Let the knot of that red sash
Bind us all together
Cradling Her hips
And weaving all our dreams
TOI/LA Knot of Isis Song
Bind us all together
Cradling Her hips
And weaving all our dreams
TOI/LA Knot of Isis Song
Red magic courses through our
veins like the Blood of Isis
Magic of Magic
Spirit of Spirit
TOI/LA Knot of Isis
veins like the Blood of Isis
Magic of Magic
Spirit of Spirit
TOI/LA Knot of Isis
| THE KNOT OF ISIS A Personal Sharing |
| This website is sponsored by The Circle of Pelagia Fellowship of Isis |
The Knot of Isis is an ancient Egyptian Prayer from ‘The Book of Coming
Forth into the Light” (aka ‘The Book of the Dead’) which has been
translated by Normandi Ellis into a an especially moving modern version in
her book "Awakening Osiris."
The “Knot of Isis” spell has become an important part of our Iseum of Isis
Pelagia-TOI/LA rituals. Actually, we use my feminist/Goddess version
which makes it a group piece with the male/God references
changed/removed, plus a few poetic changes that just came about.
We first started using The Knot of Isis as an Ordination closing in 1997.
The inspiration to actually use a red ribbon came when Letecia Layson told
me how she took some red yarn blessed in a Circle of Aradia Blood
Mysteries class (where everyone touched the yarn) with her to Greece and
left little snippets in sacred places. We pass out red ribbon so that
everyone is holding onto it and then recite the prayer. Afterwards the
Ribbon is gathered up and, for an Ordination, the new Priestess keeps the
Knot/Ribbon and uses it in her future magical work.
We began using the Knot as a closing for other TOI/LA Rituals or events
we had. At first, it was me who recited it alone but I persisted and printed
it in every program and slowly other people responded. When a certain
coyote howled upon it, I knew it was all right. We had a lot of
Ordinations. It seems we said it all the time.
As our ISIS2001 event approached and we knew that Normandi would with
us, I suggested to the song writers in TOI/LA (i.e. “Women with Cakes”)
that a “Knot of Isis” song would be great. Diana Rocha-Parks, Denise
Allen, and Jeni Rodrigues provided one and now we sing the Knot Song as
often as we recite the Knot!
In 2006, for the visit of Olivia Robertson to Los Angeles, TOI/LA put on
a “Offerings to Isis” Ritual based on Isidora’s “Offering to Isis” book.
We passed out the Knot Ribbon (which, as I recall, rolled its way around
the circle!) and then put the Ribbon on our Altar and left it for people to
snip off a piece (hence the scissors on the Altar!)
I thought I knew the words by heart to the spoken version but in 2007, I
was reciting The Knot at a ceremony at Isis Oasis and just went blank of
tongue at certain parts of the Prayer! I determined that the only way to
always have it at tongue-tip was to say it every day. Instead of by day, I
started saying it at night after going to bed and I do now know it ‘by heart’
– I can even say it backwards!
After years of using the Knot as a community bonding meditation, what I
have really taken to heart in the last year about the Knot is how effective
it can be as a healing meditation. When I started saying it nightly, I would
move energy through my body and sometimes linger on two spots where I
felt minor twinges. It took me a while to realize that my twinges were
disappearing. I am a believer in the power of prayer – that is the sending
of energy outwards to others – and, at the same time, I understand that one
can use the cosmic energy on oneself. I just didn’t do this very often – I
said prayers for others but not for myself. I kept saying the Knot at
night and then late last Fall (2008) I started saying the Knot for the dying
sister of a sister-of-my-heart. It dawned on me (“Oh Sun, lighten this
darkened house”, says my favourite Sekhmet Prayer by Soror Viktoria)
that healing can be effective for oneself when someone else is the focus of
the Prayer. I ‘hearted’ that I needed to start saying the Knot for a Sister
Priestess of Isis. A few more dawns and I woke up one morning and knew
that Isis was calling me to share about the healing power of the Knot of
Isis via a web site.
I wrote to Normandi and Isidora (M. Isidora Forrest) and got their
permissions to use their Knot material. I heard from a Priest of Isis and
Ra that he had a serious blood disease and I started praying for him. I
got the idea that the aforementioned Sister Priestess and the Priest could
pray for each other as a mutual healing.
