Knit Pause with the Moon - Episode 6 - Celebrating abundance

Welcome to this episode of Knit Pause with the Moon. I’m Solène, you’re host and together today we will share a moment of creative pause around the theme of celebrating abundance. I will start by sharing some reflections around this season, this new moon and how to work with this theme in your creative life and then we will do a guided meditation together to help you ground, relax and slow down and connect to abundance in your knitting pauses!

A few words about the season and this New Moon

I always like to start with a few words about the season that we are in and the energy of this specific new moon, but the theme is pretty universal and you can listen to this at any time.

I’m recording this on the May 2021 for the new moon in Taurus. It’s the middle of Spring, nature is in full bloom here in the garden. We just passed Beltane last week which is the old celtic festival which marked the passing between winter and summer season when the cattle was ready to go up to their summer home and people would light big fires to wish them a good journey.

This new moon is in the astrological sign of Taurus. Taurus is an earth sign, it’s about enjoying the physical, the material. To me knitting is very Taurus. Because we make, with our hands, something material, using resources from the earth, often sustainable resources with wool, plant fibres, and we enjoy this act of slowly transforming.

3 creative invitations

• CELEBRATE YOUR CONNECTION TO THE EARTH – Celebrating the material, our bond to the earth and taking pleasure in the material world. And thinking about that connection to the earth and its resources that we transform through knitting. How do we use the earth’s resources in a more respectful way? How do we give back to the earth for what it brings us?Sustainability in knitting, what fibres do you make from, making a project re-using, repurposing old yarn. With my home knitting retreat group we’ve been talking about recycled yarn which is something I personally want to try and explore. Natural yarn from local farmers, made locally from the resources of the earth. Using leftovers… Thinking about how you connect to those different fibres, how you can find inspiration in this exploration of sustainable fibres. What it makes you feel when you have a finished project that is fully made in repurposed, recycled, or natural locally produced yarn. Celebrating the material is also about slowing down and paying attention, to the texture, to the feeling of the yarn between your hands as you knit it. Taking the time to take pleasure in it.

• MAKE FOR YOUR BODY– This season is all about the material. And as knitters, we make clothes, or accessories. We make things that are warm, cosy, beautiful, and through them we express something. We transform yarn into feelings, emotions, materialized as knits. I often say that we make our own fashion, because making our own clothes has this revolutionary aspect that we get to step out of the traditional beauty and fashion standards, the shoulds, and instead make what is true to us, what brings us joy, pleasure, what makes us feel confident and good in our body, with our body. So my invitation is to think about what makes you feel good in your body? What knits empower you when you wear them? How can you find more of that feeling? I know for a lot of people this is a hard topic, because we can be so separated from our bodies, so this might be a bit emotional to think about. So do what feels right to you. To me knitting can be a bridge to bring us back to our bodies and find ways to celebrate them, to celebrate feeling like ourselves through the knit that covers our bodies. If you only make for others, there’s also something very special about gifting someone dear something that will litteraly cover their body, bring them warmth and comfort. But maybe you’ll want to connect to that feeling for yourself too, and challenge yourself into making somehing just for you, even if it’s small.

• CONNECT TO ABUNDANCE – Abundance is often seen as negative, often linked in our mind to hoarding, taking or wanting too much. To me it’s in fact the opposite, abundance is what’s already there, all around, in nature. This time of the year is a great reminder of that, with the bloom of Spring and then the harvest of Summer with all the fruits coming. Abundance is all around, we just forgot it. And we ourselves are abundant beings. Abundance is a value to me, I believe that we all have this right to feel abundant, to feel like we have enough, creativity, resources… and that we can share them, and by sharing creating more of it. It’s relearning the power of community and connections. What each one brings, individually, is an important contribution to the collective and creates more abundance to share. This is not always easy to do in a capitalist society, and that’s why I think it’s important to reconnect to abundance, our own abundance, the ones we get to experience through our creativity and share with our community.

Meditation to connect to your abundance

After entering a space of meditation by reconnecting to your breath, body, and to your emotions, take a moment to ground, and feel the connection to the earth.

Feel yourself slowing down to the rhythm of the earth. Feel yourself root down and feel the earth reaching back with resources that you can receive. Take a moment of gratitude for the Earth and all her gifts.

As a part of nature, you are a part of the abundance of the earth. You are yourself an abundant being, with your inner flow of creative creative potential inside.

Take a moment to celebrate you own abundance. To celebrate all that you’ve grown, all the knits that came to life on your needles, and all that has yet to grow. To celebrate your creativity, even in the most little spark of what’s to become.

When you’re ready to come back, you can take some deep breaths, and let your breaths slowly bring you back to your body.

Useful links

• Join the free Moontime Challenge, a mystery KAL + meditation and reflection challenge following the moon cycle.