| Not all handfastings in weddings bind hands. It is true | | | | myself to you in |
| that in most ancient ceremonies this happened literally | | | | |
| as a wife was bound into servitude in the husband's | | | | 1. Love: This is the promise to love with an open and |
| house. This may give you pause as you decide | | | | trusting heart. Perhaps romantic, but deeply accepting |
| whether to incorporate this into your wedding | | | | and respectful. |
| ceremony. | | | | 2. Passion: This is the promise to keep vitality, in your |
| On the other hand, it is also true that love binds us to | | | | hearts, your minds and your bodies - for yourself and |
| one another. Those cords are not merely metaphorical | | | | for one another. |
| and are at one and the same time, incredibly fragile | | | | 3. Constancy: This is the promise to be true to self and |
| and incredibly difficult to break. | | | | one's own integrity as a maker of promises. |
| There are two kinds of cord you can get (easily) for | | | | 4. Fidelity: This is the promise to be true to the wedding |
| handfasting. You can get 3-strand or 7-strand. Your | | | | vows and the partnership. |
| local craft or sewing notions store should have both. | | | | 5. Family: This is the promise to be active in the clan |
| Or you can find cords on line. You want the cord to be | | | | that surrounds this marriage and family. |
| longish, because you want to reinforce the notion that | | | | 6. Community: This is the promise to be a constructive |
| love is abundant and that it coils itself loosely around | | | | member of the community of which you are a part, |
| our hands (hearts) so as not to strangle them. It's | | | | working for its growth and its betterment. |
| neither a good symbol nor a good exercise to have | | | | 7. Life: This is the promise to seek and embrace life as |
| the cord wrapped too tightly around your wrists. I often | | | | you encounter it. |
| use a 3-yard cord. | | | | Then say, "bound to you this day, I am bound to you |
| If you've chosen the 7-strand cord, wrap your wrists | | | | forever." And now, you're married! You've made the |
| once for each of these qualities, with the words, I bind | | | | promises, now it's a question of living into them. |