Knot Magic - A Secret Key to Manifesting

Looking at how knots and knot magic are a way we can unite opposites, create connections, hold things in place, store potential energy or activity and—since a knot secures things—create protection.

Transcript

Knot Magic: A Secret Key to Manifesting

I tend to think of manifesting as being similar to cooking. You gather ingredients, tools, and the necessary heating/cooling methods, then use various practices to combine them until you receive the intended result...or not. Happy accidents occur and ordering in when the accidents are not so happy has never been easier.

In alignment with our current culture, which values focused mental practices and logic, most manifesting is currently thought to be controlled by or even fully managed by setting intention. This is the basis of The Secret and A Course of Miracles as well as many other similar methods. However, there is still an interest in sympathetic magic where you call in what you desire by preparing a space for it in your life physically, emotionally and mentally. For example, if you want a specific pet you set up the house to receive them even before you do the search. Single people clear out room in the closet and at least one drawer for a significant other to put their things. Those looking for the right job prepare to move and look at the housing market in the areas most likely to have the job.

People work with activated lists to manifest things which require a certain level of complexity or granularity. Writing down all the details in a way which is respectful and lets life force energy enter into a list, converting it into an invitation/request/call-response, allows people to enhance the energy set by their intentions. This can be further strengthened by setting a crystal on the completed list, folding it and placing it in a bowl designated for manifesting, or putting it on an activated altar.

Using an altar specifically designed for manifesting a goal allows items to combine in a way similar to sympathetic magic, where each item connects with components of what is being manifested and then is interconnected with the others on the altar to radiate out into the world similar to the invitation/request/call-response of a list, but in a multidimensional and real-time manner. Adding a list to this can heighten and empower the altar even further. Altars have the added benefit of showing where there might be gaps in what or how we are asking, where things are not willing to work the way we intend, or where there is push back so things require more of our focused attention.

Often these methods I've described are used, either singly or in combination, as ingredients in a one pot/one pan meal, so to speak. Set them up, add heat, cook until done. If there is a multi-step process, this is usually imposed from outside such as having to go through 3-4 rounds of interviews for a new job or needing to spend the years and money to get a degree in your career field. 

Timing is seen the same way. Things are either "set it and forget it" such as intention work or they happen with "spiritual timing" which means events push and pull us through the process in surprising ways.

As a culture we have, over time, seemingly lost interest in the ability to finesse things by adding or subtracting energy from them at specific points, decreasing the amount of heat so things don't become overdone or increase it to seal in the goodness achieved. But the techniques and skills to do this still exist and there is plenty of recorded history showing us how to reconnect with these key manifesting practices.

One of these is knot magic. The premise is very simple, and we all learn it as children through tying our shoes: tied knots bind things together and untied knots release. Knots are a way we can unite opposites, create connections, hold things in place, store potential energy or activity and—since a knot secures things—create protection.

There's a Babylonian tablet in the British museum describing a healing spell involving knots plaited in cedar bark. Pliny the Elder (Rome 23 – 79 AD) claimed wounds healed more quickly if bound with the Hercules knot. British witches of the Middle Ages were said to stop nosebleeds or cure headaches by tying knots in red thread

Knot magic was well known in ancient Egypt; an inscription in one of the pyramids states that Isis and Nephthys work magic on Osiris "with knotted cords."

It was common for women at the time to knot fish beads into their hair to tie in health and fertility.

The Book of Coming Forth by Day, otherwise known as the Book of the Dead, also gives several examples of the magical power of the knot. In one, knots are tied around the deceased to help them come into the presence of the Deities: "The four knots are tied about me by the guardian of the sky [. . .] the knot was tied about me by Nuet, when I first saw Ma'et, when the gods and the sacred images had not yet been born. I am heaven born, I am in the presence of the Great Gods."

In Europe, rumors persisted well into the 1900's that witches would 'sell the wind' to sailors in a cord with three knots; untying the first would bring a fine breeze, the second a high wind, the third a destructive storm; this is usually told of witches 'out there'—in Scandinavia, Scotland, the Isle of Man, or Ireland—rather than at home.

