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Grotto of the Root Mother By Iris Sullivan Daire

December 13, 2025 – March 2, 2026

Enter the grotto of the Divine Root Mother, Madder. Her blood red roots the color of birth & death. Here the unseen world has messages for us.  We need only pause to give offerings and listen deeply. When we are grounded, anything can serve as a sign – guidance emerges from the fall of a stick, or the flight of a crow when we are connected.

The loom of destiny is here, weaving the roots of our lives – we are woven and interwoven with the souls we connect with, and the land where we stand. Each thread a choice made. 

Madder is the divine feminine – Her reds are precious. She quietly asserts what is possible when we nurture connection. When we honor the needs of all, we receive the help we need. We are never alone.

The cauldrons of our Ancestors burbled with wild madder roots, and her companions – perhaps lichen and rowen berries, perhaps alum stone and myrobalan. The Ancestors stirred their carefully spun threads into the brew over a long slow fire until red emerged. Knowing the most important mystery, the one thing on the red path that is holy, specific, and uncompromisingly clear – that Madder Red is a gift given within community, not an individual conquest. Her Red is a reflection of our interdependence.

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If you seek guidance, enter. Breathe deeply, place your hands on your heart, and on your belly, connect to the way the Earth holds you, listen for the heart rhythm of the Ocean – the pulse of the world womb -the cauldron of all creation. Feel into the miracle of it all – that you are alive in this moment, in this place. Feel the truth that you are what all of the ancestral mothers labored for – you are the spark, breath, blood and bone of their dreams. You are their love made manifest. 

The answers you seek are waiting within you. Pick up the sticks, focus on your question. Let the sticks fall from your hands, the pattern will point to what you need to know. There is no right or wrong – the oracle speaks in many ways. Give thanks for what you receive. 

Artist Statement:
Iris Sullivan Daire has been weaving since the age of 7. She is an installation artist who delights in creating spaces where we can step out of the mundane into something deeper. Using botanical colors and fibers to evoke the memory of possible futures. 

She lives in Astoria, Oregon and spends much of her time making art with the children who live near the mouth of the mighty Columbia River. 

The madder handprint cloth was made during a session of the AWE afterschool art program with children ages 3-10. It references the red ochre hand prints found globally in ancient cave art. These sites most often show the hands of women and children.