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Blood Milk Jewels

Eclipse. Conjoined Datura Moths. Rose Quartz. Necklace.

$950.00

Blood Milk Jewels

Eclipse. Conjoined Datura Moths. Rose Quartz. Necklace.

$950.00

Due to the special nature of these jewels, they are only available for purchase one per person. 

IMPORTANT: This listing is for a One of a Kind jewel that cannot be replaced. We recommend Express Shipping with signature required upon delivery to make sure it arrives safely into your hands. 

This necklace is Ready To Ship and will leave the studio in 3 - 5 business days. 

Please note : This necklace will be created with an 18" bar link chain. If you desire a different chain length you must reach out to us immediately after placing your order. 

A special version of our new petite Datura Moths ( found here ) feature ornate antennae and tails that terminate in tears, are forever conjoined and guard a "full moon" domed Rose Quartz gemstone. 

Eclipse is a word used for a grouping of moths, due to how they "eclipse" light sources they cluster around, as they are nocturnal and are drawn to light. As an ancient species, moths used the moon and stars as a source of navigation ( called transverse orientation ) to fly straight, similar to how early humans used the North Star before navigational tools were invented. As artificial light has permeated every aspect of modern living for many if not most parts of the world, moth's flight patterns have changed, with some exhibiting disorienting spiral flight patterns.  

Datura stramonium ( with a species of 9-14 ), also known as Jimson weed, Thorn apple and Devil’s Trumpet, is a flowering plant that originated in the Americas and spread across the seas. Much like other members of the solanaceae family, it is highly toxic in high doses. This includes all parts of it, from its gorgeous trumpet like flowers, to its toothy leaves, its roots and its infamous inky black seeds which are incased in spiky seed pods. In smaller doses, it has been used in the past as healing salves for inflammation and pain while also being utilized in folk magic to induce visionary and hallucinogenic states. Among tribes with shamanic practices, Datura was considered sacred and can be found in cave paintings and on pre-historic ceramics, suggesting its use during these times. 

One of the attributes of this plant that drew me to it aside from its beauty and folklore, is its ability to grow alongside the edges of places, even here in the city. Its seeds disperse when its pods dry and crack open and I’ve witnessed it grow from cracks in the sidewalk, through holes in chain link fences, abundantly in between buildings and in other abandoned empty spaces in the city where such beauty seems out of place. It is seemingly weed like in nature and yet in other places, it is planted with care as an ornamental despite its poisonous properties. 

I’ve been amazed at the thick roots of one bush that grew wild in an abandoned space between two buildings before it was cut down, its seeds freckling the earth as if to say, you haven’t truly destroyed me. Its hardiness in the face of a gritty landscape and Phoenix like regenerative qualities endears me to it as much as its beauty and magical properties. 

Moon colored, Datura unfurl and open at night and is therefore pollinated by moths, Sphinx moths in particular who hover around its blooms like hummingbirds, sipping from them with their long tongues. I witnessed this for the first time last summer, while visiting one plant with a friend from out of town near where I live in a fairly industrial part of the city. We watched the moth drink from flower to flower in wonder in the hot summer night air until it moved on. It felt both strange and wonderful to witness and I don’t know why it surprised me to see; if there are flowers thriving in the city, surely there could be Sphinx moths ?

This fortuitous moment inspired the jewel on offer here : a hybrid creature, a moth that is a Datura, a Datura that is a moth. Its sinuous body is meant to evoke the rippling petals of the Datura flower in bloom while also retaining the gesture and features of a moth, albeit one born from dreams rather than natural history. 

Moths have long been a creature I’ve used in the library of my personal symbology within BloodMilk. As a symbol of transformation: beginning their lives as caterpillars, they gorge themselves before outgrowing their exoskeletons. They will sometimes shed their skins ( like a snake ! ) up to five times with their final time forming its chrysalis or pupa. ( Find our Sphinx Chrysalis jewel here ). This is the fascinating / magical part for me: their caterpillar bodies will begin to disintegrate into a kind of jelly yet its believed they retain some of their memories as their new body moth body forms in the velvety dark protection of its cocoon. Once its ready to emerge, it begins to break free and its struggle to release itself also helps pump fluid and energy into its wings. Moth signifies, a period of patience, surrender and profound transformation or awakening through introspection. Just like Datura, Moth is linked to the Unseen world and many feel that moths are messengers from the spirit world, bringing signs from their beloved dead to them.

