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 for a custom quote on the additional length. 

The Hexagon is the shape used by bees to create honeycomb, an interlocking and efficient geometry. The strongest shape found in nature, the hexagon balances weight and the distribution of stress evenly. This strength and interconnectedness can be applied to devotion, as a physical representation of a strong foundation and scaffolding between romantic partners and friends. It can also been a talisman for the industriousness and intelligence of bees when considering a devotional commitment or  practice.

Historically, bees and their hive were an important part of the family. To “Tell the Bees” is considered an ancient practice, traced as far back as Hellenistic Greece, perhaps even earlier. Hives and bees were an important part of life as honey and beeswax were valuable goods - beeswax provided a clean burning material for candles to bring light into small dark places - an apt metaphor for lighting the way in dark times and dark spaces.

The oracle site at Delphi was said to have been created by bees; even the Pythia were referenced as 'bee oracles'. While much has been written about how the Pythia's trance-like states were induced, one possible theory links their prophecy to the consumption of 'mad honey.' Known in Turkey as deli bal where it was ( and is ) harvested, and meli chloron or 'green honey' in Ancient Greek times, it behaves as a psychoactive, due to bees feeding on native rhododendron plants. In small doses in can bring on feelings of euphoria, intoxication and hallucinations, in larger doses it causes a variety of unpleasant symptoms and in rare cases, death. The poison is in the dosage. 

The practice of Telling the Bees, involved all major life events, keeping them included as one would with any other close family member. They were told of marriages, births, & perhaps most well known, deaths. The hives were heaved up at the same time the coffin was, and they were also decorated with funerary crepes. Cakes were also fed to the bees after funerals and weddings. It was believed that if a hive was not told of these life events, they would leave the hive, or even die. I like to think people would whisper secrets to the hives they could tell no one else, making the bees secret keepers. In the vein of this idea, use this talisman for your secrets, whisper them to it and bring it 'alive' as a companion for secret keeping. 

*Details* :

- 19 mm from top to bottom 

- 28 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 10 mm opal hexagon

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. 

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