A spiritual + sustainable Christmas with Ojo de Dios

 
For some reason, the title reminds me of “under God’s eye” from The Handmaids Tale. Besides all the patriarchal domination “blessed be!” should be a daily greeting in my opinion.
 
In this case, however, Ojo de Dios or God’s eye is a ritual tool that is used for protection — a magical object — and an ancient cultural symbol evoking the weaving motif and its spiritual associations for the Huichol and Tepehuan Indians of western Mexico. The Huichol call their God’s Eyes Sikuli, which means “the power to see and understand things unknown.”
 
Ojo de Dios is a spiritual and votive object made by weaving a design out of yarn upon a wooden cross used and made by both Indigenous and Catholic peoples.
 
I was inspired by one of my many visits to Sayulita, always astounded by the many beautiful colours of the Ojo de Dios flapping in the wind against the bright blue skies, that I decided to make some myself and give them away as Christmas presents. Each one holds a precious little mantra that I sing as I weave to protect the receiver from the things he or she cannot see that may harm them.
 

How to have a very spiritual + sustainable Christmas with Ojo de Dios (God’s eye):

1. Collect driftwood from your nearby beach or fallen sticks from a nearby forest.
2. Choose a colour combination you like and purchase wool. Sometimes charity shops have wool leftovers so it’s worth checking there. Being in a developing country means that these sorts of things rarely go to waste so that’s not an option for me.
3. Make a cross with two similarily shaped and long pieces of wood, and then tie then with a cross knot.
4. Wind the wool around the first stick then across to the next one and around, and so on, and so forth until a pattern emerges.
5. Change colours and how you want.
6. Tie them together or keep them separate. It’s up to you!
7. For my gifts, I’ve painted rainbows on watercolour board and folded them in half to serve as cards and tied 3 Ojos de Dios together to make a wall hanging for my friends.
8. Wrap them in any leftover paper, newspaper or put them in fabric bags to give away.

 
Enjoy!