By Michelle McLemore
It came over me one morning. I dressed, and undressed, and redressed several times. Shirts and pants I had worn many times suddenly made me feel claustrophobic. The colors were good, the styles attractive. This wasn’t a “what do I want to wear?” indecisive moment. No, it was as if every shirt and pair of pants I tried, I felt like my skin couldn’t breathe—that I couldn’t breathe (and not because I had strawberry shortcake with morning coffee). I pulled at the necklines, the thighs, the abdomen. I fidgeted. I could feel confused grumpiness setting in.
Starting to slightly panic, I unrolled a pair of pants made in Nepal that I’d purchased at a fair. They were baggy and so thin, that when held up to light, you could see impressions through the pant leg on the other side of the room. They were made from 100% cotton. Within a few seconds, all agitation subsided, and I felt my breathing normalize. Well, that was odd, I thought.
Was this just a distress feeling, neuro-oddity? A sensory flag? According to AutismResponseTeam.com, many people (both on and off the spectrum) prefer soft fabrics such as cotton, satin, silk, and denim. Fabrics have the power to soothe as well as irritate. Their texture sensitivity signs include the following:
Itching or scratching at the neck or around areas where tighter clothing makes contact with skin.
Preference for bare feet over socks.
Wanting to wear the same things over and over (because they offer calm).
Pulling or tugging at their clothes.
Auditory triggers like the sound of a zipper, Velcro, or corduroy legs rubbing together.
Life seems too short these days to fight with yourself about wearing a certain outfit. But what if it is more than just something “itchy”? What if it is about constraining one’s breath, or energy? Whether the perspective is that the world is “waking up” or settling back into “New Age” (which are actually “old age”) ideas, the fact is that newer technology is capable of analyzing this realm in ways that it could not in the past—which of course, creates more questions, more possibilities, and more challenges to religious and political leaders who would rather their followers well, frankly, simply follow and not question.
Can clothing material impact subtle energy and how our physical and energetic body communicates with the outer world throughout the day? An on-line search for “frequency of clothing,” populates numerous business and personal website claims that clothing materials have differing energy frequencies. The companies claim that certain frequencies either bolster health or deplete it—similar to the claims about canned food versus fresh food and essential oils.
However, like those claims, all seem to direct back to only one or two initial proponents of the idea and vague research mentions. Does that mean it’s a marketing hoax? Not necessarily. Again, science can only “prove” something when it is advanced enough to prove it. However, my research-minded brain did become a bit more skeptical.
Every site that I visited, while researching frequency or vibration of clothing, referenced one 2003 study by naturopathic Dr. Heidi Yellen and her husband, Sephardic Rabbi Ben-Hayil Yellen…a study I could not find anywhere to read for myself. The January-March 2013 issue of Hebrews Today Journal, however, was dedicated to discussing their beliefs, as both Yellens were senior editors and researchers for the publication at that time.
Dr. Yellen claims that a Robert “Bob” Graham, a retired Texas A&M professor, created the “Ag-Environ” machine which analyzed frequencies of agricultural commodities to narrow down the optimal time for harvest, to treat plants, and determine when disease was present. She wrote, “The gentleman identified signature frequencies that identified illness also.” The article is vague on what was tested during a public demonstration, but the inference is that they tested various plants to show difference in signature frequencies and somehow also demonstrated different frequencies of cloth. GAIA Conceptions, a North Carolina clothing company committed to customizable organic clothing, somehow determined, “The measurements were carried out in angstroms (m).”
Yellen claims that in a separate demonstration, she showed that placing a linen garment on top of another linen garment generated a higher frequency. Her belief is that the clothing one wears can either elevate one’s frequency and gain health advantages from that, or that clothing can neutralize or degrade one’s health.
Based on their findings, linen (made from flax) and wool are said to each have a frequency of 5,000 mHz. Also, supposedly, they identified the directionality of the materials’ waves and claim that wool and linen waves travel in opposite directions and cancel each other out if worn at the same time. Thus, no health elevation from the materials when combined.
There is discrepancy across sites when it comes to the frequencies Yellen is said to have reported. One site says Yellen claims that non-organic cotton has a frequency of 70, while another says 40. One says polyester has a rating of 15, while another says it is zero along with nylon, spandex, lycra, bamboo, and acrylic. One site says silk has a frequency of 10 while another says it is 15.
