A promise spoken aloud can be argued away by morning. A promise tied into thread stays tied, whatever the tongue later claims.
As the moon grows fuller each night, so this working means the courage in you to swell rather than wane. Each knot is a word of the vow made flesh, drawn taut so it cannot slip. When your nerve fails you, your hand will find the cord and remember the shape of what you swore.
The Working
- Choose a length of strong thread the colour of dried blood or deep earth, and lay it across a scatter of salt to cleanse it of old fear.
- Under the waxing moon, hold one end and speak the first word of your vow, a single word, plain and true.
- Tie a knot upon that word, pulling it as tight as your fingers allow, until the thread bites.
- Speak and tie again, and again, until you have set seven knots and spoken seven words that together make your promise.
- Test the cord with a firm pull; if any knot gives, cut it away and set it fresh, for a slack vow is no vow at all.
- Wind the finished cord about your wrist or loop it through your belt, where your hand can reach it without thought.
- Each night until the moon is full, draw the cord taut once and repeat your seven words beneath your breath.
The Incantation
Seven words and seven knots,
pulled through the doubt and the weak-kneed thoughts.
What the tongue swore, the hand holds fast,
tight to the first knot, tight to the last.
Grow with the moon and do not fray;
I have tied my courage, and it will stay.
When the full moon comes, the vow is set and the working is done. Keep the cord; its knots will hold long after you have forgotten you were ever afraid.