Then I woke up on a Thursday morning feeling awful. I went to work
anyway but left in a couple of hours hoping I wouldn’t throw up in my car
on the way home. I went to bed and slept. When I was awake, I felt
nauseous but wasn’t sick and had this other pain that drifted across my
midsection with some regularity. I would try saying The Knot of Isis but
was unable to concentrate at all. Sometime midday on Friday, I finally got
up to feed my cats (that I waited 24 hours shows how bad I felt but they
slept through it!) and then clobbered out for several more hours. When I
awoke, I was very conscious that here I was, on the verge of putting up a
healing website, and I couldn't even get the Knot to work on me. A low
moment indeed.
But the Healing Goddesses were kind and I was inspired to sing the Knot of
Isis song to my nausea. This I silently did and a couple of hours later the
nauseous feeling disappeared. I slept some more, waking up more than once
and noticing that I felt better but I was also aware I couldn’t do my
Prayers for my truly ailing friends. In the morning, the other pain was
more noticeable. I decided that this must be a different kind of pain, a
bug/bacterial kind of pain, and remembered…again the Goddesses were
kind to me…my favourite Sekhmet Prayer. I’d used this Prayer as recently
as last Summer but could only remember a few lines. This didn’t seem to
matter – calling on Sekhmet (“Oh Terrible Oh Irresistable”) apparently
mattered because this wave of pain also subsided. I printed out this
Sekhmet Prayer and now carry it around with me – not only to remember it
but because it spoke so directly to me about my working with the Knot
(“Uncover my heart’s desire”). By Sunday I was well enough to leave my
bed and on Moonday morning I went back to my mundane work. Most
importantly, I was confirmed in my healing work. I was a little hesitant to
share my experiences but the Goddesses are keeping me to my commitment.
And, now, as I look back on my Lunar Calendar, I see that this episode
started on the New Moon and that this Moon is dedicated to Fearn or
Alder…”She heals all doubt”
We are all stardust walking so may we always remember this and align
ourselves with the Cosmic energy through the Knot of Isis.
Laura Janesdaughter
Priestess of Isis
Forth into the Light” (aka ‘The Book of the Dead’) which has been
translated by Normandi Ellis into a an especially moving modern version in
her book "Awakening Osiris."
The “Knot of Isis” spell has become an important part of our Iseum of Isis
Pelagia-TOI/LA rituals. Actually, we use my feminist/Goddess version
which makes it a group piece with the male/God references
changed/removed, plus a few poetic changes that just came about.
We first started using The Knot of Isis as an Ordination closing in 1997.
The inspiration to actually use a red ribbon came when Letecia Layson told
me how she took some red yarn blessed in a Circle of Aradia Blood
Mysteries class (where everyone touched the yarn) with her to Greece and
left little snippets in sacred places. We pass out red ribbon so that
everyone is holding onto it and then recite the prayer. Afterwards the
Ribbon is gathered up and, for an Ordination, the new Priestess keeps the
Knot/Ribbon and uses it in her future magical work.
We began using the Knot as a closing for other TOI/LA Rituals or events
we had. At first, it was me who recited it alone but I persisted and printed
it in every program and slowly other people responded. When a certain
coyote howled upon it, I knew it was all right. We had a lot of
Ordinations. It seems we said it all the time.
As our ISIS2001 event approached and we knew that Normandi would with
us, I suggested to the song writers in TOI/LA (i.e. “Women with Cakes”)
that a “Knot of Isis” song would be great. Diana Rocha-Parks, Denise
Allen, and Jeni Rodrigues provided one and now we sing the Knot Song as
often as we recite the Knot!
In 2006, for the visit of Olivia Robertson to Los Angeles, TOI/LA put on
a “Offerings to Isis” Ritual based on Isidora’s “Offering to Isis” book.
We passed out the Knot Ribbon (which, as I recall, rolled its way around
the circle!) and then put the Ribbon on our Altar and left it for people to
snip off a piece (hence the scissors on the Altar!)
I thought I knew the words by heart to the spoken version but in 2007, I
was reciting The Knot at a ceremony at Isis Oasis and just went blank of
tongue at certain parts of the Prayer! I determined that the only way to
always have it at tongue-tip was to say it every day. Instead of by day, I
started saying it at night after going to bed and I do now know it ‘by heart’
– I can even say it backwards!
