Spinning is one of the most ritualized feminine arts. The idea of spinning a thread that embodies life, destiny, and fate traces back to Indo-European antiquity—to the mythical spinners at the World Tree.

Motifs of the World Tree can be found in the carvings of Russian spinning wheels. And the Slavic goddesses Dolya (Fate) and Nedolya (Misfortune) are known as spinners who determine human destinies. Perhaps that’s why spinning is one of the most mysterious and healing practices—by twisting thread, we set entire layers of the unconscious into motion, healing and transforming our lives and fates.

🪡 Sleeping Beauty pricks her finger on a spindle and falls asleep—her fate is sealed. The spindle is perhaps the most magical tool in women’s handicrafts. Among the Eastern Slavs, a newborn’s umbilical cord was cut on a spindle; Southern Slavs used spindles to ward off demons, divert lightning, and summon rain.

The evil fairy’s curse in the fairy tale is portrayed as a dark moment, yet it also sets the forces of fate into motion—leading Sleeping Beauty to her happiness a hundred years later. The prick of the spindle can be seen as a kind of protective ritual, plunging the heroine into an altered state of consciousness and initiating powerful transformations in her life.

🌹 Starting April 10, alongside the tale of Sleeping Beauty, we will seek:

  • The energy of the sun to light our way through the dark forest,
  • The fire that can burn away the thorny hedge, melt pain and despair, and turn the frozen shards of the soul into life-giving, fertile streams—
    —to nourish our bodies, feelings, and emotions, and to kindle the spark of creativity that will ignite the flame of life with passion.

Learn more about our fairy-tale journey ⬇️

© Elena Shuwany