devotional jewelry – Serendipities

Vanir Devotional Bracelets!

November 18, 2018
by Alexandra

We made these for NoVA Pagan Pride Day in September, but I hadn’t gotten around to blogging about them or uploading them to the shop until now! October was a crazy month, ya’ll, and now I’m playing catch-up.

vanir bracelets.jpg — Clockwise from top left: bracelets for Freyr, Freyja, Nerthus, and Njord

Like most of our bracelets, these are made from a variety of stone beads, many of which are semi-precious, pearl knotted on durable nylon cording, with metal toggle clasps. The Freyr bracelet is made with red tiger’s eye, chrysanthemum stone, and mahogany obsidian. The one for Freyja has golden tiger’s eye, red agate, and rutilated quartz. For Nerthus, we chose kambaba jasper, moss agate, and bronzeite. The bracelet for Njord has larvikite, dumortierite, and sodalite. The tiger’s eye, bronzeite, larvikite, and dumortierite all have flashes that are not readily caught in a photograph, and the greens in the kambaba jasper are much more brilliant in the sunlight. Overall, though, the above images are a fair rendering of the stones used. The findings are all gold-colored metal, and the difference in coloring here is not as pronounced in person; here it’s largely due to environmental reflections in the photographs. Each bracelet also includes a single glass bead to ease the use of the toggle clasp. These bracelets are approximately 8 inches long, and we can make them longer or shorter to better fit you, if requested.

All four are now available in the Etsy shop for $40 each, and we can make stretchy versions of them for the slightly cheaper price of $25 (due to the less intensive labor process and fewer materials), so do inquire if you’d prefer that style!

Also, since we’ve started to expand our devotional bracelets out to the Celtic and Germanic pantheons, who else do you want to see? Let us know!

New Bracelet Style!

bast7

We’ve been selling the top style, with toggle clasps and pearl knotting, for a while now, but just this past weekend at NoVA Pagan Pride Day, we unveiled a new version, on stretchy cord! They seemed pretty popular, probably due to the ease of wear, and maybe because of the slightly lower price point!

They won’t all be in the Etsy shop just yet, because we’ve only made a few so far, but if you’ve had your eye on a bracelet you think you’d prefer on stretchy cord, drop us a line! We can either stick a custom listing in the shop or send you an invoice with Paypal. We’re always happy to do custom orders, especially when we’re going to be rolling out the product later on anyway!

What do you think? Which style do you prefer? And what other types of devotional jewelry do you want to see in the future? Necklaces? Earrings? Drop a comment below or send us an email; we’d love to hear from you!

A New Toy!

February 23, 2018
by Alexandra

This has been a rough week in Casa Serendipities, so I don’t have a long and thoughtful post for you, but I thought perhaps I could show you a new toy I got recently!

Check this out! It’s a portable light box mini photo studio thing!

And that means better photos of jewelry coming soon to an Etsy shop near you, as soon as I have enough time to fiddle with that camera on a tripod and figure out the best settings.

Hopefully soon – as long as we stop having revolving door colds, ugh. For now, this lil witch is enchanting her herbal tea and taking elderberry syrup…

Etsy Shop Update

May 24, 2016
by Alexandra

I’ve been sick unfortunately (it’s all this rain), so not everything is up in the shop yet following Baltimore Faerie Faire, but we do have two new listings!

I made two more devotional bracelets especially for the Faeries, one for each of the two Goddesses I’ve been working with as Queens of the Fae: Morrigan and Aine. Morrigan’s is made with lapis lazuli, brecciated jasper, dark amethyst, and smoky quartz. Aine’s has green aventurine, rose quartz, light amethyst, and opalite.

Right now I have them both featured in our etsy shop, along with the Faery Oracle Card Readings!

Hopefully I’ll be done photographing and listing everything else soon – stay tuned!

New Devotional Bracelet!

March 2, 2016
by Alexandra

Sekhmet (1)

This one is for Sekmet / Hathor (Hetheru), and the stone beads are tiger’s eye, picture jasper, red agate, and rutilated quartz. It’s pretty similar to the Bast bracelet, but the onyx is traded out for red agate here. It’s also about 8.5 inches in length, but as with the Bast bracelet, it should be fairly easy to make a little smaller or a little larger.

This is the second piece of devotional jewelry I have designed and listed in my Etsy shop, but there are more on the way! Stay tuned!