*Details* :

- 32 mm from top to bottom

- 45 mm wide

- Solid Sterling Silver  

- Both pendant and chain are hand oxidized to achieve our favorite shade of stormy gray and then highlighted to reveal the bright luminous silver beneath

- Set with one 21 mm Rose Quartz gemstone

Rose Quartz:

Rose Quartz is known the world over for its beautiful pink coloring, is at least 35 million years old, with records dating back to 600 B.C.. During that time, it was given amongst lovers, family and friends as love tokens. It was also used in beauty rituals as far back as Ancient Egypt where evidence of it as facial masks has been found in tombs amongst grave goods. Metaphysically, it is best known as the master 'love stone', used in love spells, helpful in matters of self-confidence, anger, disappointment, and seemingly always mentioned in tandem with "healing" - a word so dense with promise it makes me both hopeful and strangely put off. I feel a bit lonely in my discomfort; I've never been one to only seek beauty in its traditional forms and it seems like Rose Quartz is the fairest of them all -the glittering prom queen who about to have a bucket of blood poured on her.

My favorite lore around this stone concerns the Goddesses Isis and Aphrodite / Venus, which are all connected by similar attributes and were conjoined when the Romans annexed Egypt. The Egyptian Goddess Isis, one of the most revered deities over time, is believed to have used Rose Quartz "maintain her eternal youth and divine beauty" and therefore influenced the beauty culture ( see above ) in ancient times. Aphrodite is the Greek iteration of Venus, with whom she is often syncretized - sharing many overlapping traits: such as her beauty, passion and pleasure, love, and fertility. Each Goddess was considered to be a standard of ideal beauty and representative of love, yet also each was associated with the enemy of love - death. Isis, in a gruesome yet romantic gesture, collected the disembodied pieces of her murdered brother/husband Osiris, and resurrected him - becoming impregnated with Horus simultaneously. This myth was revered in Ancient Egypt, fertility rituals around Osiris' resurrection abounded

For the Greeks, one of the most popular myths centering Aphrodite is also a genesis tale for Rose Quartz in and of itself : Aphrodite fell in love with the beautiful mortal Adonis who was killed by a wild boar ( perhaps a jealous Ares in disguise, or sent by Artemis as punishment ). As he lay dying in the forest, Aphrodite came to his side, herself also bleeding after becoming tangled and wounded in a bramble bush. Their co-mingled blood is thought to have fallen on Quartz, ever after giving Rose Quartz is pink hue. Adonis, like Osiris, was also resurrected in some tellings and his tale was also associated with grieving rituals in connection to the natural cycles of life.

Personally, I've struggled both with writing about Rose Quartz as well as pairing it with my jewelry. It's a stone that has long been deeply connected with the romantic aspects of love, healing, forgiveness, beauty and well-being - but for me, I've shied away or have had discomfort with each of these notions and descriptors. Each of them has also been, for me, tangled up with grief and death - shadow feelings. However, while I think Rose Quartz often lacks its shadow in popular descriptions of it - I think it's powerful for these exact reasons. As much as it is beautiful, it is often turned to as a balm during our worst moments - the ugly and horrific times of heart brokenness; representing our hearts in all their nuance - capable of the beauty of love but also the madness of loss. In this way, it illustrates the tensions between beauty and horror I unconsciously & consciously seek in everything. It is a phoenix, burning down like the Tower into ashes but also comforts us while we rise from the rubble. It is a fierce shield that guards us, but it is also has a soothing gentleness. In this way each Rose Quartz jewel carries a dual aspect of 'psychic armor' both the energies and medicines of the snakes and bats that form the gloomy silver settings of the jewels, and Rose Quartz, a beautiful balm that assists us during our darkness moments, a reminder of the sweet-bitterness of being alive on this timeline.’

This jewel is hand cut and therefore may have small signs of the carver's hands along the edges. This has not been fabricated by a machine, it has been made by hand and therefore isn't uniformly perfect. The photographs accurately portray the quality of the stone. 

***IMPORTANT***  

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