentle bells of an Outside Hoop. All of my hoops, made to hang in the boughs of trees, are between one to three feet in diameter. The have beads, buttons, bones, stones, sticks and jingles attached to sing in the breezes.
None of them have harsh clackers or loud gongs. Each one has a gentle jingle to sing back to the birds and animals we wish to gather here.
The hoops are made after the style of the hoops used in the Hoop Games, like the men used to roll and throw spears through or shoot arrows through, games much like darts. The hoops were traditionally used by Plains Tribes to allow train the hand and eye co-ordination of the young boys when they joined their male relatives to be taught.
The Hoop was also the genesis of Dream catchers.
Each of my hoops is unique in that I make no two alike. Some are made of leather and sinew. Some are made of yarn. Some have the dream catcher weave and some have god’s eyes in the middle. Some have butterflies or other symbolic objects in the middle. Some are made like mandalas. Each has been smudged and given to nature as an offering.
© Carol Desjarlais
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