Did you know there are seven words for love in Greek?
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Eros: romantic, passionate love
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Philia: intimate, authentic friendship
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Erotoropia or ludus: playful, flirtatious love
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Storge: unconditional, familial love
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Philautia: compassionate self-love
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Pragma: committed, companionate love
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Agápe: empathetic, universal love
Our writing group divvied out the different words, and that was our prompt. I am blessed to have many wonderful and dear close friends, so this was a perfect type of love for me to write about…
One of the many tasks of preparation the soul makes before it comes to Earth is to choose the threads of philia. It selects from many deep hues of silk or wool or jute. It unwinds the end of each cord and pulls to release them from the reel. Then it snips and casts them off into the winds of life. There, the lengths of silk or wool or jute settle until such a time when, in beautiful synchronicity, the soul rediscovers an end and a kindred soul stumbles upon the other end. The souls pull on the thread. Maybe slowly, maybe fast. Maybe they braid or dance around a maypole. Maybe they weave or knit or crochet. Maybe they tangle in a ball and roll around in the clay of the solid earth they have manifested themselves upon.
The threads are now joined, melded together in a way that pleases and delights the end-holders. Sometimes the end-holders, the souls, get distracted. They move through the land of wonder and they get tangled in other webs and with other threads. They piece together frayed ends or pull away stray whiskers. They play with the many threads that come and go, that wash in and out with the tides of life.
But still the soul holds onto each end of the silk or wool or jute. They keep them tied to a little finger. And because they have weaved and danced and rolled with the threads, the threads have stretched. They can stretch so they can spin ten times around the world and never break. They have stretched and strengthened and stayed connected to the little fingers of the souls.
These threads are made of unbreakable, unstoppable, unsnippable spirit. They are the most valuable currency of this manifested life, of this soul playground. They are the treasure, the joy, the why. They are the holders of wisdom, the cloth that keeps you warm, the anchors that keep the soul on the ground.
Prepare your threads carefully and with abundance, dear souls, for life can be a cold and lonely place without the threads of philia.
