God's Eye

(For Litha)

Materials:

• 2 wooden dowels
• Yarn

Directions:

Your dowels can be of any length depending on what size you want the end product to be, but a good size would be about 8 to 12 inches. The yarn can be of any color, but if this is to be used for midsummer decoration, match the color with the intention, using yellow, red, white, or even green, something to symbolize the highest power of summer. A good idea is to get one of those mulitcolored yarns that fade from one color to the next; one that fades between shades of yellow to white and back is perfect. Now place one of the dowels on top of the other so that they make an equilateral cross, and start wrapping the yarn around their middles in a little X. Keep wrapping, alternating over each "shoulder" of the horizontal dowel, until they are reasonably steady and holding together without your support. Then, clockwise, wrap the yarn around each dowel in turn, making a single loop and continuing to the next. As you continue the process, the pattern will spread outward from the center, resembling an eye in a way. Keep pushing the yarn down on the dowels so that it does not look loose or have any spaces in between each layer. When the God's Eye is as large as you want it, you can end it by wrapping the string tightly around the top dowel and tying it off in a loop. This can be hung if you like, or placed in a picture frame holder or support apparatus to display on a table. As a variation, you can actually tie it off well before you are finished and insert a different color if you prefer.

Ritual use:

A God's Eye is a very old craft that has been made since antiquity, and eyes were always a focus of superstition and holiness in the old days. The God's Eye craft can be regarded in a ritual as representing the God's vision upon you, or to represent, in more simple terms, the sun itself. Drinking a toast to the sun's highest power on midsummer, regarding the Eye, is a possible use.