Each one of these shawls was conceived in small rituals during either the new or full moon, and carries a ceremonial essence to it.

These shawls are in essence medicine pieces and while they were being woven I was entering deep into prayer and journey to communicate with the animals and beings whose essence I wanted to weave into these prayer shawls.

This Brown Bear prayer shawl holds the soft nature of the Brown bear, as these are the bears we humans most often spot in nature as they love to live closer to us then their cousins the Grizzly bear, and it is for this reason we have come to develop such a beautiful relationship with the brown bear.

These Bears to me carry something ancient and primal that we often find lacking in our lives as modern day folks, and it was this essence that I wanted to conjure in my weaving.

Bears and humans have had a powerful relationship for eons and although we most often hear about the demise of these beautiful powerful creatures at our hand, we also have many stories and great swaths of folklore that tells of our friendship to these creatures.

It is within this meeting between wildness and friendship that I wanted to create a shawl that would hold the medicine of relationship with them that is best served in the wearing of a cloak or shawl rather than a pelt!

There is also something of magic in this weaving, and as I was working on these bear pieces I felt called to add in bits of golden threads, to represent the magical side of their nature.

This piece has lots of creamy white merino wool woven within it making it soft and cozy, as well as lending a softness to the piece as it mingles with the brown warp, much like the brown bear, wild yet soft.

The brown bear cloak was made using organic brown cotton yarn at its base, as well as other textile and art yarns as I worked to create this unique, sacred piece.

If you are also looking at the Grizzly bear shawl and wondering what the difference is, this shawl does not have the extra fringe woven within it and less of the art yarns I used for the other piece, which is also reflected in the price difference.

*I tend to only work with cotton and merino wool yarns as I find them softer and less itchy to wear.*

These pieces are big and designed to wrap fully around you with one end and fold over your shoulder.

This cloak comes with an owl shawl pin made of bone.

The best/easiest thing to do if you are unsure about the size is to take your favourite shawl and measure it for comparison.

If you have a smaller frame and would like to have something custom made for you please pop over to my other site nikiahseeds.com and fill out the custom form there. Not only do I make pieces that are just the right size, but together we can craft a sacred cloak or ancestral shawl just for you based on your own personal magic.

The length of this shawl is: 81″ not counting the fringe and 93″ including it

and the width is: 26″