This month, my partner
Johnna Morianna Strange and I are relaunching what has been a labor of love,
Devi Jewels. For years I have made malas – prayer beads in the Vedic tradition – using sacred materials like selected gemstones, gold, silver, and rudraksha seeds. I believe the Earth and Cosmos give us these powerful allies to help keep our attention tuned to the Divine, especially when as prayer strands they are used for repetition of prayers or mantras. In many traditions of spirit, the names of God are considered to be the body of God. They are not descriptions but rather an actual embodiment of the Divine. Therefore to call them is to enter God's domain.
It's a fairly subtle understanding. Instead of an easily-recognized form like a dancing Ganesha, God can be experienced as the sound we are making within ourselves as we sing or pray. And when we do so with a feeling of devotion, connection, love – then God is as near as our own breath. It's a very personal form of worship.
After many years of devotional singing in the yogic tradition – called kirtan – I am happy to tell you that repeating the names of God in song (though it may seem repetitious at first) continues to help me create joy, clarity and peaceful focus in my life.
More subtle, but no less powerful, are the silent rounds of mantra that I repeat as part of my daily life.
It is from this space that the prayer jewelry that I make arises.
This blog will describe what it's like to launch and operate a dharmic (rightful) micro-enterprise, the rarely-understood powers of sacred precious materials, what the planets have to do with gemstones, beauty as a spiritual practice, and what it's like to weave magic in gold and silver. We're going deep. Come along for the journey.
"The heart is the hub of all sacred places – go there and roam." Muktananda
