There is an hour when the moon leans toward fullness and every growing thing strains upward toward the light. In that hour a cord tied with intent begins to gather what it has been told to gather.
This working reaches toward increase that stays, not the sudden windfall that scatters like sparks, but the slow tightening of a purse-string around what is earned and kept. To knot the cord is to make a vow with your own two hands, binding fortune to the rhythm of your labor and the turning of the moon.
The Working
- Wait until the moon is waxing and the house has gone quiet, and kindle one small flame to stand as your only witness.
- Draw a length of green thread slowly through oiled fingers, end to end, until it darkens like a thing well-fed.
- At one end tie the first knot, and name aloud a true source of your keeping: work, harvest, gift, or fair trade.
- Move down the cord until nine knots are tied, and with each speak a coin’s worth of what you mean to draw toward you.
- Ring a bell once above the finished cord, that the vow be heard in the quiet and answered.
- Coil it and lay it where your money passes, in a drawer, a purse, or upon the threshold shelf, and leave it untouched until the moon stands full.
- On each waxing night between, take it up and feel the nine knots beneath your thumb, that the working stay warm.
The Incantation
Nine knots I tie, nine words I keep,
let nothing loosen while I sleep.
Cord grow heavy, purse grow deep,
gather the harvest I mean to reap.
By waxing moon and steady hand,
let increase come, and let it stand.
Wear the cord near where your coin gathers, and when the knots have done their slow work, bury it at a crossroads with thanks and tie another in its place.