Pat replies:

As a somewhat obsessive spinner (3 regular spinning wheels, one great wheel, 4 or 5 spindles, one Hindu charka, etc. etc.) I think I should tell you that there seems to be a divide between spinners and weavers. Also between those who use sharp pointed needles and the dull ones.

Not all spinners are good weavers. I have woven stuff but I know, in all honesty, I am not and never will be a weaver. I don't really enjoy it. I just like the finished product. I know some superb weavers who have tried spinning. Mostly they don't seem to enjoy it either and leave it to those of us who do.

I think the asteroid Pallas is important here (I have always had a thing for Pallas Athena, whether you call her Minerva or not, from childhood on) and have a fairly strong position natally. Pallas Athena was the goddess who taught spinning, weaving and household tasks. I don't know where Arachne is in my chart but I suspect Pallas takes precedence.

As to the other fiber arts: I have done most of them, embroidery (yuk) sewing (when I was young and poor and saved money or today when I need something I can't get any other way or when I repair things), crocheting and such obscurata as kumihimo (Japanese braiding). But I am primarily a spinner/knitter.

I notice that what I call "sharp needle" arts--embroidery, quilting, sewing--seem to be beloved by those with a Mars tilt to the personality. One daughter who lectures me on the difference real tools and my stuff, loves the sharp needle skills and worked as a tailor. Strong Mars. She needlepoints furniture and has wonderful quilts. I know a Scorpio man who does gorgeous needlepoint. Many men are tailors.

I prefer dull needles (knitting). More Venus perhaps. Fascinating, eh?

Pat replies,

I think the moon rules spinning. Both go round and round. I think weaving is more akin to music than anything else--the harmonies, the numerical sequences, the rhythm, etc. It's a far more complex craft. I'm not much of a musician. But I am a Cancer sun.

Oh, and before we leave the topic, I will give away my all-time best knitting tip: Always start a project under a cardinal moon. You'll finish it before you lose interest. Never--and I do mean never--start messing with the yarn for a particular project when the moon is void of course. Don't even wind the balls.

Then someone said:

>> Wasn't she the one who started the Trojan War after Paris chose Aphrodite? I think Ulysses was her pet ;-) Sort of like owning a Rottweiler. >>

Pat replies:

Good analogy. Pallas Athena (the Romans called her Minerva) was born as an adult wearing a full suit of armor from the forehead of her father, Zeus (Jupiter). She was the original uppity broad and the goddess of wisdom and military strategy.

In addition to being the warrior goddess, she also taught women the domestic arts that enabled them to feed and clothe their families better. She was the patroness of spinning and weaving as well as other domestic skills like cooking and growing herbs.

There is a famous tale of a young weaver named Arachne who bragged she was as good as Pallas Athena and after a demonstration annoyed the goddess so much she got turned into a spider so she could spin forever and catch the bugs in the house that annoyed housekeepers so much. Of course, biologists called the class of spiders Arachnids ever after.

A rotweiler type? I should say so! She was known for being testy with men who couldn't see beyond a good set of boobs (such as Aphrodite sported, I should imagine.)

Some of us think she was a great role model. Oh--by the way--I spin and weave, but not as well as she did, of course.