Welcome to Ra’s Spiral Path
The Website of Sarah J Batchelder
Writer < Weaver > Storyteller
Writer, Weaver, and Storyteller
Weaving words and wisdom
Intuitive Tapestry Weaver
I can keep big pictures and stories in mind, while refining details.
Lifelong Learner
As a mother of a tween, educational specialist, and former children’s librarian, I strive to make learning fun.
Copy Editor and Writer
Words matter. And how they are presented matters as well.
Solution Oriented DIY’er
I practice by doing and experimenting and accept failure as a part of the learning process.
Maker of Quirky Items
I find joy in the strange and weird. Do you too? I now have a POD store.
Brewer, Gardener, Hiker
I reclaim ancient knowledge, spaces, and ways to connect with previously hidden ancestral paths.
Writer
I have written in many types of formats – academic, informational, and fictional. I once wrote a rhyming play about the summer reading program where I worked and performed it with a coworker and puppets to an elementary school. The kids loved it.
My portfolio can be found here.
Weaver
I primarily weave tapestries and baskets made from discarded wires and often use repurposed items and upcycled textiles in my work. I am also learning how to use other types of looms – rigid heddle, inkle, and a Swedish counterbalance floor loom.
Moon Views
- Woven in 2023 in Jamesport, NY
- My first completed circular weaving
- Selected for a group exhibition in 2025
Ancestors Calling
- An experimental pulled warp tapestry
- My weaving almost always include repurposed materials.
- I honor my planet and her life forms in the materials I choose to work with.
Sylvia Snake
- A pulled warp tapestry woven in three parts – head, middle, and tail.
- Sylvia is a Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake.
- Her retractable tongue is made from cable wire.
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There is so much
Happening in my life right now. It’s overwhelming. I’m trying to remember to be kind to myself. Take more time for breath work. Snuggle. And to try to appreciate the beauty that appears suddenly in front of me.
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The Pangs of June 2022
I, like many American women, am having some difficulties processing everything spewing from SCOTUS these days….. My ability to focus is not where I would like it to be and my writing has been very short and erratic bursts meant only for journals – not for sharing. So I have been experimenting with haiku. The…
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Old, Old Earth Magick
One of Earth’sOldest magicks Are wise womenWho sprout like weedsThroughout generations.Churches and powersCan try to control and exterminate them thru radical means.Yet even disconnectedFrom Ancestral Knowledge,These women will sprout and grow into the Collective WisdomTo tend, nourish, heal,And start spreading…Rhizomes ready, Seeds scattered Everywhere.Blown by the windSavored by soilWe find our wayTo Mother EarthAnd Know.
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Long Distance Running
My son is sick todayPhysically sick – with a cold. He’s eightAnd he willingly did a Covid test last nightA table is turnedAnd slow progress is made.(In the pastCovid tests were dreaded,Whined about, andNever done willingly.)After swabbing his noseHe needed a tissueTo wipe his tearsHe explained thatIt didn’t hurtBut ratherFelt weirdAnd made his eyes waterThe…
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Reframing Mondays: It’s the Economy, Stupid
Monday morning againAnd I’m wonderingWhat if all the working womenWe’re honest with their familiesAnd stopped trying to do it allOr even half of itMaybe it’s just me…But I doubt itMy son tells me repeatedly How muchHe doesn’t want to go to schoolHe doesn’t want to listen To reason or think aboutAnyone else’s perspective.And after a…
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Big Journey
While chatting on the phoneWith an old friendThis past weekendShe told me that myJourney was BigRight nowRevelations:ADHD and Ancestry.Relatives found on both sides.Sleuthing skills activated.Connections made.Back doors found.People I want to meetPeople I am unsure ofDo I want this?Is it too late to back out?Why would I want to?I have always strived to be brave.And…
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Happy Poetry Month!
I finally got around to switching out the kids display at my library last week and made a poet tree with leaves for adding poems.
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The Truth in Dreams
I have wondered about my ancestrySince I was a teenSelf consciously learning aboutThe worldAnd my place in it.I’ve had Ancestor DreamsSince my twentiesThat include:An alien father With swirling blue eyes That matched his cloak.A Grandfather CoyoteWith slicked black hairAnd sunglasses -Strutting his stuffAcross the streetIn style.AlsoA small, leathery grandmotherFrom the Andes.She has a huge smile…
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Life Story: Lies and Truths in America
I’ve been asked if I am Italian.I’ve been asked if I am Mexican.I’ve been asked if I am Spanish,Native American, Greek.I have never been asked if I am AfricanOr part African.And why would I?I don’t look at all African(with the possible exception of Egyptian.And I do have 1% DNA from Mali)And yet this is the…
Ra's Spiral Path 