Priestess Necklace

[qos]

My teacher makes prayer beads, and I have been so impressed and moved by her work that I overcame my own fear of handiwork (I have a lousy track record!) and asked if we could do some beading together while I visited. She was happy to agree, and I even stopped into a local store and bought some beads before I went down. (I was going to write Oooh! Shiny! but my beads were more rocky and crackly.)

Saturday after we'd both had some time to decompress after the initiation ritual, we decided to walk into town so I could buy a souvenier for my kid and we could visit 'her' bead store. I found even more lovely beads -- and even more importantly, a silver medallion that just said "Ereshkigal" to me.

You see: I'm not aware of any ancient visual representations of Ereshkigal. I've created a devotional collage (posted here several months ago) from images that speak to me of Her, but I can't go online and order a replica statue. This medallion (behind the cut below) is suggestive of Kali, but I don't actually connect the figure to any specific goddess. She is clearly -- to me -- a Dark Goddess, and definitely resonates with the "terrible" aspect of Ereshkigal. (She does have a "lovely" aspect too.)

I brought the medallion and a few dozen more beads back to my teacher's house, and was given the use of a beading tray, some tigertail, some crimp beads, and generous assistance. What I ended up with was an extremely satisfying priestess necklace which commemorates my initiation.

I'm not the best photographer, and the full beauty of the beads seem to require better lighting than I have. I'll see if I can get something better later. But I'm eager to share now. One set is on a gold cloth background and brings out the rich color of the beads; the others are in daylight and give better clarity.



Click on image for larger view.

Comments

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

It doesn't have a "clasp" that opens and closes. I forget what to call a finding that serves as an anchor for the ends. Essentially the tigertail wraps around the loops in the end-piece, then doubles back on itself through a row of crimp beads which are crimped with pliers to hold the strand closed.