In many ancient cultures, weaving symbolized for many how the cosmos and life were composed. Weaving is the work of creation, of creation. When a weave was clash, the weaver sipped the thread and expressed her blessing. This is similar to the midwife who cuts the umbilical cord after birth. Or the life course of people who always know an end. This symbolism itself is still used in some contemporary cultures.
Weft and warp
The warp on a loom stands for the vertical drawn thread, which can be compared with the levels of existence and the connection between. The warp thus stands for the eternal and immutable, the forma .
The weft is the horizontal line, or the one that is woven. These lines represent time and space, the causal and temporary, or the matter .
Weft and warp make a cross movement with each thread, which in turn stands for the uniting of opposing parts. The gathering of form and matter, the female and the male. Similarly, the colors used in the weaving can also be symbolized. Colors always find their origin in the four elements, which in turn also represent a more feminine or masculine energy. On a cosmological level, weaving stands for connecting or uniting different realities or layers of consciousness.
Expids insight
When we relate weaving to faith, we often see that (divine) weavers are also often the ones who get drunk prophetic gifts. Thus it were the Greek fates who spun and weaved everyone's thread of life into what was meant to represent a life for each.. In Norwegian mythology, a similar concept was known to the Greeks, called Norns. Another species was known in Albania, where they were called birth fairies, think of the three fairies from the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. They also came along with future prophecies, which they weaved with the newborns.
Also the Great Mother can be connected with weaving. She is the cosmic spider that shapes the thread between man and cosmos. She weaves the pattern of the world and incorporates the people associated with it. And what goes for the Great Mother, also applies to all Mother Goddesses. So also for the Mother Goddess Frigga, who through her weaving had insight into the cosmology of life. Also the spider coil is an attribute of all Mother Goddesses, moon goddesses and weavers of fate. They are its third aspect; this third and black aspect represents death and rebirth, for the future both in present life, and the next.
Looking into the past, present and future requires a broader mind or cosmic consciousness. From this state it is possible to start shamanizing, explaining dreams, evoking ancestral spirits,.... Weaving can be seen as a way of connecting to the cosmos or calling up the expanded consciousness, in which one can see more than what is happening in the present. It is also an if/then story, once the thread is woven, it is fixed and will support the next (or just not). This symbolizes the causal cause and effect pattern. Or what others dare to call fate.
Hidden treasures
Often important moments of life were also symbolized in clothing that was made for that moment. Moments such as birth, menstruation, marriage or death were woven or embroidered as a message in all kinds of handicrafts. When a woman from agricultural societies marries in patriarchal times, she moves to the husband's house. Then she brought with her an extensive dowry of textile rugs that were often made before her by many generations of mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers. In the linen closet lay her mobile treasure; and there you can now find a treasure trove of ancient goddess symbols stored...
Much of this folk art is now passed on from generation to generation, which sometimes shows that a transferred garment, carpet or blanket contains more meaning than one might think at first.
