Spirit faces aren't so much carved into the wood as they are released from the wood by what the carver does. The Wood Spirit is hidden in the wood and just waiting to be allowed free by the woodcarvers knife. My role, as a carver, is to remove wood and allow the Spirit to emerge.
I use primarily "found" wood for my Spirit Faces and have collected Cottonwood bark from Minnesota, the Dakotas and Montana. I have also collected many driftwood pieces from along lakes, rivers and both oceans.
It is said that Wood spirits are magic and offer the keeper of the piece good luck and safe spaces. I remember listening to a story told many years ago one cold, dark winter night in an old cabin with a warm fire crackling in the fireplace.
Legend has it that there was a young girl who lived with her parents in a woodland cottage on the North Coast. Her father was a woodsman and her mother a healer who knew plants and herbs. The young girl lived a life filled with experience and lore of the forest. This particular day the young girl had been helping and visiting with her grandmother who lived in a beautiful glen deeper in the forest from her cottage along the coast. The day grew long and the young girl was preparing to return home much later than she had planned. Her grandmother suggested that she stay and go in the morning because it would soon be dark and the forest changes at night. But the young girl wanted to get back home. She wasn't afraid of the forest. She loved the forest. It is what she knew and it was where she spent much of her life. The path back to her home was a familiar trail through the forest that she had taken many times before so she decided to go along.
All day, a storm had been brewing offshore moving in from the Northwest as they often do. The young girl thought it out and, even though her grandmother warned against it, decided that she would have plenty of time to be home ahead of the storm as she had done other times.
Storms were a common occurrence in this part of the country, but there was something different about this storm. There was a sinister intensity that accompanied the storm as it reached the coast and tore inland blowing branches and tangling brush as it bullied its way along. The wind growled and moaned pushing huge black clouds blocking out the moon and stars making it so very dark that she was unable to see her way any longer. Soon the old trail she was so familiar with was gone and she was lost in the woods she loved with the unforgiving storm. As she continued on she became more confused and afraid and very, very lost.
As she stumbled through the dense woods, she remembered that if she went the wrong direction she would come to the edge of the bluffs that plunged into the rocks several hundred feet below. And as dark as it was she already couldn't see, and as confused as she was she had no idea which way to go. She was frozen with fear and began to cry. She desperately looked around praying for a hint of something familiar to orient her so she could get her bearings. But there was nothing to guide her but darkness and tangled brush and limbs . She was terrified and fought the urge to run headlong in any direction she could. As she desperately looked about she caught a slight movement in a tree ahead of her to her left. She looked again and could just barely make out that it was the face of an old man in the tree and he was smiling and beckoning with his eyes for her to come to him. She walked toward the tree and the old man disappeared, but then she saw another face several feet beyond, again indicating her to come to him. She felt a calm assurance come over her as she walked toward the tree and the old mans face. She followed the Spirit Faces through the storm and suddenly saw in the near distance a light among the trees.
When her daughter was not home by the time the storm hit the young girls mother became concerned and put the lantern in the cottage window as a beacon of safety and home. The young girl ran to the cottage and just before she reached the door, she turned and looked back into the woods from where she had come and saw an old face smile and then wink to her as if to say goodbye and be safe. The young girl waved to the old Spirit and mouthed a heartfelt thank you, then turned and opened the door to the warm safety of home.
So goes the tail of the forest Spirits, who help those in need, or at least as well as I can recall it. I am fortunate to be a carver who has been allowed to release Wood Spirits and make them available to those who would like to adopt them and give them a job to do. Wood Spirits like having something to do and they seem to enjoy watching over those who take care of them.