~Réaltán~

Etsy Shop Update

So in my Etsy Shop I’m migrating towards two types of listing, as far as the tarot and oracle card readings are concerned: by deck, and by spread. I think having one listing with multiple price tiers is a better idea for me in the long run, because it will cut down on relisting costs and expirations. To that end, I’m starting a new sort of aesthetic for that. Most of the deck listings currently look a bit like this:

That’s a lot witchier than the cards by themselves with plain wood beneath them, don’t you think? Hopefully potential clients will like it, too. I’m still including lots of pictures of cards, of course, especially in these deck listings.

The thematic spread listings got a facelift, too, but I think they may still be too plain. Here’s an example:

That could use witch-ing up a little, probably. But at least this one’s pretty straightforward and was up in time for Valentine’s Day. For these I’m also including a picture of all the decks I have, to make it a little easier for clients to choose one.

Beyond Love and Career and New Year (which will be leaving soon), I don’t have any thematic spread listings… but I’m thinking about perhaps making one or two more, if I can figure out what sorts of things potential clients are looking for.

Outside of the realm of divination, I’m working on devotional bracelets for Sekhmet and Anubis, and hopefully those will be in my shop soon! Stay posted!

In other news, I’m going to start trying to update this blog weekly, probably on Mondays, although I’ll be out of town for the end of February, so I may not start posting regularly until mid-March. Thanks for following along!

~Réaltán~

Brief Update

February 1, 2016
by Alexandra

Hello All!

I’ve been pretty sick lately and so haven’t updated here, apologies… I’m trying to catch up on things today. This is going to be a sort of a list-post, so bear with me, okay?

Recently Gwdihŵ and I did another big-and-intense reiki healing session on another friend, but as that one was highly personal and centered around past traumas, we decided it was best not to post about it, even under a psuedonym. This one was done as a gift to a friend in need, so no barter this time… though I think we have a paying customer in the works, and hopefully it will only take a few paying customers before we can afford our own travel massage table, so we can have people lie down (instead of sitting in comfy chairs).

The biggest thing to report, I suppose, is that we’ve submitted an application to vend Baltimore Faerie Faire this May. We hope to offer quick reiki treatments and some gemstone jewelry – probably some empath shields (charged lava stone beads) and the like turned into bracelets as well. If we’re accepted, I’ll need to make a ton of inventory before then, but that should be doable! So fingers crossed and candles lit and here’s to hoping!

The next thing is sort of an upcoming thing… I have a lot of new pictures to add to the Etsy shop, and some of the listings will be changing, and I’ll be adding a new tarot deck, the Radiant Rider-Waite. So be on the lookout for that! I’ll probably make a post with a few pictures here, once I’m done.

And one more teaser: I’ve started crocheting a kokeshi-style Sekhmet icon. I’ll post pictures and talk about that more once I’ve finished one! It’s a pretty exciting project, and I think they’ll make create altar pieces if I can do a bunch of different deities – similar to the devotional bracelets.

And speaking of devotional bracelets, the one for Bast is still available in my shop, though I should probably whip up another one as that one sold. And there’s a Sekhmet one in the works, though I need to get my hands on some tiger’s eye beads in a better shade of brown.

That’s all for now. Thanks for following along and check back in soon!

~Réaltán~

Devotional Jewelry: Bast

November 30, 2015
by Alexandra

Bast5

I have finally finished (and listed in the Etsy Shop) my first piece of devotional jewelry: a bracelet for devotees of Bast, the Lady Devourer, my Patroness. The bracelet is about 8.5 inches in length, but as I have enough supplies to make several more, the length can be variable with the addition or removal of the golden glass accent beads. The gemstone beads are rutilated quartz, golden tiger’s eye, picture jasper, and black onyx, all in 8mm rounds and pearl-knotted on durable nylon cord.

There are four of each bead, in four groups, split in half by the glass scarab bead. The number four is important in Kemetic numerology, and of course the scarab is an important symbol as well, and protective amulets were often carved in the shape of this beetle. The gemstones are ones that I personally associate with Bast, and the golden accents are evocative of the Netjeru generally, as they are sometimes said to have been made from gold itself!

Hopefully this bracelet will find its way home with someone who will appreciate both the design and the goddess for which it was made!

~Réaltán~

A Basket Full of Updates

October 19, 2015
by Alexandra

First, good news! I’ve had a few Etsy sales (goodness it’s hard to start out in a crowded market), and the first three sales were people we didn’t know, yay, and also, they all left reviews, yay, and ALL THOSE REVIEWS ARE FIVE STARS, YAY!!! Plus I have a couple more in the works, from both friends and acquaintances. I’ve been running a tumblr coupon sale for 10% off, but so far I’ve only had one bite on that, and none of my promotion posts have gotten many notes. I’ve got about 125 followers, but it really takes a few reblogs before a post takes off, and that hasn’t happened. Probably I’d have better luck trying to circulate a layout post with my shop info on it, but I’ve not yet tried that. (Also, for any blog readers who want the coupon, it’s “TUMBLWEEN”, and it’s good through November 5th.

