A confusion is a tangle, and a tangle is only a knot that has forgotten it can be loosed.
This working reaches toward the untangling of a muddled question by giving it to the hands, which are patient where the head is not. Bind the confusion into the thread, then work it free knot by knot, and the answer will loosen along with it.
The Working
- On a waning night, when all things are meant to lessen and unbind, take a length of plain, undyed thread the span of your two arms.
- Ring your working-place with a thin line of salt, to keep the confusion from wandering.
- Speak your tangled question into the thread, then tie it full of knots — one for each snag and doubt — until it is a small hard mess in your hand.
- Set it down and ring a bell once, clear, over the knotted thread.
- Then, slowly, loose the knots one by one, and with each one freed speak aloud one plain thing you know for certain about the matter.
- When the thread hangs straight and smooth, ring the bell a last time and speak the incantation.
- Wind the freed thread loosely and keep it until the question has fully answered itself.
The Incantation
Knot by knot the trouble tied,
knot by knot it comes undone.
What was tangled, lie you straight,
what was clouded, come you clear.
Bell to open, bell to close,
and the thread run true between —
loosed, and loosed, and loosed at last.
The hands teach the head their patience; when the last knot falls, the answer is most often already lying open in your palm.