Re-Making the Strand
Feb. 17th, 2009 08:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qosI've re-made the prayer bead strand that broke.
It's not quite the same as it was before (aside from the fact that my finishing is never quite as elegant as my teacher's work).
The original strand had rose quartz to represent Inanna -- and while it worked within the artistic and energetic integrity of the piece, it didn't feel entirely right to me as a representation of Inanna. Her stone is lapis -- and she's far more fierce than rose quartz feels to me.
As it happens, I have a strand of lapis beads which my ex-husband gave me for Christmas years ago. It's been sitting on my Inanna altar since I put it up a few months ago, but not actually used. As I looked at the rose quartz beads this evening I realized that the lapis beads were about the same size. I brought them down, and yes -- they fit.
So I re-did the strand with lapis instead of rose quartz.
Except that I cut the tiger tail off too short to be able to double it back through the crimp beads to finish it, requiring me to cut another length and re-string the strand.
That's when I realized that the row of lapis seemed too intense, and the dark shade combined with the skulls and the wood beads to make the overall tone of the strand too dark. So I swapped out half the lapis for half the original rose quartz, alternating them. The contrasting colors seemed more Inanna-like than either solid color, and seemed to represent both the intense and the light energies better than either stone alone.
When I re-strung it this time, everything went together well. It still has all the elements my teacher included, as well as a bit more to make it fully mine.
I'll try to post a photo in the next day or so.
It's not quite the same as it was before (aside from the fact that my finishing is never quite as elegant as my teacher's work).
The original strand had rose quartz to represent Inanna -- and while it worked within the artistic and energetic integrity of the piece, it didn't feel entirely right to me as a representation of Inanna. Her stone is lapis -- and she's far more fierce than rose quartz feels to me.
As it happens, I have a strand of lapis beads which my ex-husband gave me for Christmas years ago. It's been sitting on my Inanna altar since I put it up a few months ago, but not actually used. As I looked at the rose quartz beads this evening I realized that the lapis beads were about the same size. I brought them down, and yes -- they fit.
So I re-did the strand with lapis instead of rose quartz.
Except that I cut the tiger tail off too short to be able to double it back through the crimp beads to finish it, requiring me to cut another length and re-string the strand.
That's when I realized that the row of lapis seemed too intense, and the dark shade combined with the skulls and the wood beads to make the overall tone of the strand too dark. So I swapped out half the lapis for half the original rose quartz, alternating them. The contrasting colors seemed more Inanna-like than either solid color, and seemed to represent both the intense and the light energies better than either stone alone.
When I re-strung it this time, everything went together well. It still has all the elements my teacher included, as well as a bit more to make it fully mine.
I'll try to post a photo in the next day or so.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 05:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 05:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 05:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 11:19 am (UTC)I hope you are able to post a picture. It sounds beautiful, and well suited to your needs. I guess we need to make these changes as we develop along our paths, but when we get attached to things, like our beads for instance, it can feel like a wrench sometimes to move forward, to 'grow out of' our much-loved pieces. What happened with yours seems to be not so much that you grew out of it, but that it needed adapting in order to move forward with you. Now it has both yours and your teacher's energies within the strand, reflecting your energies working together, and a memory of your ordination at Pantheacon this weekend. Kind of a physical manifestation of the spiritual changes you made. :-)
Hugs
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 02:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 03:01 pm (UTC)Exactly!
*hugs
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-19 05:28 am (UTC)I witness nothing but confirmation and affirmation of your ordination in this actual ordeal.
That you took something precious which was broken and remade it into a new, symbolically richer personal set shouts from the rooftops what you are made of, what you now are, and that it is real.
ἄξια!
She is Worthy!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-19 05:34 am (UTC)