Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Tips ’n’ Tricks: Pearls for Patience

In this fast-paced world, we are so accustomed to instant gratification—high-speed internet

connection, same-day delivery. We are multitasking ourselves to death. Slow down and enjoy

your life. It is worth it, I assure you. Here is a quick way to simply relax and enjoy the little things

of life: Wear a pearl. Pearl earrings and necklaces are the best, as they calm and clear the

mind.

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Tips ’n’ Tricks: A Pocketful of Kryptonite

While making a gemstone belt or waist chain could be a major investment of time and money,

placing a rock in your pocket is a quick and easy way to bring change into your life. To get a

new job, carry tourmaline, moss agate, tiger’s-eye, or carnelian. If you’re looking for love, pocket

a moonstone. For money, carry green jade.

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

The Language of Jewelry: Brooches, Headdresses, and Bracelets

Brooches

Brooches symbolize virginity, faithfulness, and protection. A diamond-studded brooch is a double symbol of love and safeguarding. Brooches were the costume jewelry of the medieval Irish, who decorated themselves with gems and valuable stones to show they were part of the aspiring warrior caste.

Headdresses

It is no accident that kings, queens, and emperors wear crowns. The ancients wanted their leaders to be wise, and bejeweled crowns brought the energy of gems to bear on their brows. While you might not want to wear a tiara to the office, you can wear hair clips and barrettes with crystals and stones attached for some of the same reasons. Why not be smarter and smartly accessorized?

I love it when bindis (the “dots” traditionally worn by Indian women on their foreheads) came back into vogue, because jewels on the third eye (an invisible organ of spiritual perception) stimulate intuition and compassion. Wear bindis in moderation, however, to avoid exhausting your center of intuition.

Bracelets

I love bracelets and am wearing an aventurine cuff right now. The wrists are perfect pulse points. Organic gems, such as coral and abalone, are very helpful for energy flow and release. Turquoise is great for stabilizing and calming you physically. Ancient cultures loved to wear armbands and cuffs, and those have gone out of style except among the most dramatic of fashionistas. Perhaps we should try to bring this style back because gem and crystal armbands are very good for body and soul.

Thursday, November 7, 2024

The Language of Jewelry: Rings

Rings represent eternity, unity, reincarnation, safety, union, power, and energy. They symbolize the eternity of the circle shape—the universe. Wearing rings was believed to help ward off any kind of malevolence through their continuity—nothing could get in. A ring binds you with the energy of the stone. In dream psychology, a ring represents the desire for reconciliation of the different parts of your being and personality; it shows you want to be an integrated whole, which is the first step in making it happen. If you want to deepen a friendship, exchange amber rings with your friend to bind you together forever. Why do you think Native Americans wear turquoise rings? They know it is a guardian stone; its power is doubled when it is in a ring.

When wearing a ring, be sure the bottom side of the stone is open to allow greater connection between the stone and your skin. On your left hand, wear ring gems that awaken and release emotions, and on your right hand, wear stones that will enhance your career and your personal goals in life. I know that thumb rings have become a big trend, but you should know that wearing them could block the energy of the thumbs or, even worse, bring out egotism and selfishness.

Your index fingers are indicators of achievement, and wearing the proper gem on that finger can really aid you in striving for your dreams. For wisdom, wear lapis lazuli. For greater love of yourself and others, try pearl, moonstone, or garnet. For success, wear carnelian. For a quiet mind and greater calm, wear sodalite chrysocolla, or turquoise.

Your middle fingers are about ideas and insight as well as intuition; the left hand represents the receiving of ideas, and the right hand represents action and achievement in your life. Wear stones on the middle finger only when you want to get a lot of psychic input from the world around you. For greater sensitivity and creativity, wear amethyst. To awaken your inner and outer beauty, wear ruby. To access your higher good and know your life purpose, wear sapphire or quartz crystal.