After years of using the Knot as a community bonding meditation, what I
have really taken to heart in the last year about the Knot is how effective
it can be as a healing meditation. When I started saying it nightly, I would
move energy through my body and sometimes linger on two spots where I
felt minor twinges. It took me a while to realize that my twinges were
disappearing. I am a believer in the power of prayer – that is the sending
of energy outwards to others – and, at the same time, I understand that one
can use the cosmic energy on oneself. I just didn’t do this very often – I
said prayers for others but not for myself. I kept saying the Knot at
night and then late last Fall (2008) I started saying the Knot for the dying
sister of a sister-of-my-heart. It dawned on me (“Oh Sun, lighten this
darkened house”, says my favourite Sekhmet Prayer by Soror Viktoria)
that healing can be effective for oneself when someone else is the focus of
the Prayer. I ‘hearted’ that I needed to start saying the Knot for a Sister
Priestess of Isis. A few more dawns and I woke up one morning and knew
that Isis was calling me to share about the healing power of the Knot of
Isis via a web site.
I wrote to Normandi and Isidora (M. Isidora Forrest) and got their
permissions to use their Knot material. I heard from a Priest of Isis and
Ra that he had a serious blood disease and I started praying for him. I
got the idea that the aforementioned Sister Priestess and the Priest could
pray for each other as a mutual healing.
Then I woke up on a Thursday morning feeling awful. I went to work
anyway but left in a couple of hours hoping I wouldn’t throw up in my car
on the way home. I went to bed and slept. When I was awake, I felt
nauseous but wasn’t sick and had this other pain that drifted across my
midsection with some regularity. I would try saying The Knot of Isis but
was unable to concentrate at all. Sometime midday on Friday, I finally got
up to feed my cats (that I waited 24 hours shows how bad I felt but they
slept through it!) and then clobbered out for several more hours. When I
awoke, I was very conscious that here I was, on the verge of putting up a
healing website, and I couldn't even get the Knot to work on me. A low
moment indeed.
But the Healing Goddesses were kind and I was inspired to sing the Knot of
Isis song to my nausea. This I silently did and a couple of hours later the
nauseous feeling disappeared. I slept some more, waking up more than once
and noticing that I felt better but I was also aware I couldn’t do my
Prayers for my truly ailing friends. In the morning, the other pain was
more noticeable. I decided that this must be a different kind of pain, a
bug/bacterial kind of pain, and remembered…again the Goddesses were
kind to me…my favourite Sekhmet Prayer. I’d used this Prayer as recently
as last Summer but could only remember a few lines. This didn’t seem to
matter – calling on Sekhmet (“Oh Terrible Oh Irresistable”) apparently
mattered because this wave of pain also subsided. I printed out this
Sekhmet Prayer and now carry it around with me – not only to remember it
but because it spoke so directly to me about my working with the Knot
(“Uncover my heart’s desire”). By Sunday I was well enough to leave my
bed and on Moonday morning I went back to my mundane work. Most
importantly, I was confirmed in my healing work. I was a little hesitant to
share my experiences but the Goddesses are keeping me to my commitment.
And, now, as I look back on my Lunar Calendar, I see that this episode
started on the New Moon and that this Moon is dedicated to Fearn or
Alder…”She heals all doubt”
We are all stardust walking so may we always remember this and align
ourselves with the Cosmic energy through the Knot of Isis.
Laura Janesdaughter
Priestess of Isis
| M. Isidora Forrest 2001 |
| LJ, Normandi Ellis, and Letecia Layson 2001 |
REVEALER OF THE
SEED OF
BRIGHTNESS
Uncover my Heart’s
desire,
And bring that silence
of peace
In which its voice I
may hear.
(Viktoria)
SEED OF
BRIGHTNESS
Uncover my Heart’s
desire,
And bring that silence
of peace
In which its voice I
may hear.
(Viktoria)
O SUN, LIGHT THIS
DARKENED HOUSE
Devour with your rays
the pride of my
ignorance
Clear away all
obstacles in my path,
And with Beauty
inspire me on my Way.
(Isis Papers Issue 12)
DARKENED HOUSE
Devour with your rays
the pride of my
ignorance
Clear away all
obstacles in my path,
And with Beauty
inspire me on my Way.
(Isis Papers Issue 12)
