Welcome to Ra’s Spiral Path

The Website of Sarah J Batchelder

Woven raven over a mountainside
A small portion from “Ancestors Calling” (2025)

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 weave tapestries and baskets made from discarded wires and often use repurposed items and upcycled textiles in my work. I also weave belts on an inkle loom, triangles on a triangle loom, and am learning some other looms.

I offer local personalized instruction on tapestry and inkle looms for those in the Tucson area. Please contact me here if you are interested.

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.
A pulled warp tapestry of a Sonoran mountain kingsnake woven by Sarah Batchelder

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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  • Early “retirement”

    Early “retirement”

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    It was bittersweet to receive this lovely card from one of the admin departments last week for hitting 15 years with my organization. Three of those years were as an intermittent librarian, as I also worked at the Arizona Health Sciences Library as an information associate while going to school. When I finally got the…

  • In the middle of the night

    In the middle of the night

    I woke to the sounds of laughter and screaming.A group of raucous teenagers walking down the road?NoA pack of coyotes was singing in front of the house.I popped out of bedWith a joyous heartHoping to catch a glimpse of themFrom the window.My nervous dog followedAnd I didn’t want her barking.Cautiously, I peered out the windowBut…

  • There is so much

    There is so much

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    in

    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.

  • The Pangs of June 2022

    The Pangs of June 2022

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    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…

  • Dog loss

    Dog loss

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    in

    I buried my dog’s ashes yesterday. Outside next to the succulents, where she had already started a small hole:

  • Old, Old Earth Magick

    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.

  • Long Distance Running

    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…

  • Reframing Mondays: It’s the Economy, Stupid

    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…

  • Big Journey

    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…

  • Happy Poetry Month!

    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.

A close up of wolf eyes from a tapestry woven by Sarah Batchelder.