4 Lessons from Carpentry

Building under a Master Carpenter and working amongst the forces of Nature in the Appalachian Mountains this past year gave me the creative Masculine teachings my soul needed.

In a chapter out of my own Surrender Experiment, this opportunity was a massive pattern interrupt to my regular scheduled programming of attempting to create outside the realms of any real structure.

Along with some old wounding, I held a belief that structure is limiting to creative expression.

Boy was I off.

In any creative pursuit, a structure is required otherwise nothing can grow.

Carpentry is the Masculine science to the creative act. It is the science of building wooden structures. The principles of carpentry can be used in building any structure because they work with Nature’s principles.

Here are 4 lessons I learned:

1. Numbers and Geometry are the underlying Masculine structures of Nature.

They are the bones. Numbers are strong, sturdy, orderly, and never change. The geometry of the line marks boundaries in space that the mind naturally understands. We can work with numbers and geometry to help ground our own creative energy because of how defined, stable, and real they are.

2. Respect Water, Respect the Feminine.

When building a house, an immense amount of respect is given to water because of how destructive it can be when it is not contained and directed appropriately through the house. A leak can erode the integrity of the structure and it can also wreak havoc on any energy system. Water is only allowed to come into the house through 1 entrance: the main water line… if it enters the house in any other way, it’s a problem.

3. Stability in Nature comes from the right angle.

The square 📐 is the most important tool in carpentry, because it is used to determine right angles and ultimately, the stability of a structure. The square is what creates the lines for strong, stable physical structures to be built. Energetic strength comes from aligning ourselves and our projects with the architecture of Nature.

4. Tools are to be used with respect and presence.

In the same way a skill saw can cut your arm off if you aren’t paying attention… our modern-day tools of phones, computers and all the other pieces of technology at our disposal can erode the power of the human mind if they aren’t used with presence and awareness.