By Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway

I received an awesome gift recently. A beautifully crocheted prayer and meditation shawl created especially for me by Kay Moates of OnSlenderThreads.com. It's black with white edging, and has crystals attached at either end.

Kay is the mom of one my brides, Elizabeth, who married her beloved Matt on 5/5/05 at 5 PM in New York.

I remember her wedding so well. The Cherry Blossom leaves were gently pouring down upon us on this beautiful late afternoon in the Central Park Conservatory Garden.

It was the South Garden, also known as the Secret Garden or English Garden, where Matt and Elizabeth said their I dos.

The way they looked at each other... I cannot even put into words. They were so clearly meant to be, and their love radiated throughout Central Park. It was such a joyous experience! Magical, in many ways.

And the bride had a very cool Mom. I seem to remember Mom and the bridesmaids in special shawls that Kay had created. She told me they special spiritual qualities and blessings in them. I also remembered that Kay had bought copies of my book, A Goddess Is a Girl's Best Friend and asked me to sign them at the wedding, for all the bridesmaids.

A couple of years later, Kay reconnected with me through my colleague Cornelia Powell, who runs my column in her online magazine, Weddings Of Grace. She offered to make me one of her magical shawls. And what a gift it has been. Although she had meditation in mind, I often use it more for prayers and rituals.

Kay has created what she called "An Especially for Weddings Meditations Shawl." These make terrific and unique gifts for harried brides, bridesmaids and mothers of the bride.

She described it this way: "It is a tool for quieting one's self. Like a cocoon embracing the emerging butterfly,
this shawl will cloister the wearer as she ponders her self, her relationships, the wedding and the future. Clarity unfolds in this stillness to guide her through a rare, heart-infused Wedding Celebration of being true to herself and to those she loves."

Into each one-of-a-kind shawl are woven symbols of transformation that energize, enable and encourage the wearer will emerge radiant! Using earths fibers and stones, Kay mindfully creates tools for embodying change.

These one-of-a-kind wraps and shawls that enliven the senses and call one to quiet. In heartfull solitude, each design is knitted with intention to gentle, ground, balance, empower, refine, cocoon, or transform.

In these days of wedding craziness, it might be nice to have a little spiritual comfort from a very wise mother of the bride, Kay Moates!