Second, less-good news: we have not been accepted into the Gryphon’s Grove classes we applied to. However, that was one path of many, and we are not discouraged. Caroline Kenner did divination to select her students, and this class is not meant to have us in it. Perhaps that’s for the better, though, as I still have a mental block about the term “shamanism” and I may not have been ready for the work (under that heading, I mean – I’m more than ready to meet and work with new guides). There are other methods of working with spirits for healing, however, and Gwdihŵ will continue to learn from his guides as we do reiki, and will perhaps discover more guides in the process.

Third, I’ve used some of my proceeds from the Etsy shop to purchase an Oracle Deck, which will eventually end up in the shop as well. It’s “The Wild Wisdom of the Fairy Oracle Deck”, by Lucy Cavendish (art by Selina Fenech). I’m going to do daily pulls for a while until I get to know it better – probably 30 days or so – before I list it, though. So far it seems to be pretty straightforward, talkative, and encouraging! Here are some pictures:

Fourth, I’ve been looking at threads and cord for the beads I posted about ages ago, and I’ve finally found one I like. I ordered it and it arrived a week or so ago. I’ve been playing with single strand or double strand, and different kinds of knotting between the beads, and I think I’ve found a knotting style I like… which means now all I need are some findings, and I can start putting beaded devotional jewelry in my shop! I’ve been working a little bit on design, too, and as I finish items I will likely be posting them here. But here’s a picture with all the different kind of knots, made with some loose beads (the knots I like best are the ones on that bottom strand, double overhand):

Fifth, I’m leading my first group ritual on October 25th! It’s a Kemetic execration rite, honoring Bast and Sekhmet as the Eyes of Ra. I’ve written up most of the prayers and outline, and I’ll post it here when finished. I’m a little nervous, but I’ve got some good people as part of the ritual team, and I think the work we’re doing is really necessary for this time of year. Hopefully everything will go as planned, or as close to that as possible!

And that’s it for your pile of updates!

~Réaltán

Beads for Devotional Jewelry

May 27, 2015
by Alexandra

Well, I have invested in a number of gemstone bead strands, and are beginning to delve into that wonderful world of devotional jewelry. It will probably be some time (and a lot of practice and working out kinks) before any of the things I make end up in an Etsy shop, but that is the end goal. I’m thinking I’ll start with bracelets for the Hallows, the Kindreds, and for gods/goddesses I know personally, and I’ll branch out from there. I know it will take some time to work out my personal “style”, as well, and I’d like to write brief prayers or meditations for each piece of jewelry, so that’s additional time, too. On the other hand, that’s a lot of devotional work that I will hopefully eventually be paid for, and that’s the point, of this entire adventure, isn’t it? To eventually be able to support ourselves by selling spiritual or healing objects, and by offering spiritual or healing services.

Here are the beads I have so far, from the top: rose quartz, onyx, picture jasper, howlite, adventurine, blue lace agate, bronzite, lapis lazuli, golden tiger’s eye, faux larimar, rutilated quartz, freshwater pearls, tree agate, amethyst, red agate, and amazonite.

I need a few more supplies still, but in the meantime I’m beginning to make prototype bracelets on knotted embroidery floss, to see how the different stones look together.

Here’s two tries at a Lunar Year necklace – it’s not long enough if I only use the gemstone beads, but I haven’t decided what kind of spacers I like better, or if I should use one (for the quarter) or two (for the weeks). The idea is to use 13 onyx and 13 howlite to represent the 13 New Moons and 13 Full Moons in the year. I may also give up on spacers and use chain if I can find some inexpensively. I want this to be a piece people will wear in public, even if they’re not publicly pagan, because it’s pretty enough and “normal” enough that no one will look at it twice.

This is a bracelet for Bast! It’s the perfect length just like this, honestly – all it needs is a clasp and maybe a small charm. Of course, the embroidery floss isn’t strong enough to stand up to real wear, but hey, I’m still counting this one a success. I’ll re-string it when I decide which string I’m going to buy for the knotted ones. (Honestly, stringing material is surprisingly complex, and bracelets in particular have to stand up to a lot.)

This is the beginnings of a bracelet for Fand… only I discovered that my pearls have much tinier holes than the rest of my beads. In general, however, I think the color scheme is nice, and the crystals work well for her.

Anyways! It’s an adventure! And hopefully I’ll have more Serendipities new for you all soon!

Bright Blessings!

Réaltán