In the next post, I’ll illustrate the relationship, but for now let me just say that the square form of the flower knot (see right) is the basic unit of the mystic knot (see left). The Ashley Book of Knots (also known as Ashley’s or ABoK) has much to say on the topic of mystic knots, but not in those words (Ashley calls this knot family the Chinese butterfly knots), so let’s extract them and put them in one post for easy reference, shall we? I’m making pronouncements based on visual inspection and could easily be wrong, I’ll tie them and post the pictures later, correcting as I go if necessary…

Where he gives a specific “name” to a knot it will be noted in parentheses.

From the two-strand lanyard knot chapter: #811 is the square flower knot. #812 is a variation on the square flower knot giving ears on all corners as well as 2 incoming and 2 outgoing cords. #813 is the standard 2x2 mystic knot #814 has the 2 extra corner ears and a cord coming out of each corner #815 twists things up under the weave so that it has the 2 extra corner ears and 2 cords coming out of each of 2 diagonally opposite corners #816 like the previous 2 has the extra 2 corner ears, but the cords come out the sides versus the corners #842 (a triangular knot of the butterfly variety) is the triangular version of the mystic knot with a square flower in each of the 3 corners. #843 (a right-angled triangular pectoral knot) is half of a 4x4 mystic knot “cut” along the diagonal #844 (an equilateral triangular knot) has 1.5 square flower knots in each of 3 corners

From the single-strand lanyard knots chapter: #587 (a two-plane knot) is the square flower with one end pulled through the body of the knot to provide an extra corner ear, so all ears must snug against the body of the knot for the proper effect #588 (a rectangular knot) is a 2x1 mystic, again with the cord pulled through for the effect of an extra ear #589 is a reorderd 2x2 mystic with one cord coming out of the middle of 2 sides.

From the single-strand button knots chapter, these knots have been reconfigured so that one plane of the knot faces upwards and one faces downwards with the cord ends coming out of the bottom plane to form the stem of a button: #625 looks like a modified #842 #627 (a square knot) looks like a modified 2x2 mystic #629 is a modified square flower knot (1x1 mystic) #630 (an oblong knot) is a modified 2x1 mystic #631 is a modified 2x2 mystic #632 is a modified 2x3 mystic #634 is a modified #842 #635 is a modified pentagonal mystic

From the multi-strand buttons, tied on the table chapter, similar to the single-strand button knots in configuration they are tied with multiple cords, all exiting the knot from the centre of the bottom plane to form the stem of the button: #1007 (tied in 4 strands) is a modified 2x2 mystic #1008 (tied in 5 strands) is a modified pentagonal mystic

From the fancy knots chapter: #2445 is a modified square flower knot with just the structural loops doubled #2458 (a triangular butterfly knot) is #842 with the ends coming out of a corner #2459 is #2458 with the ends coming out of a side #2460 is a 2x2 mystic #2461 is a 3x3 mystic #2462 is a pentagonal mystic with the ends coming out of a side #2469 is a 2x2 mystic with 2 ears on each side formed into a double coin knot, almost the classic butterfly knot #2471 is a 2x2 mystic with top and bottom wing halves created out of ears formed into double coin knots (plus antennae) #2472 is a 2x2 mystic with the double coin knots tied just slightly differently #2473 is a 3x3 mystic knot with 2 sets of ears on each side tied into modified double coin knots #2477 and #2479 are square flower knots tied in sequence in a “Chinese lantern cord” with their side ears tied into double coin knots. #2482 is a basic square flower knot #2483 is a 4x1 mystic knot