In Western culture today we remember the power of knots in our wedding ceremonies. The phrase "tying the knot" derives from Roman Pagan weddings where couples would tie a knot while making vows to each other and the Gods. In Chinese ceremonies the couple will hold a knot of red and green ribbons respectively while British brides would traditionally sew knots of colored ribbons to their dresses for good luck.

It's also the basis for Reiki symbols as they are 2D knot patterns weaving energy into being and securing it in place.

One of the most recent examples of knot magic and its power was used intentionally by the show Game of Thrones. The character Daenerys Targaryen first adopts the braiding style of her family to align herself with them and demonstrate their innate power. After each victory or achievement she adds more braids and combines them in intricate patterns, all of which are a language those around her can read. At the end they become almost a helm which is both protective and too much to carry.

The power of the magical knot is in its ability to both unite and "surround" things. The tied knot is a symbol of the coming together of two things in perfect wholeness, a condition which promotes a positive outcome.

Ways to Use Knots for Manifesting

First you need to have something to tie into a knot. There is no one thing which can be used for knot magic or for manifesting, for that matter. For a rosary (prayers knotted together in a specific pattern) silk is often used. For protection in Hinduism, red cotton string is tied on the right wrist and knotted so it stays until the string frays and drops off.

You can use rope, string, cord, ribbon, shoelaces, ties from sweatshirts or whatever you prefer or is called for in your manifesting process. Usually, the thing you are manifesting will suggest what would work best.

Also, there's no one required way of knotting something which works better. However, if you want something to be permanent, you'll want to tie a secure knot. If you want to be able to easily until it to release energy, then you might want a type of slip knot or to use larger materials which are easier to untie.

Once you've got the material(s) you want to work with there are three main ways to create knot magic.

*Construction – Pick one or multiple strands of your material and for each aspect of your manifesting project, tie a knot. Keep tying knots until every aspect, part, and/or participant has been named and connected with a knot. Place your knotted piece either on an altar, on a windowsill in the sunlight, or along with other objects you are using in the manifesting process. This works well with list manifesting where you can have a knot for each item on the list, then set the knotted piece on top of the list either in a manifesting bowl, on an altar, or under a crystal. You can use the knotted piece as a resting place for the crystal, for that matter.

*Force multiplier – As we've all experienced with small but persistent children, repeating something over a longish period of time without pause not only gets our attention, but the impact of each repetition increases in impact exponentially. Which is languaged well by the term "I'm at the end of my tether" which is a knotted rope connecting two or more things, in this case a human with their sanity. To increase the strength and amplitude of whatever energy/request you are using for manifesting, you can use a length of knottable material and recite the request as you tie a knot. Traditionally this is done in numbers which are valued by the culture or the process such as 3, 7, 9, or 12, but you can do as many as you wish. Then place the knotted piece somewhere which makes sense for the manifesting process. You can wear it, put it on the windowsill, place it on top of a list or on an altar, whatever works best for you.

*Storage – Like witches who would give sailors knots full of wind, energy can be worked into knots to be used at a later date or prepared ahead of time. Manifesting, like cooking, is a creative act which requires the person to use themselves as the medium for this new thing to come into the world. Onions don't chop themselves, they require the limb/eye coordination of the human to get it there even if this is just that human buying them prechopped at the store. So, sometimes it's helpful to set things up when we have spare time and energy therefore, we don't have to worry about them on the day. Like knotting prayers into the fringe of a prayer shawl which you then hang in your yoga spot. Or the wisdom and love of a parent which can be knotted into ribbons as a gift for their child when it is their turn to become a parent.

Like with cooking, there are as many manifesting goals and ways to achieve them as there are cooks for the kitchen. And as much as each prefers to think of their way is best, each of us has our own path to travel and is allowed to weave together the means to do so however it works best for us. Knot magic is a hidden ingredient which can be key for cooking up a more integrated and interconnected life. Try it out in your practice...or kitchen.