Today I am delighted to introduce Rev. Jamie L. Saloff as a guest blogger on our site. Jamie is an author, speaker, intuitive, from Edinboro, PA, USA. I hope you enjoy her post, remember you can leave your comments and feedback in the box below.
Since I was little I loved sequins, beads, crystals, and sparkly things. Luckily, my mother often had a lot of those kinds of things around. She not only made all her own clothes (and most of mine), but she had a home-based business of creating felt Christmas tree ornament dolls that included buyers such as Marshall Fields in Chicago and Frederick Nelson in Seattle. (See http://www.iaulandas.com) From the age of three I was “helping” by glueing mouse ears and other small parts.
I grew up, my mother retired. Although I played around with craft, writing was more my calling. Nevertheless, I never lost my desire for “sparkly” things and continued collecting special beads, gemstones, and crystals, which I would wear or give away.
I decided to go back to school. Not for writing this time, but for healing. I learned a lot in the two-year program. There was an unexpected side effect. It started with the teachings of Sig Longren, who taught about sacred space, which he created with a small bag he carried always, containing symbols of the four directions (wind, earth, fire, water).
I thought about this little bundle and wanted to create something like that, but thinking of my already stuffed purse, I decided to create it in the form of some jewelry that could be worn instead of carried.
The result was a gemstone donut with a flurry of fiber and dangles representing–now six–directions (heaven above, the earth’s molten core, fire, water, air, earth). I hung Tibetan tekkite as a center piece, a stone said to be meteorite fallen into Tibet. (One never knows when creating the piece if that is really true.) Entwined among the ribbon and fluffy threads are balls of lava (core of the earth), gemstones, and charms of fish and birds, bells and feathers, inspiring words, and other trinkets.
The amazing thing about these sacred space necklaces is that I have never sold them and never make them just for fun. Instead, a kind of inner knowing will come over me, compelling me, even nagging me, “create a piece for so-and-so,” and so I do. I usually end up making three or four a year.
I feel that when I honor this calling I am honoring the creative muse in my heart, in turn, honoring my mother who instilled that in me, and my father, who also worked with his hands. It honors the person who receives the special gift, and honors spirit with its bits of Mother Earth and Father Sky.
In addition, when I work in this mode, I find my life sparkles in other ways. The creative muses open my mind to finding previously unseen solutions for life problems and situations. I love how my mind becomes quiet and focused on the task at hand, how time seems to stand still,
and how from nothing but bits of earth and sky, water and fire, a gift of love emerges.
The result was a gemstone donut with a flurry of fiber and dangles representing–now six–directions (heaven above, the earth’s molten core, fire, water, air, earth). I hung Tibetan tekkite as a center piece, a stone said to be meteorite fallen into Tibet. (One never knows when creating the piece if that is really true.) Entwined among the ribbon and fluffy threads are balls of lava (core of the earth), gemstones, and charms of fish and birds, bells and feathers, inspiring words, and other trinkets.