IMPORTANT: This jewel is limited and we are unsure if they'll be available again in the future. We recommend Express Shipping with signature required upon delivery to best ensure it arrives safely in your hands. 

PLEASE NOTE : This necklace will be created with an 18" bar link chain. If you desire a different chain length, it's important that you email us immediately after placing your order for a custom quote on the additional length. 

Because these stones are limited, we are not able to accommodate any requests for specific stone preferences.

A fine cut labradorite oval gemstone is cradled in a nest of thorns, forming a unique skeleton key. These thorns were respectfully hand harvested from a lone Hawthorn tree on the edge of the Mima mounds in Washington. Please note that as these thorns are life cast, they are slightly sharp and should be worn and handled with care. 

Belonging to the rose family ( Roseaceae ), the ancient Hawthorn tree, sister to the Blackthorn, has been utilized as a protective hedge for thousands of years, and has been steeped in folklore for just as long. Also known as the Whitethorn, the May tree and The Fairy tree, lone Hawthorns, not planted as hedges, were considered to be the sacred homes of the Fey and were fiercely protected as portals to the Otherworld. 

Used as hedges due to its thorny branches, it was often planted with Blackthorn to create dense thickets to create land and livestock boundaries. These thorny entanglements would subsequently create protection for wildlife as well, harboring birds and other animals while fencing in livestock. Their thorns, while not inherently poisonous, are sharp enough to penetrate the skin and carry a bacteria that can cause sepsis and death. 

Named the May Tree for its early Spring blossoming, ( though due to changes in weather this may shift from year to year ), the blooms have an unusual scent of rotting meat and were prohibited from being brought into the homes due to bad luck. However, it was considered apotropaic to decorate the outside of homes and barns with garlands of the flowers to ward against negative energies. Interestingly, the blooms were associated with love and fertility and brides wore them in their hair. 

Once the flowers dropped, the haws or fruits would begin to appear. These shiny red berries provided nutrients that supported the heart and are still used in modern tea blends you can purchase at the grocery store today. In folk magic, the berries would also be used as beads for love and protection talismans.

Known also as the 'Wishing Tree', people would tie 'wish-rags' gently to the branches of the Hawthorn in search of knowledge or wishes. Hawthorn, unlike Blackthorn is a deeply healing tree, otherworldly, intense, but gentler than its darker sister.

The proximity to pain while wearing Hawthorn suggests being mindful to the emotional realms of it: our ability to stay present and persevere during intense times as well as the hope for healing psychic wounds by piercing them, allowing them to drain and heal.

Keys: 

Skeleton keys have long been an obsession of mine. My godmother is an auctioneer and took me along to auctions and estate sales. Treasure for me were always the wooden boxes filled with greasy and dirt caked keys, beautiful with their time earned patina, with their memories and silent stories. As a kid, I imagined every beautiful key I came across no matter how small or large, belonged to a haunted house. Even the tiny keys that came with my school fair diary were special to me. Keys have that sort of resiliency that many other sorts of old objects don’t, they survive the wear and tear of misuse, they surface like relics from the muck of time. 

Keys are an ancient tool, created first by the Ancient Egyptians in wood and modified by the Romans in metal and made small enough to be kept on a person, coined as the first ‘skeleton keys’. These were used, as now, to lock doors and boxes or 'safes', to protect precious objects and people. Thusly one of the mundane and ubiquitous tool has also come to garner potent symbolism over time and has been woven into a current everyday object that even digital technology can’t seem to make obsolete. At the time of my writing this, I still use metal keys to gain entrance to my apartment and studio; I moved out of a house in Philadelphia in 2020 in one of the oldest parts of the city that still employed the use of skeleton keys. Perhaps the key is an object where the old world and the new continually shoulder up against each other, no matter how much modern technology tries to replace them.

As a talismanic jewel the key is a liminal object representing a potent tension and duality as it can both lock and unlock, making the person who holds the key, one on a threshold.

*For locking: Being able to lock something behind you will always give the power and feeling of protection, therefore keys will always have the symbolism of protection embedded in them. The first key I can remember owning was a tiny key that fit to a tiny lock that latched onto a diary I owned in elementary school where I kept all of my secrets. This consisted of all of the titles of the books I’d write, but they sounded like spells, things I desperately wanted to change about myself; revenge I’d like to take on bullies. These days, protecting my loved ones, my heart, and extending protection to those I can feels most important to me. Feeling safe and helping others feel safe in my presence is something I'm always thinking about, and the presence of a key against my body helps remind me of these tenants and makes me feel safe.

*For unlocking: Keys as objects that can 'unlock' show up as symbols across cultures. It’s a symbol of gaining access: for some it's about knowledge and wisdom or about gaining access to higher or unearthly realms: Saint Peter was known to hold the keys to heaven while Hecate is known to hold the keys to the unseen world/ the gates of death. As an initiatory symbol, it suggests garnering levels of knowledge that lead upwards on your path, or crossing thresholds of the unconscious. It also suggests the ability of survival, of being able to find 'a way out', of reaching a place where you are able to unlock or solve an obstacle that was complex or troubling, such as a Sphinx's riddle.

*Details* :

- 51 mm from top to bottom

- 29 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 13 x 18 mm oval labradorite stone

- Shown on Miguel at 20'

Labradorite:

Labradorite is known for its healing properties, in particular for its ability to relieve anxiety & melancholy. It is also said to be used to dispel negativity & fear, acting as a kind of psychic armor to protect against more troubling & turbulent emotions. As a 'sister' to moonstone, Labradorite is often associated with the more "darker" aspects of the Goddess, in her Crone form, full of the experience & wisdom of life and death, associated with the darker moon: waning through new moon phases.

It is also a stone of transformation, and is said to help those with intuitive gifts to awaken and realize their full potential as well as helping enhance creative talents. It also ranks as one of the most protective stones, shielding its wearer from negativity. Much like its 'sister' Moonstone, Labradorite has been used and worn in many cultures and tribes for both its incredible natural beauty, and for its potent magical properties.

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

***IMPORTANT***  

This jewel is handmade to order, just for you, with care and focus. Please allow approximately 6 - 8 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 info@bloodmilkjewels.com