Without clear access to research studies, a sample machine for current tests, or anyone else claiming they themselves have successfully proven frequency studies on cloth, the discrepancies remain a mystery and the frequencies skeptical. Yet, many feel there must be something energetically healing to fabrics because two particular fabrics—linen and wool—have been in the spotlight for ages as they appeared in scriptures within The Torah and Bible.
In The King James, Tynsdale, and Third Millennium Bible versions, Leviticus 19:19 lists a few specific examples for when the mixing of items is forbidden. The King James translation is as follows:
19 Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come upon thee.
In Deuteronomy, chapter 22:11, similar ideas are stated. From the American Standard Version:
9Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole fruit be forfeited, the seed which thou hast sown, and the increase of the vineyard. 10Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. 11Thou shalt not wear a mingled stuff, wool and linen together.
In both cases, the context appears that the Israelites are being told to avoid the practices which co-mingle different species. Still, English versions evolved over many translations and interpretations. Other Bibles don’t mention wool nor linen for the same verses. Is there a closer, truer translation?
“You shall not wear sha’atnez, wool and linen together,” is how Robert Alter translates Deuteronomy 22:11.
Alter is an American professor who formerly taught Hebrew and comparative literature at UC-Berkeley, in California. If we research the actual word used, “sha’atnez” —more information possibly compounds the mystery. Alter asserts the word is most likely an Egyptian derived term meaning “adulterated” or “false weave.”
Religious clerics, theologians, and clothing salespeople have gone to great lengths to theorize why the God of the Israelites would say don’t do it—regardless of if the interpretation is the wearing of the two fibers woven together or the wearing of an article of wool with an article of linen worn at the same time. The adherence was not a passing whim. There are still people who make their living determining whether clothing is entirely of one source or if it is sha’atnez.
Various religious clerics and theologians have explored these scriptural prescriptions:
To focus the Israelites on purity and oneness in daily physical practices, the practice of using only one seed, one cloth, one everything—would keep emphasizing one deity and purity.
Another interpretation suggests that prior people (pagans) believed mixing seeds, animals, or textiles to be a “a source of magical power.” As such, Israel’s God would not want his people to have, nor to be involved with, magical power or using any pagan procedures.
Third, Heidi Yellen’s article states: “In his Mishna Torah Sefer HaMizvot Commandments,
Maimonides vol. 2, page 55, he commanded, ‘Do not wear Shatanez for pagan priests, the Coptic Egyptians, wear linen and wool together.” This suggests another need to set themselves apart from other clergy.
I am not a scholar of the Torah nor Bible, however, keeping to the chapter context, it’s plausible that it comes down to purity and focus. However, the second and third reasons have been countered by several researchers and scholars. The September 7, 2022 “Philologos” column of Mosaic magazine notes that “proper Egyptians” did not engage in sheep herding, looked down on the occupation, and Egyptian priests were forbidden to wear wool clothing. The Daily Life of Ancient Egyptians (2008) outlines that Egyptian priests were “held to the highest standards of cleanliness because they came in contact with the cult statue.” They “wore nothing but pure white linen clothing.” As a hypoallergenic material with antibacterial properties, high breathability, and odor resistance, linen would make sense to be the attire for priests. However, this rules out the theory that pagans (Egyptians with multiple deities) were wearing mixed cloth for magical power. If power was involved, certainly the Egyptian temple priests and rulers would have garnered as much as they could muster.
Conversely, saints and Sufi mystics, only wore 100% wool, per “Sufism” by Khwaja Shams-Ud-Deen Azeemi. Wool and other animal skins were the most common, and most easily available in Canaan and Mesopotamia. So, those weren’t the pagan priests of concern.
Most perplexing though, is that despite these two verses pointed to by faithful and the clothing industry as indicating the two are bad or damaging together, there are whispers that Jewish rabbis and priests have worn the two materials simultaneously, even if not woven together. Yellen records them in the priests’ linen “bod,” the wool “techelet,” a wool aramon, and a wool dyed Tolat Sheni. An avent (belt) was made from linene or a mixture of linen and wool—sha’atnez.
