Weaving

Weaving (and spinning) is a feminine, creative activity, often an expression of unconscious fantasies. Weaving, as an image, represents the underlying web of associations that characterizes creative work.

The weave also connects to the universal image of the "web of life," fate; the Norns, Moirae, and Parcae spin both the individual’s fate and the world’s. (See Spider.) What is woven forms patterns, which can only be observed in hindsight; while the weaving is ongoing, it is more difficult to understand.

According to von Franz, the anima is the "fate-spinning" core of the man’s unconscious (Projection and Re-Collection, p. 123). The spider spinning its web is an expression of the negative, paralyzing mother, and/or the fate the dreamer finds himself in.

Fabrics may have associations with the weave, but also with threads. We speak of the "thread of life" as well as the "weave of life." According to Edinger (Anatomy of the Psyche, p. 100ff), tapestries, woven carpets, and similar items can appear at life-defining events. (The same applies to clothing, as new attire.)

We also associate weaving with networks—such as a web of associations or the inner network of content where all are interconnected. "Weaving thus," according to von Franz (Animus and Anima in Fairy Tales, p. 79), "has to do with unconscious associations, unconscious fantasies with an enormously suggestive effect." These unconscious fantasies form our fate. Maya is said to spin a web of illusions that surrounds us.

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