The Necklace That Had To Be Made ~ The Holy Hand...

"Holy Hand" necklace, made of citrine,
rose quartz, fresh water pearls, and old
tradewind beads from Nagaland in deep
yellow with old carved "Henna Hand"
from Indonesia...

For the last few days the hand has been haunting me. I used to make jewelry to sell, nearly 10 years ago, and had quite a large stash of antique and vintage beads and pieces to make jewelry with. I sold most of the ones with my bone pieces except for 2, and this old "Henna Hand" from Indonesia has been calling to me, louder and louder and louder so that last night I told my dear sister-friend Noreen that I HAD to make it and she said YOU SHOULD!

Well, what with trying to get Cecelia finished and having to rip out her whole tail and start over, and then having spent 3 hours on her nose for heaven's sakes, I really felt like I ought to be finishing Cecelia, which certainly I will do and soon, but this necklace was calling to me like a siren in the sea and when I finally put it on, after having to string it twice (I first strung it on silk bead cord which immediately broke.... sigh... that's a lot of beads. The necklace is 30" long, the hand itself, 2".) I felt this whoooosh of beautiful energy. Very powerful stones, very powerful imagery in the hand, and as all of my work is done with my hands, and I have a very large tattoo on the back of my right/writing hand to always remind me to use my writing for spiritual good, hand symbols are very holy to me. Here is a closeup of the bottom of the necklace with the details of the hand seen more closely...







It's funny, the things that draw us, and how they come at very specific times. I was telling Noreen last night that this has been a rather phenomenal time for me. First of all I have been doing this fiber project and that for the last 3 years and while I was happy with the outcome and sold a lot of them, nothing really clicked. I've sold on eBay and etsy and locally, but nothing ever hit me just right, gave me that "This is IT! This is what I'm supposed to be doing!" until I started making the Rainbow Serpents (And I now only call them serpents because people kind of recoil from the word *snake* and in my mind, the serpents I am creating are more mythical, spiritual creatures with very positive connotations...) and something magical happened when I did. In fact, a lot of magical things happened.

The work that I couldn't get going is going like wildfire. The first one sold before it was finished and the buyer was going to buy it sight unseen until I insisted she let me take pictures and let her SEE it first! (She still bought it after seeing pictures of it not quite finished! And then wrote a beautiful note for me to share here with readers about how she feels about the magical Beatrix!) Cecelia is almost finished now as well and I've already had 2 requests of interest about her but she is not yet sold. And while all of this was going on, my fiber studio, which looked like a hurricane blew through and I couldn't get into it is now all cleaned up and organized and I can get to everything and it is changing the whole face of my work and it is as if everything is going at warp speed (...even though an individual serpent takes weeks to make. The first one was 8' long and the new one is over 5' long, with many, many handspun yarns spun especially for the piece. As a yarn designer this is very exciting work.), and it's as if a domino effect is happening, which affirms what we all know -- when it's right, it's right. When you find your true vocation/avocation, everything falls in to place to make it so. You know what they say, "Do what you love and the money will follow." I really believe this is true.

And so today I return to the work of finishing Cecelia. And then the next serpent will begin to manifest. The revelation of the new being coming into the world is pure magic.

Find your work. Find the work that calls to you. Don't mind other people telling you that you are crazy or this or that will never sell. Go with your heart. If you follow your heart you will never go wrong. And it will unfold in it's right and perfect time.

I follow my heart, and I follow my hands, and they are holy...

Warm Regards and Deepest Blessings to All...

Maitri