Lois Tverber of Our Rabbi Jesus notes that historical finds reveal the priest’s white undergarment was linen while the over colored vestment was wool. The tassels (tzitzit) were commanded to be attached to the corners of garments in Numbers 15:38. The blue woolen cords were a mixture—were sha’atnez. Some were found in the Bar Kockba caves from early times as evidence. Tverberg suggests the command for all Jews to wear the cords was to remind every Israelite that they were to be a nation of priests (even though the “real” priests had more responsibility and authority.) The Jewish Virtual Library also reveals that “it was permitted for priests to wear garments of mixed textures prescribed by the Torah when performing priestly service. Also, that it was permissible to wrap a corpse made in sha’atnez shroud.
So…I have to say, it seems illogical for a deity to create something that would be damaging together and then simultaneously prohibit and prescribe its use by his people. There must be something else—either we are missing it, or we are trying to make it more mystical than needed.
Overall, it does appear that linen (flax fabric) has a historical use for facilitating healing, skin protection, and reducing static electricity. The silica fibers within flax inhibit bacterial growth, wicks away moisture, and minimizes odor. (Apparently, it was also the fabric of choice for preservation of Egyptian mummies.)
Wool is known for its insulation against cold, release of moisture, along with its anti-wrinkle, flame-retardant, hypoallergenic, and odor-resistant properties. Both are renewable resources and biodegradeable. Many in the textile industry would argue that these properties are what keeps them still a staple today and because they are from the earth, they must have more healthy properties than any synthetic blend created regardless of energy frequency.
Still, I am reminded of two more science studies. In one, Dr. Bernard Grad of McGill University gave a population of rats goiters for an experiment and then divided them into control and experimental groups. He had energy healer Oskar Estebany infuse cotton and wool cloths with his energy intended to heal. The cloths were placed in the cages of experimental rats for one hour, morning and evening, six days a week. Those rats’ goiters grew slower than the control group. Also, when the rats were allowed to return to normal non-goiter-causing diets, the experimental group’s thyroids returned to normal quicker than the control group (Grad, et al., 1961). The experiment seemed to demonstrate successful transference of healing intention to tools. In context of this article’s topic, I wonder if the study may have been influenced by the wool’s high frequency? It would be interesting for someone to replicate the study with different cloths as the tools with and without infused healing energy.
A second study, however, speaks to what I think we all should remember: your beliefs, your focused intention, and convictions can manifest both ills and good in your world and for those around you despite what you choose to wear.
In a study by Nash in 1984, subjects who held no claims to healing abilities were selected. Sixty volunteers were asked to simply set their intention to alter the genetics of bacteria Escherichia Coli in nine test tubes. Three tubes were set for attempts of increasing mutation from lactose negative to lactose positive, three for decreasing mutation, and three left as controls. The experiment resulted in the bacteria being influenced in the directions asked of the subjects.
Sure, color frequency has influence. Yes, food and words and vitamins (or the lack of) can influence us… possibly even clothing textiles. But, regardless of your spiritual reverence, even the average human body was designed with the ability to intentionally extend health or disease. Do you bless your food before partaking? Do you focus on positivity, trusting all will be well? Do you send love and prayers and support to people and situations you care about?
Choose your thoughts and beliefs wisely, not just your day’s attire.
Michelle McLemore is a freelance writer, speaker, energy practitioner, and stress management guide nearing publication of a childcare giver’s guide for raising resilient, balanced youth. Learn more at facebook.com/MichelleMcLemoreHealingGuide, and michelle.mclemore on Instagram. Read more at mclemore.substack.com. Contact her directly at energy@michellemclemore.com.
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It came over me one morning. I dressed, and undressed, and redressed several times. Shirts and pants I had worn many times suddenly made me feel claustrophobic. The colors were good, the styles attractive. This wasn’t a “what do I want to wear?” indecisive moment. No, it was as if every shirt and pair of pants I tried, I felt like my skin couldn’t breathe—that I couldn’t breathe (and not because I had strawberry shortcake with morning coffee). I pulled at the necklines, the thighs, the abdomen. I fidgeted. I could feel confused grumpiness setting in.