Before
the invention of a spinning wheel, all spinning
had to be done by hand and it related to the sacred
rituals of fate ("spin your fate") and intent. Each
of us is an intent of our Soul, anchored in matter
of our bodies. In the same way, holding an intention
while weaving/knitting anchors that intent in the
garment. When I knit, I hold my intention as a
bridge between human and spirit world. For me
knitting is a spiritual, almost shamanic, practice.
It used to be a temple art - priests and priestesses
of ancient times used their "magic" to weave love,
healing, comfort, protection and peace into clothes
of gods/statues, royally and commoners.
This is how I
approach knitting:
- I tune into
the particular frequency which I want a garment to
represent, then make up the pattern for the loops to
follow which energetically is best suited for that
particular frequency (some are simple, others are
very complex);
- Then I find
the yarn and design the shape/style of the garment
itself, and work out how the particular pattern I
picked will fit into the garment;
- Once I am
ready to knit (everything is done by my own hands
with the help of needles only), I create an energy
bridge between the idea/frequency and the
matter/yarn, anchoring the energy pattern into the
garment through holding intent (intent is an
alignment of higher frequency idea at the "top" and
matter on the "bottom", into which that idea is
being woven).
The result is
a beautiful piece of clothing, which is not only
visually interesting and made to match a particular
person, but is also healing and helpful
energetically. Every time a garment like that is
worn, it amplifies the energy/intent/idea it was
encoded with, inside the energy system and the
physical body of the wearer.
You are
probably wondering, why Star-Cat?
Star
represents Sirius in the Dog constellation. Cat
relates to my heritage of Zahira and Sekhmet, the
feline multidimensional beings I relate to. Both
Zahira and Sekhmet are connected to the star Sirius,
hence the Star-Cat Knitting :)
History of Knitting
The history of
knitting is mostly a big mystery - and we love a
mystery, right? Because knitted things are made of
wool, silk and other natural fibers that decay
rapidly, there aren't many garments preserved from
prehistory. The earliest, historical, example of
true knitting is a pair of patterned cotton socks
found in Egypt, dating back to A.D. 1100 - a mere 9
centuries ago. But knitting is an ancient
spirit-connected technique which existed throughout
human evolution. Knitting techniques changed, became
more refined and intricate. Unfortunately over the
ages, especially when human civilizations went
through their darker times, knitting remained only
as a utilitarian efficient technique for making warm
clothes, losing its original spiritual meaning.
Knitting began
as spinning and weaving. A thread was spun and then
woven into different patterns which signified a path
of energy, following a particular intent. At first
the yearn or a thread was woven simply by hands,
then other tools were introduced to make the pattern
more complex: a frame, a hook, and a pair of sticks.
Weaving using a frame/loom resulted in different
textiles and rugs. Weaving with a help of a hook is
what we now call crochet. And weaving using a pair
of sticks, or needles, became known as knitting. In
many cultures women were the sacred weavers. In some
cultures knitting needles were also worn as hair
picks and, when needed, used as weapons.
Weaving/knitting was a sacred art and there are many
gods and goddesses of different world cultures
associated with this art.
-In
ancient Egypt goddess Neith, mother of Ra, was the
''wise weaver'' - she protected marriages, and men
in battle, she wove the bandages and funeral shrouds
for the mummified dead. Egyptian men and women,
imitating Neith, would weave as a temple practice of
intent - they held an intention for healing, or good
fortune, or pregnancy, while they wove a garment,
which then was worn by the person who needed that
help or who asked the priests and priestesses to
pray for a particular outcome.
-From Teotihuacan (Mexico) comes a legend of a
Spider Woman who ''wove the world into being''.
-In
Greece there are "Three Fates'', Moirae, who control
destiny through spinning the thread of life.
Menoan
culture of Crete speaks of Ariadne, the wife of god
Dyonisus, who spun the thread which led Theseus to
the center of the labyrinth and safely back out.
-Scandinavian tradition talks of Valkyries, the
fearless women who rode wild horses and wolfs and
chose who are to fall in battle - they spun and
woven the ''armor of protection'' for the ones who
are to live.
-There is a Baltic solar goddess called Saule, who
spins the rays of the sun. Saule-the-sun was married
to Menuo-the-moon, and they had a child Zemina-the-earth.
Menuo was unfaithful and went for Austine-Venus, but
he was punished by the Thunder god and cut in half
by the lightning. Saule divorced Menuo, but both
parents wanted to see their daughter Zemina, so
their "divorce settlement" was that Saule-the-sun
sees Zemina during the day, and Manuo-the-moon at
night. To help herself through this painful betrayal
by her husband, and later through the divorce, Saule
knitted - the wove the sun rays into light - and
this is how we, the people, came to find this world
- fertile and bright - because Saule kept her
daughter Zemina-the-earth well throughout the
divorce and afterwards :) Saule was depicted on
amber, the sun-stone, as a circle of the sun and a
spindle.
-Inca talked of Mama Ocllo, the daughter of
Viracocha and Mamacocha, who not onto discovered
Cuzco with her husband but taught all Inca women the
art of spinning thread and weaving it into garments.
-Now, remember that saying "we'll meet on the
seventh day of the seventh moon"? That comes from
China and it is about the Weaver Goddess (star Vega)
who wove stars and their light, and continuously
knitted the Milky Way into existence. She was the
daughter of Celestial Queen and Jade Emperor, but
she fell in love with a human shepherd boy
(associated with star Altair). Weaver's mother was
jealous and upset, she separated the lovers. But the
Goddess Weaver stopped weaving the stars and
knitting the Milky Way (the Silver River) which
threatened the heavens and earth with darkness and
death! And so, even though she was officially
separated from the human boy, the lovers were able
to meet once a year on the seventh day of the
seventh moon. And the Milky Way is still here,
lighting up the sky :) During the Tang Dynasty in
China, Goddess Weaver floated down on a beam of
moonlight. She showed the court officials that her
robe is seamless, woven without the use of needle
and thread. The phrase "a goddess's robe is
seamless" passed into an idiom to express perfect
workmanship.
