#2 “Mending Clothes, Mending Souls – The Spiritual Art of Repair”
PODCAST TRANSCRIPT
HOST (Ashley):
Welcome back to Reclaiming the Threads, where we stitch together stories of style, soul, and sustainability.
I’m Ashley, and today we’re diving into a theme that’s as ancient as it is urgent: the sacred art of mending—of clothing, yes, but also of ourselves, and of the self.
Because let’s be honest—sometimes the holes and rips and tiredness of our clothes aren’t the only things that need mending and care.
In this episode, Mending Clothes, Mending Souls and the Spiritual Art of Repair, I want to invite you into a conversation that stretches beyond seams and stitches. Today we are talking about repair and mending as spiritual practices, about stitching things together not just for fashion, but for collective and individual healing.
PART 1: THE CLOTH AND THE SOUL
HOST (Ashley):
Across cultures, continents and millennia, mending has never just been a practical act—it’s been viewed and honored as deeply spiritual and an embodied practice of healing.
In Japan, there’s the beautiful tradition of kintsugi, the art of repairing broken pottery with gold, wherein the visual repair of the cracks actually becomes part of its beauty. In the world of textiles, we see the same spirit in Japanese sashiko stitching—a visible mending technique and visible thread patterns originally used by rural Japanese communities not only to repair garments, but to honor them.
As fiber artist Katrina Rodabaugh writes in her book “Mending Matters,”
“Each stitch can be a prayer. Each patch, a pause.”
So, in a time where most of us are encouraged to throw things away when they are no longer new and shiny—objects, clothes, even parts of ourselves and others—there’s something truly radical about choosing repair.
PART 2: PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH HANDS-ON
I would like to share a story with you all.
In a 2018 article in Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture, scholar Alison Leitch describes the act of mending as “a kind of embodied memory.” She writes:
“To repair a garment is to participate in its life. It is an intimate act of connection—one that acknowledges the wound and the worth of the wearer.”
Isn’t that stunning and so pertinent in our own lives? The wound and the worth.
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.”
—Carl Jung, Psychology and Alchemy
When we mend, we don’t just patch fabric—we bring light to the tear. We touch the broken part not with shame, but with intention. Jung reminds us that healing doesn’t come from pretending the rips aren’t there. It comes from sitting beside them, thread in hand, and saying: “I see you. Let’s make something new.”
That brings to mind something deeply esoteric and meaningful towards my own understanding of life: it is the hermetic axiom, “As within, so without.” When we sit down to repair a torn shirt, we’re not just fixing a tear or something broken and ripped—we’re acknowledging it and the events that manifested its brokenness. In this way, instead of ignoring its place and purpose, We’re honoring it as a part of our own evolution and story. We're saying, “This mattered. It Still matters. And I will choose to mend it into visible beauty.”
“We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.”
—Psychology and Religion- carl jung
A piece of dear Carl Jung for reflecting on how mending damaged garments mirrors accepting our own emotional scars.
PART 3: ALCHEMY AND THE RITUAL OF REPAIR
HOST (Ashley):
There’s a kind of alchemy to repair—especially when done by hand. You slow down. You touch and think about something broken and you give it time, patience, thoughtful creativity and presence.
In fact, many trauma healing modalities today—especially somatic ones—echo this very truth. That healing happens not in erasing the past, but in attending to it. Gently.Openly. Repeatedly.
So what if the next time you sit to visibly mend the rip in your favorite shirt was more than just an aesthetic practice? What if it worked as a mirror into what’s shifting inside you? An attention to what needs mending inside each of us and then using each stitch to actively integrate compassion and grace towards ourselves and others.
We mend to be whole, not just for ourselves, but for others as well.
PART 4: TIPS FOR SPIRITUAL MENDING PRACTICE
HOST (Ashley):
If you want to begin a mending practice not just as repair, but as ritual—here are a few gentle invitations for practice:
Light a candle before you begin. This Invites in an intention. Honoring the space of your mending action.
Speak aloud what the garment means to you—who you were when you wore it, what you felt, how it played a role in who you were and who you are. (try to stick with positive affirmations, because what you speak you also weave into being – we will go into that during another episode)
Use thread colors intentionally. Perhaps gold for strength, red for vitality, blue for calm, green for nature, perhaps something neon for joy. This way, when you choose color with intention, those feelings will ignite whenever you view them in the future. Use it to create an emotive reminder of something important and uplifting to you. There is no wrong way.
Let the stitch tell a story. You can create simples circles or hearts, or flowers in your stitches, perhaps words or initials of what you desire. See this as a form of magic. Weave what you desire to be and see.. AND It doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, the imperfection is part of the message, the beauty is in the action.
PART 5: CLOSING REFLECTION
HOST (Ashley):
I’d like to share a quote from the great mind of Carl Jung to emphasize how mending is deeply personal—just like healing and how one person’s broken hem is another’s sacred stitch.
“The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.”
—Modern Man in Search of a Soul -carl jung
On that note, Here are some thoughts on what I’ve come to understand,
Mending is an act of defiance and resilience in a world that often profits from your brokenness.
The act of mending says: I can be whole.
I can make things whole.
I don’t need anything new or to be new to be worthy.
My worth is within the life I intentionally weave.
And in that small, slow, quiet practice—you’re not just reclaiming your clothes. You’re reclaiming yourself.
So maybe next time you notice a tear or a fray, you won’t toss the garment into the bin-
Maybe you’ll say: “Life is worthy of fixing”
And you’ll sit down. And stitch. And remember:
That most importantly You too, can be mended and healed.
HOST (Ashley):
Thank you for being here and sharing this time and space with me. If this episode spoke to you, I invite you to share it with someone who needs a little reminder that they’re not disposable and they are truly worthy of being whole. Sometimes it’s a collective action and duty to hold this space for ourselves and others. By creating the space of House of Tikkun and this podcast, reclaiming the threads, I am here to help create and open that space for all of you as well.
And if you’re feeling inspired to mend—snap a photo of your work and tag us @HouseofTikkun with the hashtag #ReclaimingTheThreads. We desire to and are honored to share in your beauty, your courage, and all of your golden cracks.
Until next time—keep stitching and weaving the world toward wholeness. One thread, one heartstring at a time.
With deep care and great gratitude,
From House of Tikkun, I’m Ashley and this is Reclaiming the Threads.