The Sacred Stone

Sacred Stone made a gazillion years ago by sweet Mother Earth

With permission from my special friend I want to share a story of creation with you. I'm feeling very blessed, surprised, pleased, and joyful that over the past couple of years, this year especially, my activities have strongly taken a turn into directions that are more fulfilling than I ever imagined they could be.

I love a new project. I love beginnings. I love working with people, being creative with them, and helping to bring their personal visions into a form they can hold in their hands, wear close to their hearts, and gain confirmation and strength from.

Imagine for a moment the start of a new project. The dream.

"Hi Jen, I'm going to send you inspiration photos for a necklace I'm going to commission." That's how this began, a conversation with 3,000 miles separating us, but the magic was already starting to happen.

My friend - I cannot call her a client, and I cannot call her a customer, for in hearing the stories behind the reasons most people invest in my work, gorgeous relationships are born, and they are so precious - sent  several images of mystical, magical worlds through my Facebook feed. I thought, as I drank my tea after waking up to start my day, how wonderful to explore each one and soak up the essence of this woman - part gypsy, part warrior, part movie star, part gentle lover of all things vulnerable - her dreams, her challenges, her hopes, wins, losses, her inexorable climb. What a fascinating and somehow strengthening way to spend my time, orienting myself to her vision.

I am learning my audience, and like the roots of the trees in the forest, we connect, we communicate, we find the kindred nourishment that feeds our souls. It is in some ways humbling, and at times resoundingly glorious. 

Here, I must apologize because I'm about to break a rule. I want very much to share a few of these images with you, but I don't have the names of the artists who created the works. If anyone does know, please send along any info, I'm more than happy to include credit where it is due. I've decided to break this rule because the importance of sharing the process with you is greater than the rule, and in any case, in time, I may be able to remedy that with some research. But for now, take a step into a tiny bit of the collection of works that help a woman to define herself, to feed her soul, to stay strong despite her challenges.

Fox Woman/Medicine Woman

My beautiful friend has gorgeous red hair, when she isn't wearing it blue or purple, and she has strong Nordic ancestry lines.

Portal to other worlds

She has an awareness of other worlds, having experienced a near death event when she was young. The details of that event are a gift to her from Spirit, to keep her strong on her journeys. She said to me "I remember hovering over my body, and was startled at the acknowledgment that it was mine! Long story short, I went through some kind of tunnel and came to a blue/grey place of knowledge. All information was accessed instantly, and communication was telepathic. All questions answered. Everything was there...."

She said, "...I made a decision to come back for my [family member], and it was one of the toughest choices that I can recall, as once you see/feel pure love and frequency like that, it's hard to separate with. I was told it would hurt, and it did."

Worlds within worlds

She sent me this picture, which to me speaks of the depths inside seemingly innocuous portals of ourselves. As we go about life, we experience all kinds of things that help us plumb them to collect wisdom.

We run.

She sent me worlds that capture the urgency of our internal missions, sometimes we know not where or why we run, but we run. Sometimes we run towards something, and sometimes away from something. We run, even standing still.

Allies.

And we are not alone. We have allies and one of our greatest powers is to know who and what and where our allies are. They can take many forms. They may be people, animals, plants, birds, fish, places, activities or practices. Our allies keep us strong.

So these are some of the glimpses into the worlds this beautiful woman inhabits while she is working, doing ordinary chores, loving, living. Being her Self. I tucked them into my heart and mind. I recognize many of these worlds, having my own versions of them, as I might hazard a guess, you do too.

She said, "I had a vision once of a deep, abundant waterfall that poured from my heart, and pooled into my diaphragm. This gave me strength and clarity to my words and clear insight that cuts like a sword and illuminated the dark and taps into the sacred. I hope that helps. Like an insightful, healing, protective necklace."

What wonderful information to receive as we're beginning her one-of-a-kind creation! Wow, what artist wouldn't be thrilled running with that?!

So over the years, I've collected beautiful cabochons from places all over the globe, and I have vendors that I like who are located also all over the globe. We knew this would be a gemstone necklace. 

I looked through my cabs, feeling the tugs of all of them as they appealed to me to work on them - everything in good time, and I may need a lot of it, and I sent her photos of some of the ones that had strong energies, the right colors, and captured various parts of her vision.

I am careful when I send things for my peeps to consider and dream on, because I know that too many choices create confusion. I try to get it pretty close. 

Jasper/agate with a bit of quartz

This jasper/agate cab has very strong energies and is very beautiful, also it was close to her colors, but in my mind I didn't think it had the composition that would be just right for her. But I sent the photo for her to consider.

Gorgeous labradorite

This labradorite cabochon is beautiful, and captures the waterfall she spoke of, but I didn't feel it was the strongest for her because it was a bit limited in composition. I think it would appeal more to someone who is very attached to the sea. Also, for her, it was a bit small. But I sent her the photo to dream on.

Seraphinite - Angel Wings

This stunning cab is called seraphinite and we both fell in love with it. I told her I'd need to order it and it had to travel all the way from India. We loved the colors and the spiritual properties of this gemstone, and secretly, before she made her decision I went ahead and ordered it because I want to wear it xo. I was ready to let her have it if she decided that way, but if not, oh so special for me.

