The Queen of the Night, Nyx (Νῠ́ξ ), is considered to have been in existence at the cusp of time, born of Chaos, while in the Orphic Hymns, she’s considered to be the locus of all creation. In these hymns, she’s described as ‘star-lit and gleaming in the darkness’, as well as a benevolent one who brings sleep, yet in Homer’s The Iliad, she’s also a powerful Goddess, who was feared even by the Olympian God Zeus, Lord over all deities in Mount Olympus. Having coupled with Erebus, God of Darkness, she gave birth to Sleep (Morpheus) and Death (Thanatos.) She is also considered to have mothered the Moirai, the three Fates, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos which can also be viewed as the spinner, the alotter, and the cutter, as well as another form of the Tri-form goddess or, the Maiden, Mother, Crone aspect of nature.

Bats and their cast wing and leg bones have long been a component I’ve used in my visual library as a way of creating a personal visual language. As nocturnal creatures, I feel a kinship with their natural predilection for the night time hours, but I’m also interested in how they use sonar to ‘see’, how as a metaphor bats as liminal creatures also remind us to look closer with our other senses, a way of ‘seeing the unseen.’ It’s my hope and intention that pairing them with other chthonic imagery and myth further adds to the visual meaning I’m aiming for, creating a collage of personal ideas while also tethering these physical jeweled objects to the spirit of the bat ( and other natural objects in the case of other jewels in my collection ) and to the spirit of the myths I’m invoking.

The Night - Time always takes on a different quality for me this time of year, so soon after we ‘modified’ time and turned the clocks back here in North America. The nights grow even longer & in tandem, my melancholia stretches to fit these long dark night hours. I feel like a shape-shifter in these colder months, snake-like, subterranean, shedding thoughts and pressed close to my own underworld, engaging with shades and turning over rotten foliage to see what crawling things might be moving underneath to be either inspired by or unsettled by; that tension I’m always seeking, the Gorgon tension of beauty and horror. Mostly I feel like Alice, swinging a heavy af sword at a Jabberwocky, swinging a sword at the impasse I’ve constructed myself, swinging a sword at myself, mostly missing, sometimes striking that villainous version of myself and advancing forward. Incremental gains are happening in my underworld- albeit slowly, slowly – and perhaps they are for you too – despite how your heart or mind or body feels thick and sluggish and blurry with the current timeline.

For me, Night time is filled with the Gorgon tension: the tension of beauty & horror I’m always seeking like a pearl diver seeking shipwrecked treasure – it’s when I feel most alive- a Moon child, seeking what Patti Smith in her slim book on writing ‘Devotion’ calls ‘The Hidden Hour’ :

“Inspiration is the unforeseen quantity, the muse that assails at the hidden hour. The arrows fly and one is unaware of being struck, and that a host of unrelated catalysts have joined clandestinely to form a system of its own, rendering one with the vibrations of an incurable disease – a burning imagination- at once unholy and divine.”

The ‘Hidden Hour’ will only materialize at Night, elusive in its appearance, something I’m always seeking and more often than not is usually unable to be - to be filled with the vigilance of showing up-whether that be with all the accoutrements of my Night Time rituals – loading up the couch or bed with my favorite books, books of artists whom I admire (the confessional self-portrait artists Frida Kahlo, Francesca Woodman, Anne Sexton, -the Surrealist femmes who pilgrimaged on their own Night journeys within their own fraught timelines– Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo, Leonor Fini …) while Nina Simone’s Live at Newport is constantly flipped. My notebook is folded in my lap and filled with my fragments -a beeswax candles glows and fills the room with the soft smell of honey & somewhere in between if I’m lucky, I can slip into the Hidden Hour – but its always and only during the Night. I’m riding the Night and its riding me.

Maybe you’re on this road too, churning up the velvet soil of the Underworld and exhuming the secrets of yourself alongside me-darkening your fingers- searching for a kind of elixir – a potion like Nepenthe or that lightning bolt of inspiration. This ring has that intention – the Night-Time feels that bring both a comfort and that dual edge of anxiety & restlessness, that terror that comes when confronting oneself in solitude. This ring was made for those journeys, a talismanic object waiting to be imbued with your intentions and personal magics, your wishes and secrets, your own Night rituals.

Details

- Sits 6mm off of the finger

- 16mm long

- Solid sterling silver 

- 8mm x 13mm fine cut pear Garnet  

Garnet is seemingly named for a few things, the most interesting and well known being that of the Pomegranate, named for either its glowing red color or its relational look to the seeds within when polished. This has tied it to the myth of the Goddess Persephone in some of its lore, who is as inseparable to the Pomegranate and its fateful seeds as Eve is to the apple of Eden. This association, admittedly, is what first drew me to Garnet, but its long and storied history, spanning many cultures and parts of the world is as fascinating as just about any other gemstone of my acquaintance. I also fell for its uncanny beauty, which  like a glowing ember one can wear on the skin, appears alive like fire does. 

As an ancient gemstone, the Egyptians knew of its power and beauty, which seems to be the seal of magical authenticity on the stone as it was found not only amongst grave goods but also within the settings of talismans wrapped in the layers of mummies to protect the body on its journey to the afterlife. I imagine it being present with its wearer before the weighing of the heart, as it’s a stone closely aligned with the heart ( akin in this way, to Rose Quartz. ) 

Created under extreme pressure and temperatures in the darkness of the subterranean realms, Garnet persists and thrives under these difficult circumstances - suggesting strength and personal resiliency. It’s also, like the Phoenix, associated with fire and its transformative properties, rising from extremely high temperatures. It’s considered to be a stone of creativity, as it’s ‘blood’ colored and associated with fire and the heart, ( as mentioned above) suggesting a quickening of the blood, a call to creative action, passion.

This passion also extends to both romantic and platonic relationships, the stone was given to strengthen bonds between friends and lovers due to its association with the Persephone myth in a strange nod to how Pomegranate seeds kept Persephone bond to the Underworld for part of the year/ being returned to the Upper realms for Spring/Summer, ( this also made it a traveler’s stone) as well as for its color being similar to heart’s blood. 

Another interesting bit : in the Medieval Ages it was considered to ward off Melancholy and also, interestingly, to be the material that Dragon’s eyes were made of. 

All in all, Garnet is a wildly magical and highly potent stone, beautiful, ancient and intense; a personal raging fire to keep close- to remind you that you belong to the land of the living. To quicken the blood when feeling otherwise. 

These jewels are hand cut and therefore may have very slight differences in size and may have small signs of the carver's hands along the edges. These are not fabricated by a machine, they are made by hand and therefore aren't uniformly perfect. The photographs accurately portray the quality of the stones and the cuts. 

***IMPORTANT***

This jewel is handmade to order, just for you, with care and focus. Due to the influx of orders during our permanent Garnet Release, please allow approximately 5 - 6 weeks for creation before shipping.                  

Visit the Policy Page to make an educated and informed purchase HERE.

If you have further questions, we are always here to serve you in a kind and timely manner: via bloodmilkjewels@gmail.com