Many of the tools witches are known for working with today have been passed down through the great ceremonial traditions of the West. On their altars, they place swords, knives, wands, chalices, seals, and similar accouterments. Many tools found in the hands of past witches have been forgotten or forsaken. Such tools were the ones commonly found in houses or farms. Brooms, pitchforks, and wagon wheels are some examples. However, one of the greatest among them is the spindle.
Even today, the spindle holds magical connotations. Throughout all history, it has. It could be explained by the fact that the process of spinning itself looks almost magic, taking all of the loose roving and turning it into fine thread. It also could be the fact that it’s been used in magical practices for a long, long time.
Many pre-Christian cultures held spinning as something that older female deities presided over and partook in. In Greece, these were the fates. In Germanic cultures, this was Frau Holle. In Gaelic cultures, this was sometimes the Cailleach. For the Incans, this was Mama Ogllo.
Later in Christian Europe, spinning remained something that had magical potential. Mother Goose, Sleeping Beauty, The Six Swans, Rumpelstiltskin, etc. are all excellent examples of the folktales on spinning.
Folk magic in Scotland often included the use of different color threads. Some threads warded witches, some threads foretold lovers, and other threads were used to mend bones.
Spinning songs are found across many cultures, some of which ask the wheel or spindle to tell of futures to come.
Just from reading the tales, we have an understanding of the power of a spindle in the hands of a magician. Not only did it have the ability to tap fate and tell its tales, but it also had the ability to twist the shape of destiny and spin it to its master’s desire.
In Sleeping Beauty, the image of a young woman pricking her finger upon a spindle is given. Originally, this was meant as a death sentence, but it was made by the fairy to mean sleep. From this, it is to be understood that not only does the spinning of the spindle possess power, but that the spindle stick itself is a tool of fate. By pricking her finger upon a spindle, she owns to the fate that Wicked Fairy has set for her. This spell is irrevocable, but not unmovable. Just as the threads of fate, it cannot be undone once completed. It can, however, be changed as the thread continues to be spun. The Good Fairy turns this death curse into a sleeping spell, taking away its permanence and transmuting its harsh sentence. As the thread was spun further, as fate continued to move, it was spun differently.
The spinning motion itself holds importance in many magical practices, particularly when considering the direction of the spinning. Spinning a wheel, spinning a spindle, or spinning yourself in dance have been used to indicate the ‘doing’ of something, or some sort of action or change. The Long Lost Friend accounts for a spell with which the hexenmeister uses a wagon wheel to turn back thieves and make them return stolen goods by spinning it counterclockwise. Witches were said to dance Widdershins, against the spinning of the sun, when gathered. It is the counterclockwise movement which is to be used to break, unravel, or unhinge. Sunward movement, clockwise, would be used for the opposite, ie. growth, movement, and creation.
The spinning is continuous, centered movement which happens very rapidly. Using this to create threads on a spindle is the visual of creation. This movement is causing wool to be hinged upon itself, twisting into a tiny rope. As the spindle turns, it locks and knots. A piece of plied thread may also be unspun, turned in the opposite direction that it was created with. This visual holds very strongly as a symbolic act or ritual action when put into magical use.
In magic, spinning must be considered as both a means and an end. The spindle is a tool with which something is created, that something being threads which may be used for specific magical happenings. It is also the action, the doing and undoing, that can be considered magical.
When the magician utilizes the spindle for a magical purpose, the thread spun from there can be considered the physical manifestation of the spell.
If a magician wishes to heal an injury, they might use a spindle and red thread. While spinning the thread, they will sing a spell across the vibrating thread. As the strands of wool spin and knit together, so will the flesh and body spin and knit together. As the spindle turns, so does the blood run and the heart pump. And when a thread of sufficient length is made, it will be snapped off and tied around the injury to quicken the healing.
If a curse is to be made, black wool might be used, so might the hair of a black dog or cat. The thread is spun widdershins. As the spindle drops further and the thread becomes longer, it becomes like a lightning bolt descending from heaven. As it turns, so do they burn. As the thread twists, so does their fate, until the thread is released and balled into a tangled mass. This mass is dipped in wax, cooled, and left with its intended subject.
If a spirit haunts a place or threatens to do ill, the magician might use a spindle. As the thread winds and spins, so does a maze around the property and persons. As the thread turns strong with the spinning, so do the walls around you. As the thread becomes long, so does the trail to you. When a long thread is spun, it is twisted into a maze and hidden under the front stoop. Ill meaning spirits will be forced to follow the single strand and become stuck inside.
These workings should serve as small examples of spindle’s use, but not a limitation to its potential. Workings of a great magnitude might be done with a simple spindle, turning and twirling its thread.
A spindle might also be used in divination. This might be done in a few different ways.
While spinning with a drop spindle, it might be looked at as a pendulum. Its movements should be recorded as one asks a question, noticing how steady it spins or if the thread breaks or knots.
One might also break the thread off and tie a key to the end, using the creation as a pendulum to answer their question.
As a personal favorite method, a question is thought of as the diviner spins a thread. They let it wander through their head as they work with the spindle. After about a yard of thread is spun, it is cut. Then, the thread is tied on one end to something while the diviner pulls the other end taut. They will read the thread for a fate, feeling for bumps, inconsistencies, and loose spots. If the thread breaks, the fate is uneasy and not certain.
Many other methods might be made to use a spindle for magic or divination. It is a tool of great potential and one that is seemingly unassuming; that is unless the tool is made known as a tool of power.
Some practitioners draw, write, and carve symbols, spells, and incantations on the whorl of the spindle. Historical spindle whorls with words and imagery on them have been found. A practitioner might take inspiration from this and carve words of power or symbols of importance upon their spindle whorl, or even upon the spindle stick itself, to imbue it with power and set it apart from mundane usage.
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the spindle is how mundane and yet so magical it is. It should serve as a reminder that, in the past, the supernatural and the natural were not so separated. They existed on top of one another, twisted together like a thread of wool. It was the magician who could not only see them in unison, but use them in concert.
Sorcerous hands already grasp and pull at the strings of fate, but with a spindle, they may spin those strings at will.