The ring finger is about creativity, and, of course, the ring finger on the left hand is your love center and a direct connection to your heart. For deep and loyal ties of love, wear diamond. To express your love, wear moonstone. To inspire creativity, wear emerald. To meet creativity goals, wear tiger’s-eye or cat’s-eye. For practicality in your work and art, wear turquoise. For service to your community and the world, wear opal. For serenity both within and without, wear ruby.

Pinkie fingers represent change. The right gem on your little finger can help you find and pursue new opportunities and change the direction of your whole life. This is a lot of power in one little ring! For better organizational habits, wear pearl. For unwinding and simplifying, wear turquoise. To bring new energy and new prospects, wear aventurine.

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Tips ’n’ Tricks: A Muse-ical Wand

If your passion is making art or music, throwing pots, or growing an artful garden, you are an imaginative person, and you need to stay in touch with your muse. Call her to you anytime you are feeling blocked or uninspired. You can make a very special tool that will draw your muse to you with sweet-smelling smoke.

You’ll want to keep a pot of the hardy and sun-loving herb sage on your windowsill so it is handy at all times. Here is a simple way to use this herb to create a wand for instant inspiration: Combine a long stalk of fennel with a twisted bundle of sage and long sticks of your favorite incense, such as cinnamon or nag champ (my personal favorite). Braid the materials tightly together into a wand using purple (for power) and gold (for money) string or thread. Before any artistic endeavor or meditation, light one end of the wand with a candle and wave it around to clear your environment, allowing the smoke to clear your mind in the process.

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Tips ’n’ Tricks: Speaking Stones

If you are a singer or speaker or simply wish to improve how you express yourself, wear these stones in chokers or necklaces to realize a noticeable change for the better: amber, amethyst, aquamarine, azurite, blue obsidian, blue topaz, blue tourmaline, kunzite, lepidolite, and turquoise.

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

The Language of Jewelry

A little thoughtfulness about how and where to wear your crystal and gem jewelry can go a long way toward enhancing your health and happiness. The left side of your body is the most sensitive, or feeling side; the right side is your action side. Information and energy flow into your left side much more quickly, so you can protect yourself by wearing crystals on that side that act as energy guards. Jewelry worn on the right side of your body helps with work, productivity, and success.

Necklaces, Pendants, and Chokers

Perhaps you want to be a better communicator or to sing or simply to express yourself more freely. A blocked throat chakra can result in your feelings and ideas being blocked. So, in this case, you will want to focus on opening up the throat chakra. A necklace or choker can serve this purpose. A strand of pearls not only looks timelessly elegant but also boosts your self-esteem and sociability. The best metals for this use are silver, copper, and gold. You will want to avoid aluminum entirely because it is considered to be a health risk.

Earrings

You can wear one gold earring and one silver earring to rid yourself of the discomfort of a headache. Earrings were once worn to guard ears from potential disease and from hearing bad news. They were also believed to strengthen weak eyes, especially if set with emeralds. Earrings help to balance both hemispheres of the brain and can stabilize the throat chakra. The earlobes are sensory centers on the body and usually benefit from the stimulation of a gem or crystal. Jade and tiger’s-eye are great for reviving and refreshing. You will generally feel quite good with these two earring choices. Sapphires will bring you greater wisdom. However, lapis lazuli and opal can be overstimulating as earrings, so watch carefully and see how your body reacts to them. Some people feel light-headed with these two stones placed so high on the body. Malachite can be too spiritually stimulating as earrings; don’t wear them unless you want to be in a soulful or dreamy reverie. Go for garnet, as garnet earrings will enhance your popularity. And here is a tip that might soon cause a stampede to the jewelry shop: Rose quartz is wonderful for the skin and can even slow aging!

Chains

Chains represent links between people, the ties that bind you to another. Other mystical associations for chains are happiness and justice; prayer; reason and the soul; communication and command. Plato referred to a chain of being, a golden chain linking the earth to the heavens above, a bond between humans and immortals. Socrates tied our human happiness to the concept of justice with a chain of steel and diamonds. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite compared the practice of prayer to an infinitely luminous chain going from Earth to heaven. An astral cord, akin to a golden chain, binds the spirit to the psyche and binds reason to the soul.