inspiration

My family is used to carry stones with them. I never knew all my father's siblings and also his dad had always carried a stone as their talisman. They chose their stone based on a nice shape or colour. They believe that if your stone is broken or it gets lost, it has lost all its powers and you don't need it any more.

Define a relation of disruption where you want to invest

I'm having a boyfriend since the 4th grade in high school. We both started studying in a different place. For my this all worked out well, but my bf has troubles finding the right thing to do for him.

After he quit two studies his self confidence got less. He is still trying to find the right purpose for his life. Sometimes I wish I could help him with this, but the only thing I can do is to give him the love, trust and space that he needs to get to know himself.

I find it difficult to be there for him, since I'm living in Rotterdam and he is living in Friesland.

That's why I would like to create a ritual that shows my support from a distance of 200 km.

Human Emotional Needs

Accepted
Believed in
 Competent
Confident
Free
 Listened to
 Loved
 Respected
 Safe 
Supported
 Trusted
 Understanding
 Valued

Map out unbalanced, damaged stories / memories

His situation is out of balance, and I want to improve that by showing support, since I cannot help him as a designer in a therapeutic way...

...For people that don't have the control over their lives and who are getting to know themselves.

Develop a narrative arc and purpose for your ritual

The purpose of my ritual will be to show love, trust, support and be connected over a far distance.

For this ritual I could chose to give a stone, since that is related to my family. But since he is not very spiritual (aka nuchtere fries) he might not believe in the powers of a stone.

Therefore I'm looking for something that he would attach more value too. According to Tina, you can also do this by relating it to his interests.

He is a true Frisian, he loves sailing. His family is sailing. He lives on a characteristic place of Friesland, the dike, the protection against the water.

Sailing metaphor?

When sailing, you use knots, there are a lot of them.
A ritual with a sailing knot. What could that mean?
Knots have a lot of different symbolic meanings.

I had a conversation with my aunt about my ritual. She told me about a ritual that she has created herself.

As I already said, my family has something with stones. They carry them with them as a talisman. My aunt tells that she once got a very big stone from her dad (pake). In the meantime my grandpa past away. My aunt uses this stone to give other people a little talisman. When she meets a person that is special to her, she chops off a piece from the big stone. She told me she already did this like 5 times.

A friend of her made a pilgrimage. She gave her a piece of the stone for goodluck with her journey. Her friend left the piece of stone at the end destination.

This story inspired me to do something like this.

The ritual of my aunt

Celtic knot symbolism

If you’ve even heard about the Celts then you’ve probably seen a Celtic knot before. The Celts were highly spiritual people. They were pagan and worshiped many different gods and goddesses. They were also very close to nature. Unlike most of the developed countries in today’s world, the Celts took proper care of the earth. They wanted to help it the best that they could, rather than hurt it.

This could be why many of the Celtic symbols have a rather organic meaning. The Celtic knot does not deviate from this pattern. The Celtic knot symbolized the mystic and magical, as well as the plain and simple. The cycles of life and death were a common meaning of the Celtic knot. The knot can also represent infinity since they never break; an infinite earth or nature is another common theme. Other general meanings are luck, belief and longevity.

In Europe the knot symbol was usually used as a sign of love. The knot was commonly used in depictions of romantic love. Knots were sometimes used in marriage ceremonies to “tie” two people together, and combine the two families. Tying the families together symbolized not only love but also connections and devotion. Even when not involved in marriages, the knot was still linked to love.

Lastly, the Chinese have their own special meaning for the knot symbol. Just like we use knots to bind or connect in real life, the knot also symbolizes binding in Chinese culture. The tying of a knot was said to be a symbol for good luck and good things to come. It was mostly a sign to keep out bad luck instead of bringing in good luck. Since it was said to keep out bad luck, the Chinese knot was also said to be a symbol for protection and liberation.

European knot symbolism

Chinese knot symbolism

De gordiaanse knoop is de naam van een onontwarbare knoop. De knoop verbond het juk met de disselboom van een eeuwenoude strijdwagen. Het orakel had over deze knoop gezegd: "wie deze knoop losmaakt, zal meester over heel Azië worden."

De knoop en de strijdwagen werden bewaard in de tempel van Zeus in de stad Gordium, hoofdstad van Frygië. Gordium, dat gesticht was door de Frygische koning Gordius, werd beschouwd als het middelpunt van de wereld.

Nadat Alexander de Grote met zijn leger de Hellespont was overgestoken, versloeg hij zijn tegenstander Darius een eerste maal aan de Granicus en drong het koninkrijk van Darius binnen. Volgens de overlevering bestond zijn leger uit 10.000 ruiters en 30.000 man voetvolk. In Gordium hoorde Alexander van de voorspelling van het orakel. Onder belangstelling van vele Macedoniërs en Phrygiërs probeerde ook hij lange tijd de knoop te ontwarren. Toen de Macedoniërs de moed al verloren, merkte Alexander op: "Over de manier van het losmaken heeft het orakel niets gezegd." en met één slag van zijn zwaard hakte hij de knoop los. Het verhaal gaat dat Zeus de hele nacht donderde en bliksemde om er zijn goedkeuring aan te geven.

Wanneer iemand een zeer moeilijk probleem met de nodige voortvarendheid of gewelddadigheid uit de weg ruimt, dan gebruikt men daarvoor wel de uitdrukking: de (gordiaanse) knoop doorhakken.

In Britain, witches were supposed to be able to catch the wind in a knot. The witches sold those strings with knots and wind to sailors. When the wind comes down, they had to loosen the knots and then the wind would return so they could sail along.

As a ritual for support, I am going to a windy place with my bf. Which is the dike, also where he lived whole his life. It is always windy there. I'll make a knot in which I'll catch the wind and give that to my bf. Whenever I can't be there at that moment, and his wind is coming down. Whenever he feels unhappy, feels like he needs support: he can loosen the knot and feel the wind and power which we caught on the dike.