This specific collection of *Ghost* Rose Quartz stones are very pale with almost no inclusions. They are some of the highest quality stones we have ever witnessed and we do not know if we will be able to offer this specific tone and clarity again. 

Because these stones are somewhat limited, we are not able to accommodate requests for specific stone color preferences**

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*:

Life cast bat bones were manipulated in inspiration of the elegant architectural shapes of cathedrals form a diadem that cradle a faceted pear cut gemstone. Cast in sterling silver silver, each piece is oxidized to achieve our signature shade of stormy gray and the hand finished to reveal.

-Sits 6mm off of the finger 

-Solid sterling silver 

-8mm x 13mm pear cut Rose Quartz    

Rose Quartz: According to fossil evidence, Rose Quartz, 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.’

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. 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