#knot magic

[breelandwalker]

For my fellow fibre arts witches, if you're starting to get the Annual Cold Weather Fidget, that driving urge to reach for hooks and needles and that big bin of spools and fabric lurking in your closet....

If you feel like Doing A Witchcraft, you can work some witchy into whatever you're making. Weaving, crocheting, knitting, nalbinding, stitching, embroidery, and knotwork can all carry magic and serve as a vehicle for creating spells, sigils, talismans, or enchanted wearables.

Am I saying you can put a spell into that pair of socks you're knitting? That scarf you've been working on? That pile of granny squares waiting to become a blanket? That cross-stitch piece you've been meaning to finish?

ABSOLUTELY.

There are even books on knot magic, witchy crochet and knitting patterns, and beautifully spooky cross-stitch and embroidery pieces. (And lots more downloadable patterns exist on etsy and fibre arts forums!) Perfect for chilling with your favorite hot beverage and current binge-watch while you keep your hands from getting bored.

Go forth and have fun with it!

[altargarden]

want to get into magic that involves crocheting so badly

[nile-the-empathy-cleric]

Putting my anthropology degree to good use and compiling a bunch of credible sources documenting real life Balkan folk magic traditions in one easy, convenient article!

I know so many sources about witchcraft are inaccessible and or culturally appropriative, so I did a lot of research and wrote this easy to digest article covering some basics of South Eastern European folk belief. I’m thinking of writing more articles about various European folk traditions (when I have time!) so this will be an ongoing project. I hope you learn something new and meaningful to incorporate into your craft 💗

An Introduction to Balkan Folk Magic

Like many old world practices, traditional Balkan magic has historically been carried out by cunning folk, healers and seers who were gifted in communicating with the “other world”. These community healers practiced generational family knowledge, remedies and prayers passed down from elders. It is important to note that most cunning folk did not view themselves as witches, rather they were seen as conduits for god’s miracles. Within a historical context, these practitioners very much considered themselves Christian, Muslim, or Jewish. Elements of paganism lingered in many rural regions, though they were absorbed into the social-religious fabric of the day. Rituals performed by cunning folk were typically protective, either preventative or as a treatment for supernatural maladies. Spells shielded people from harm, physically or spiritually.

Many of these traditional healers and diviners were women. They passed down knowledge to their daughters, granddaughters, and nieces. Men weren’t barred from practicing, it was just rarer for them to perform these rituals. These traditions are often tied to the family, home, or the community. Many magical rituals shared common themes, but were often specific to a singular family. The women who performed these rituals and divined their neighbors’ futures are known as bajalica, bajanje, basmara, bajarica, or bajaluša — or “conjurers that heal with words.” Bajalica and those they helped held the belief that spirits have the power to afflict illness, charms, and hexes. Bajalica are the mediators between the spirit and human worlds.

In Serbian folk belief, each family has their own protective spirit or slava. Families would celebrate them with dedicated rituals in which they made offerings of bread, sacred water, wine, and oil, as well as lighting incense and sacred candles. These spirits or saints are associated with the hearth, the heart of the home, which is considered the most sacred ritual space. During healing rituals bajalica call upon the slava, drawing and channeling their power to strengthen spells. These spells typically involve a verbal component, whispered incantations that call upon saints and spirits for help in casting evil away. These verbal formulas are highly specific to each bajalica, often times mumbling well remembered words to rid patients of their misfortune.

Spiritual afflictions are found through various means of divination, digging for the root cause. Divination has long been used to predict the fates of those who seek out the conjurers. These methods include reading tarot, casting beans and interpreting patterns (also known as favomancy), molybdomancy (casting and reading molten lead), reading tea leaves and coffee grounds, and gazing into copper bowls filled with water beneath the moonlight and interpreting patterns in the reflection. Divination was and is, the main way to discover the root of “spiritual sickness”, who hexed whom, if one was afflicted with the evil eye, the urok. Much of Balkan folk belief centers around protection from the evil eye, with the majority of spells dedicated to banishing or warding.

Various regions and countries have their own means of protecting oneself from the evil eye. In Albania people use dordolec, house dolls, that are elaborately dressed and displayed in gardens or atop homes to protect against the malicious urok. In modern times most dordolec are stylized scarecrows or stuffed animals, but the intent is the same. It is believed that the doll reflects the covetous gaze back on the perpetrator and shields the home’s inhabitants. Other amulets in Albania, Serbia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, and various Balkan countries are dried snake heads between two holy medals made of silver, objects made of iron, cloves of garlic, the hand of Fatima or hamsa, and the nazar.

