A Little Healing Basket

In Oregon we have lots of pine trees - and pine needles! Since I was here on vacation I didn't have access to my stash of plain raffia but a search of the thrift stores netted me this bright green kind and I decided it was perfect for the basket I wanted to make.

Our neighbor had just found out she was going to be losing her job. Downsizing they called it and it hit her pretty hard because she'd given decades to the company and loved working there. Not many jobs around here and she wasn't old enough to retire. She was going through a lot of stress, and who could blame her?

Making a pine needle basket is an exercise in patience. I find it very meditative and with this one I made sure to put as much calming and 'it's going to be fine' energy into it as I could.

Tight coils at the bottom to make a firm base, then gradually bringing up the sides, adding rows and rows of pine needles and connecting them with the raffia.

When I made it the size and shape I wanted I decided to add a lid to keep the energy of the stones contained in that heart space. I found one of my grandmother's beads to use for the top, and it was done!

I chose green aventurine for calmness and new opportunities, and pink rose quartz for her heart chakra to help her keep her heart open and release any anger for her situation. I am telling you this, but I didn't tell her because she already thinks I'm a little weird. :-)

I won't claim this little basket helped her get a new job within a few weeks, but I'd like to think it helped!