Materials Library
The Shifting States Materials Library explores materials and their inherent meanings, offering a way to think about material as more than just a medium. By engaging with materials intuitively, creative practice can support you through periods of change, uncertainty, and transition. This library is designed to help you work with material meaning as a grounding, reflective tool as you navigate life’s more difficult moments.
Material Type
Symbolic Meanings
- absence
- alchemy
- amplification
- Ancestry
- boundaries
- care
- clarity
- comfort
- connection
- depth
- emotional support
- endurance
- flexibility
- flow
- grief
- grounding
- growth
- healing
- identity
- impermanence
- intention
- journey
- legacy
- love
- memory
- patience
- place
- presence
- preservation
- protection
- purity
- release
- renewal
- residue
- resilience
- ritual
- self discovery
- shadow
- softening
- stability
- strength
- survival
- thresholds
- time
- transformation
- transition
- truth
- warmth
Avocado
Life held quietly within / inner growth
Water
Holding and letting go simultaneously.
Rope / Twine
Tying things together with intention.
Leather
Leather symbolises endurance and the passage of time through the body.
Iron
Firm structure and clear edges.
Cotton
The ordinary made tender and meaningful.
Obsidian
Facing what lies beneath the surface.
Willow
Soft strength through sorrow.
Sand
Countless moments held together.
Copper
Conductive energy and emotional flow.
Dandelion
Letting go and beginning again.
Hematite
Hematite is a dense, iron-rich stone associated with grounding and physical presence.
Charcoal
The material left after fire—the truth of what remains.
Wool
Soft protection and embodied warmth.
Oak Gall
Writing with the material of protection and history
Flint
Strength and transformation
Beeswax
Preservation and change shaped by touch.
Elder
A guide through liminal moments.
Sea Glass
Hard edges softened by time and tide.
Linen
A material of ritual care and gentle clarity.