Again, most rituals heavily focus on protection magic — not just from the evil eye, but malevolent spirits as well. Bajalica will employ the ritual use of knives, broom whisks, sickles, and axes in healing and warding spells. Though these are physical implements, they are tokenistic, a form of sympathetic magic. Knives and other sharp implements are used symbolically, cutting away illness and curses from the spiritual self by slashing bowls of water or the air around the afflicted person in increments of 3 or 9. These are considered sacred numbers. After the symbolic cuts are made, the water is spilled at a crossroads away from the home. This leads the evil away from the community.

Healing rituals have many intricate components. Conjurers often employ various herbs in healing and blessing water such as basil, thyme, oregano, Saint John’s-wort, sage, and mugwort. Other healers might cleanse spaces and energies with a smoke bath made of similar herbal blends. Not only do healers use ritual tools, they often perform physical acts, such as performing knot magic and binding spells using colorful yarn. The yarn is typically red, black, or white. White yarn is used in healing rituals, red in binding magic and love spells, and black is used in binding as well — though it is sometimes used for darker, malicious purposes.

The folk practices of South Eastern Europe are heavily entrenched in doing acts of good. Healers serve their communities, curing ailments and casting protective spells. Many of these traditions still exist in some capacity and are practiced equally among Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Balkans. Though many of the rituals have a religious faith based element, they can be adapted to secular, agnostic, or polytheistic belief systems. These practices date back hundreds of years and by choosing to incorporate them into your craft, you are helping keep rich and beautiful traditions alive.

(sources available at the end of linked article)

[delightingintragedy]

Ocean Banishment Knot Spell

"What ever it was that required banishment, be it an illness or some other undesirable situation, a knot charm could be employed by tying knots, as many as there are troubles, or aspects to the trouble, into rope, cord or string, and touch these each to the thing to be banished, or a symbol thereof. The knot charm is then taken to the shore where it is buried at the mark of low water. The operator will then walk away and must not look back or catch sight of the spot for at least twentyfour hours."

Wisht Waters by Gemma Gary, pgs. 99-100

[thesorceresstemple]

[feral-space-faerie]

I published my first pattern on Ravelry and Ribblr! I went with one of my staples, an oversized hood. Meet the Sprightly Hood! (Links below the cut)

IT'S FREE BTW

[thewitchywitch]

Quick Witch Tip 5

Use friendship bracelets as an advanced form of knot magic. Each knot seals the intention into the bracelet and you can use colour magic in conjunction with this to really layer up your intentions

[wandering-wizardry]

Question for my fellow witches

I've been having really bad nightmares lately and I rather sick of them. I was thinking about weaving them into a catnip mouse while I crocheted it and then giving said mouse to my cat. My rational is that it will trap my nightmares in something that will then get the shit beat out of it.

Thoughts?

[friend-crow]

Paper Bead Magic

So a week or so ago I got the idea of making paper beads and hiding sigils inside them. I figured I could combine sigil and knot magic to accomplish various things.

Listen, I'm not a photographer, and I'm using a free phone that came with a prepaid plan, which really doesn't help.

It's easy enough to find tutorials online for paper beads, so I'm not going to make one, though I will put some tips I figured out under the cut at the end. I thought I'd mostly talk a bit about how you might use them.

This craft was largely inspired by the various uses of the many different types of prayer beads (I believe this is the umbrella term, but correct me if I'm wrong), but there are plenty of other things you could do with them.

Make them with sigils that correspond to your purpose and string them together with related knot spells, then:

hang the beads around your door(s), or wear them for protection

incorporate them into a pre-bed meditative ritual, then hang them over your bed before you go to sleep to help with lucid dreaming, remembering dreams, spirit communication, etc.

use them for trance work (repetition can be a great way to achieve a trance state)

make devotional jewelry for whatever deities you work with

use them like worry beads, for relaxation or to ease the urge to do addictive behaviors

Things I learned through trial and error:

To get nice round beads I found that I needed pretty thick paper (I ended up painting bristol board with watercolors and metallic paint)

If you do use something as thick as bristol board, you will end up with white edges showing (assuming the paper is white), so consider painting them if that bothers you

Tutorials I read suggested sealing them with mod podge or similar glue. I ended up using glazing medium for extra shine, and because I already had some

This took much, MUCH longer than estimated in the tutorials -- be patient!

[followingtheladyofthesacredflame]

who was gonna tell me knot magic and using yarn and beads in spellwork was so fun???? am i just late to this??? I'm gonna need to pick up knitting needles again, aren't i? any knot magic recommendations for me?

