Chapter 3: The Wanderer

Our new spring/summer collection for 2020 is called Desert Rose. It tells a story of blooming through hardship, of the softness and openness that represents its own unique kind of strength.

The collection of jewels will be released in various chapters, allowing us to tell a story of all the unique elements that make up Desert Rose in its entirety.


Chapter 3 is a story of the Wanderer.


The Wanderer of the Desert Rose left her house and went into the desert night. Her hair reflected the cold stars up above. As she walked her footsteps showed behind her in the dark blue sand, beneath the inky sky.
"Wherever I go," she thought to herself, “my footsteps will remain behind me.”
She could hear the mountain whistling to her, although she could not see it.
As she left the house she saw a scarab beetle scuttle into the earth of the Garden. It should not be above ground at this hour. She departed the boundary of the world she had known, and went forth into the night. 
She wore many coins at her neck, each hung so that the auspicious side faced inwards, towards her heart. All was concealed by her hair which hung around her like a cape, collecting pieces of the sand that studded it like diamonds.



The Wanderer emerges in June, perhaps the most oft-spoken of, and most poetic month. In the Northern Hemisphere it brings the solar equinox, and the maximum amount of daylight, giving us large vistas, and the ability to look long and hard at ourselves.

With the energy of light and greenery all around us we are inspired to go off on new journeys, to define our goals, and to take the first steps towards realising them.


Laurus Earrings

The aromatic Laurus casts a gentle scent in the night air, as it cools from its bath in the day’s sun. In cities across the Mediterranean it grows in courtyards, and shady avenues. It’s leaves, shaped like the playing card suit of spades, have been used in traditional medicines. This usefulness and ubiquity may have been what caused it to be named daphne by the Ancient Greeks, after the mythic mountain nymph who was a Priestess of Mother Earth, or Gaia. The Laurus leaves are also strongly associated with victory and achievement, having been used to fashion wreaths in Ancient Greece to crown those who were of the highest status and accomplishment.

Understanding and being able to make use of our surroundings is a key component to a successful journey, enabling us to be aware of what is offered to us by Mother Nature, and show respect and restraint towards the natural world. The ancients relationship to Laurus was to use it for its medicinal properties, cultivate it for its scent, and to use it culturally and symbolically. This multi-purpose use of the natural world echoes what we have to learn about the tools we may find on the journeys we take.


Khepri Jade Necklace

Khepri is the name of the scarab beetle in Ancient Egypt. This was a revered creature, for its association with the cycle of life. As the scarab rolled its fertile ball along the dark banks of the Nile, so too does the sun roll across the horizon. The pendant represents the cyclic nature of time. It reminds us that birth is not a singular incident, but one that we undergo many times as we pass through the regenerative experiences of life’s journey. Here the pendant is set between radiant jade beads. 

The wisest Wanderer does not go alone, but seeks help from, and seeks to help, those around them. This way, the journey is not only about the soil we tread, or the miles we pass, but the connections and learning we create on the road. The recognition of the regenerative properties of life, remind us that we may begin wandering on our own journey, and later have the wisdom to assist another on theirs, all life being cycle as the scarab's path.



Caria Earrings

Caria was the capital city of Halicarnassus, an ancient metropolis that was both a part of Ancient Greece, and Persia. It was ruled over by Artemisia and her husband, Mausolus. They were not only co-regents, but passionately in love. When Mausolus died, Artemisia was so heart broken that she constructed a “mausoleum” in his honor - the most architecturally audacious and awe-inspiring tomb of all time. The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus became one of the seven wonders of the world, according to the original writer of that list, Antipater of Sidon.

Sometimes it is not ones own journey that needs to be defined, but another's, and this offers other opportunities for growth, in understanding how we can best care for, and act on behalf of others. A wanderer's journey has an end point, but it is at this point that another must take up the mantle, to continue their explorations and their thinking, to honour their memory, and to preserve the journey for the next generation.

Each new item here speaks to a wandering heart, telling the tale of cities, times, and ideas that, despite being far flung, whisper to our inner selves.

 

 

 

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