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. 

Inspired by a Victorian mourning brooch, one of our beloved grief snakes forever encircles a stunning, oval mother of pearl.

The Grief Snake was designed with being a symbolic balm to grief in mind: a personal grief carrier to help "carry the burden" of intense emotions you may have accrued during these strange, horrifying and transformative recent years. Or perhaps it can be your anchor, something to literally hold on to while the snake cradles the mother of pearl, as you navigate the rough seas of past memories that may appear suddenly like a lightning storm. It may also symbolically help assist you unravel the unwanted emotions / thought patterns needing to be shed- much like the snake brings with it the symbol of transformation- as it regularly sheds its old skin in its entirety as it grows, becoming, in a sense, fresh with potential and possibility. 

The necklace can also be used as a piece of 'sentimental' jewelry to mark the passing of a loved one as a piece of modern mourning jewelry. As it was designed with this intention in mind, the tears symbolize the snake sharing your sorrow. Even as you may be able to move on to other emotions during the long dance with grief, this jewel will remain a touchstone. 

Additionally, remarkably detailed and tactile, the body of this snake was designed to be touched and rubbed during moments of reverie or intense emotion for a calming experience if you’re so inclined to somatic soothing techniques. 

Lastly, snakes and snake magic/medicine have long meant a lot to me, but lately I've been thinking of their connection to Asclepius, the ancient Greek god of medicine. He is usually depicted with a rod on which a snake is twinned around it; symbolizing the secret knowledge of the healing arts and resurrection (Medical practitioners still use this image as their symbol.) His healing temples were known as  Asclepieia or Asklepieia-to which people seeking to be healed would pilgrimage to. Once there, these pilgrims would stay a night or two to under go 'dream incubation'  in a sacred part of the temple, most likely under the effect of hallucinogens (poisonous plants perhaps?) during which they would be visited by the god Asclepius in the form of a snake, and either told what would cure them (which they could then have prescribed and administered on hand at the temple ) or healed in the dream space. Non-venmous snakes were often known to be free roaming in these temples and would 'whisper' cures and heal those who came to the temples, further aligning the healing nature of the snake, counter balancing its poisonous and deadly attributes.

*Details* :

- 38 mm from top to bottom

- 50 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 29 x 40 mm Mother of Pearl  

Pearls:

Pearls have an ancient history of reverence as well as a long legacy of beauty. Pearls are formed when an external irritant, like a grain of sand, breaches the shell of an oyster or shelled mollusk. Once this irritant has gained entrance within the dark fleshy confines of the oyster, it goes to work protecting itself. If this irritant can’t be expelled, it begins to ‘bandage’ the grain, coating it with concentric rings of calcium carbonate, named ‘narce.’ Each layer that is built up forms the shape of the pearl, awash in a brilliant iridescence, a beauty born of a tiny trespass. Thusly, a pearl has at its center, the object of its creation, a foreign intruder.

I associate the pearl and its strange construction to so many things: the jellied caterpillar struggling within a chrysalis, its liquefied body form a new winged shape. An embedded star smoldering within the shell of our hearts. An ink dot, a pin prick, a moon in miniature. History, who has always loved and revered the pearl, writes that we once believed pearls were the result of lightning striking the shell and penetrating the inner skins of the oyster. A small beauty made in duress, a ‘stone’ of initiation. To possess a pearl means to own something that is hidden, sacred.

Lore has it that Cleopatra, to win a wager with Antony, dissolved a large, exquisite pearl in her drinking glass. She swallowed it in one sip. I wonder about her dreams that night.

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***  

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