[breelandwalker]

Got into knitting recently and was wondering about spells/rituals/meditations/etc that could be done with that. Would that be a kind of knot magic? Should I look more into that first?

Absolutely! Knitting, crocheting, sewing, nalbinding, weaving, embroidery...all of these things can be potential vehicles for spellwork, if you wish to do so.

I'm a crocheter myself, and I find that the steady pace and stitch-counting for whatever pattern I'm working on is very soothing and also lends itself well to magic. When I sit down to make something that I want to put a spell into, I try to focus on (or at least keep in mind) the magical intention I'm going for and anchor it with the stitches every few rows. I'm sure knitting would work along the same lines.

There are at least half a dozen books out there with suggestions and project patterns for crocheted or knitted witchy crafts. I've gotten a few good ideas from Brandy Williams' "Cord Magic" (although admittedly I'm just starting to get into that particular branch of magic). "Fiber Magick" by Opal Luna is on my TBR and it looks like it has a lot of good reviews. There's also a book called "Dark & Dramatic Mosaic Crochet" that I want to get purely for the patterns.

[noctivague]

Ancient Greek & Roman Knot Magic - Part. 1

Some quotes from "Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds : a sourcebook" by Daniel Ogden

Decided to break down this post into multiple ones because the quotes are too damn long.

Writing these research down on my blog because I'm interested in the mechanism/logic behind these things.

Tongue binding :

"See! An old woman of many years sits among the girls. She will perform the rites of Tacita, "the Silent One", although she scarecely keeps silent herself. With three of her fingers she places three pieces of incense under a threashold, exploiting the secret run a mouse has made for itself. The she binds enchanted threads together with dark lead and turns seven black beans over in her mouth. She roasts on a fire the sewn-up fish head, which she has sealed with pitch and pierced with a bronze needle. She also drips wine over it. She drinks the leftovers of the wine with her companions, but she herself drinks the greater part. As she leaves she proclaims "We have bound the tongues of our enemies and hostile mouths." With that the old woman goes off drunk. Fasti, Ovid

(will add the link later, expect the next one sometime tomorrow)

Part 2 - To bring back a lover

Part 3 - More love magic (two quotes)

Part 4 - Amulets

[grimoiregradient]

The Tangle Spell

An uncrossing, sort of, and a road opener, sort of.

Useful when you have gotten into bad habits, negative self talk, and general negative thought patterns.

First, you will need

Paper and Pen

Several colored ribbons or yarn, one color for each major thought pattern you would like to change

One plain/white cord or yarn

Make a list of the thoughts you would like to change, for example, my list went something like this:

"I hate my body"

"I'm tired all the time"

"I'm lazy"

"I neglect myself"

"I'm jealous"

Choose a colored ribbon or yarn for each of these thoughts. Try to focus on the most negative ones that impact your daily life, though really you may do as many as you like, it just becomes difficult to keep track of.

Make a list of corresponding thoughts you wish to replace the previous ones with. For example, mine were:

"I love my body"

"I am full of energy"

"I am proactive and motivated"

"I take care of myself"

"I am full of love for others"

Now.

Take your ribbons and tie, knot, and tangle them as much as you possibly can. Keep tangling. When you feel like you're done, tie some more. Then after that, knot it up a little more. The more tangled it is, the more work it takes to undo, the more thorough the spell will be. As you do this, whisper in each of these thoughts, over and over as you work until its finished. Focus very hard on tying your negative mindset into each knot.

Immediately move on to the next step. Do not allow your tangled thoughts to sit there unattended.

As you untangle each knot, loudly speak or even sing your new replacement thoughts until each and every one is free and untangled, allow yourself to feel relief as each one is undone. Focus on your progress. Be proud of yourself along the way. And feel the negativity dissapate.

Finally, take each ribbon and tie to your cord like so:

As you attach each one, tie the corresponding positive thought into each final knot. Place this on your altar or in your bedroom where it will be around you, and allow it to be a reminder of your new mindset.

[w00dw1tchold]

A pretty good outline to base your knot magic off of! Witches ladders as a whole are also really interesting. Always remember you can alter a lot of stuff to fit you better, spells included.

[thesorceresstemple]

coquette omen

[notthesomefather]

I'm feeling drawn towards knot magic--I feel like this would be a good way to either honor or invoke Frigg. I'm very new to it and have no idea where to start, but this blog seemed like a good resource!

If anyone has other recommendations, or if anyone wants to share their experiences with knot magic, please share x0x