And there were a few others. But then I knew I had to do something I wasn't sure I wanted to do. I had the blue/grey world cab in my stash and I had thought when I first bought it that it would be mine. But I knew I had to show it to her, so I did. 

Agate cabochon next to labradorite with quarter showing size

I sent her the photo and yep! That was the one! The blue/grey world of knowledge, the memory sparker for her allies who are always with her. A cab that, when she looks at it, she can climb right into and walk around. It has mountains on the right, deep waters in the middle, moss and grasses and clouds and fog. And the darkness of the void, from which all creativity springs. It is her cab. 

My husband and I watched a science series on BBC the other night (probably no accident coming across that info and material) and it took us through the processes of our beautiful Earth as she creates all different kinds of gemstones. Some of them are literally millions of years old, and have been through the pressures of heat and life, and some are created deep in the bowels of the Earth but come to the surface for our discovery through various Earth movements, storms, and upheaval. A gemstone cab is a very special gift of Earth when we get to be caretakers for awhile.

There was a bit more for us to talk about as she made her decision. "In your opinion," she said, "which cab do you think would be the best balance, energy, and design?"

And because I want my peeps to be very much a part of the decision making process, I told her the beautiful agate was the perfect size, and carved such that it would take this particular beading process very well, but I sent her the links to information available about gemstones themselves. They have properties, energetic, scientific, healing, history, etc. And one of my favorite sites for this info is Shimmerlings - doesn't that website name just tickle your fancy? So I sent her the info about agate, which is a wonderful grounding stone with energetic properties that support her vision. Shimmerlings rocks! They have a section for scientific, metaphysical, healing, magical, and zodiac information for each type of gemstone.

So she had some homework to do, since I sent her a bit of info on a couple of the other cabs she was interested in, but after she checked into it, the beautiful agate cab won.

And that is where some more fun begins!!

I have enough beads to open a sizeable store, but with each project, usually some special things are needed, so I get to go research my vendors (of which there are about 20 all over the globe, no, Michael's doesn't cut it), and find just the right colors and shapes and sizes and sparkleness. Oh it is so fun.

Some of my peeps like "process photos," and so I sent her photos of the beads as they arrived. I did as much work on the cab as I could with what I had on hand, but I wanted very subtle color, just the right color, pulled right out of the cab itself, so I had to wait for these beauties to arrive. Argh, the waiting. At least other projects get done in the meantime.

At last they started arriving in my mailbox. Joy!

My drafting table starts to get covered with little dishes of just the right colors.

Fringe tips! (Czech Republic)

Border beads!

Swarovski crystals!

The fringe tips were the last to arrive, having come a very long way - I have to find vendors who don't have a ridiculously high minimum, but carry the selection of colors I want, and have it in stock - the dark blue was quite the quest to find, and very important for the piece. My envelope came stamped with a million beautiful floral stamps all the way from Russia for some of the beads. I should've saved it, but I'm trying to be over that at this point. So pretty.

At last I could say to her, "Okay baby. I'm going to start this right after I finish my current commission. Should be done in a couple of weeks. Do you want me to send you photos along the way?" And she said, "YES!"

So I did. And that is always a risk. Like looking at a painting before it's finished - it doesn't all come together til it is in context with its whole self, kind of like human beings. 

A little vulnerable....

I sent her a photo when I was about half done - and the white backing is showing, and the fringe is only half done and the piece had quite a bit of vulnerability about it. My hubby said to me he couldn't see the vision then, and had some doubt about it, but in my heart I knew.

Fringe tips - Earth and blue/grey world colors!

I sent her a photo of the fringe tips as they started to encompass the weight and flow of the design.

Almost there....

I sent her a photo when the piece was nearly done, backing still showing, but her fluffiness is definitely expressing itself!

Protection.

I sent her a photo of how the design wanted to express itself in the form of a shield, with bronze beads echoing the beauty of the cab.

Incubation

And I sent her the photo of when the last step begins, where I've trimmed off all the extraneous material and the soft, black Ultrasuede is being glued onto the back, in preparation for sewing the border around to finish it. Waiting for the glue to set takes patience, and I was chomping at the bit to work on the rest of it!

Magical Blue/Grey World Sacred Necklace

At last I could finish the backing border and the whole piece came together. Blue/grey world that she can climb into whenever she feels the need for a little piece of her heaven, her allies, peace, and beauty. 

Because of her vision, the fringe begins with blue for the communication chakra, goes to green for the heart chakra, and flows into black, the source of all creation. The colors are subtle, because I wanted to preserve the cabochon itself as the focal point. So outside in the sunshine you can distinguish the colors, but in various indoor localities, it is very quiet.

She's gonna rock it and if I'm very, very lucky, she'll send me a photo of her wearing it. And if you're very, very lucky, she'll let me share it with you!

So that is one story of creation that I'm pleased to be able to share with you. Thanks for your interest in the story. 

I dearly love my work. Thank you for my blessings angels, spirits, my muses, and my Creative Source. Thank you Lovie peeps for the sweet journeys we take together. 

Namaste,
Jen