Saturday, August 21, 2010

The Mitzvah Of The Twisted Cord

Ki Teitzei

גְּדִלִים, תַּעֲשֶׂה-לָּךְ, עַל-אַרְבַּע כַּנְפוֹת כְּסוּתְךָ
you shall make twisted cords upon the four corners of your covering ... Devarim 22:12

The "four corners" (east-west-north-south) of the witch's altar is represented by four points of the pentagram within a pentacle. From my blog Craftwork of a Jewitch, the "four corners" in the pentacle may be laid out like directions on a compass as follows:



The "up" point on the pentacle is unitive in nature. The "down area" on the pentacle is multiplicative in nature. Thus, a "twisting cord" within the context of a "four-cornered garment" seeks to create unified multiplicity within multidimensional space, as does the Shema prayer of Judaic tradition. This is true as it pertains to the Torah phrase at the top of this entry and to the witch's altar, which in addition to it's "four corners" as previously described, has a twisted cord adorning it called a witch's altar ladder. Whereas the compass directions are a fact of nature, the witch's altar ladder is handcrafted and hand made, as are many tzitzyot.

Here are some handcrafted twisted cords, also known as witch's altar ladders, available for purchase at WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu.