Revealing the True Self: A Group Mask-Making Ritual

The elements needed for this ritual include:

• Posterboard, newspaper, water, and white flour to make a plaster-like paste, paint, glitter, feathers, sequins, colored markers, and sticks at least twelve inches long
• Music—harem music, women’s opera choruses, Eastern
• European women’s choral singing
• Butcher paper (also tape large pieces of butcher paper to the wall)
• Scarves

Whatever room you’re in, create a sacred space there. Light incense, lamps, and candles, and put on belly dancing or other women’s music.

Lay out the mask-making supplies on tables covered with butcher paper. Build a little cardboard wall between mask-making stations to create privacy so each participant feels completely comfortable in disclosing a heretofore hidden side of her sacred self. Before starting to make her mask, each woman in turn should step up to a piece of paper on the wall and state aloud the positive qualities she sees in herself. She should proclaim her affirming, esteem-boosting aspects. This should be as free-form and upbeat as possible.

After the personal statements, other women should chime in with encouraging words. It is amazing to hear the unexpected perceptions of others, and this part of the experience can be life changing. Write everything down. Each woman should then take her affirmations to her workstation. These words will be the source of inspiration for masks of power and beauty.

Next, draw a large version of the mask you envision and cut it out, making sure you have holes for your eyes, nose, and mouth. Mix the white flour and water into a thin glue. Take your newspaper, tear it into strips, and glue it onto your mask shape. Remember to create the features for your mask face, such as a long nose or a beak; use your imagination to the fullest. After it has dried a bit, you can begin shaping the mask into a curve to fit over your face, and then glue on the decorations and adornments. Now, turn up the women’s music, and with paint, glue, and glitter, create an expression of your inner and outer beauty on paper. Listen to the throbbing drums and the hypnotic beats; listen to your own inner rhythms.

Eventually, each woman will finish one or more masks. Glue a stick to the side or base of each mask so that they can be held over the face like Venetian masquerade masks. As these masks dry, dance to the music. When everyone’s masks are dry, each woman should reveal her “secret” self. She can take a turn and step out into the middle of the room, wearing a veil or scarf over her mask. Before casting off the protective veil, each woman should announce her revelatory self. An example might be: “I am the Fire Goddess” or “I am the Selkie of the Irish Coast.” I did a self-portrait mask of “Peacock Girl” that profoundly affected my life. Every time I see it, I feel reaffirmed. 

All of the beautiful, masked women should dance together to the music and raise the energy in the room. While this is taking place, the level of self-esteem in the room will skyrocket.

Our masks should be kept as totems to be worn in the event of poor self-image. Hang your mask on the wall in your bedroom or office as a constant reminder of your true and beautiful self.