The First Makers: The Americas

Before there was a world, there was a thread.

In this episode of First Makers, I’m looking at two very different models of the same idea. Divinity and thread as the origin of everything that matters. First, Mama Ocllo, sent by the Inca sun god Inti to teach the first women to spin and weave. She is a culture-hero, not a weaver herself, whose myth explains where an entire craft tradition came from. Then Spider Grandmother, who in Navajo and Hopi tradition isn’t a teacher at all, but the maker of the world itself. She spun existence out of clay and attached every living thing to her by a single thread of her own silk.

Part of The Goddess Project, my ongoing series on ancient goddesses, the history of draped cloth, and why what women make has always mattered more than it’s been given credit for.

Cover art by Susan Seddon Boulet