#wyther

Recent releases~

Kingdom: Wyther

Family: Cazacu

Sybilla Bràndusa

Levente János

Istávan Henrik

Elwira Czesław

Marek Bolesław

Family: He

Chao Hai

Xiang Fang

Kurou Hiroto

Kaori Akemi

Jong Eun-Ji

Jung Chae-Won

Yin Xiulan

Family: Zerek

Aleksi Elian

Darina Aneta

Borislav Sergei

Borka Sagan

Dusan Stefan

Kolya Ziv

Milos Ziven

Ladislas Zivon

With the impending launch of the first installment of the collection looming, I come here to share my thoughts on the inspiration and symbolism.

•ABOUT•

Czarownica- {Polish} Witch, sorceress, enchantress.

I chose to work exclusively with ethically sourced, natural death cat and fox bones for this collection for a few different reasons. I associate cats and foxes as animals that embody the duality of nature and existence, aspects of both light and dark, a consistent theme I’ve explored with Wyther, personally examining both light and shadow, the veil between earthy and ethereal, primal and refined, life and death. This collection continues to expand this embodiment of balance in art and creation and juxtaposes with sentiments and concepts of my personal craft & beliefs, folktales, and the occult.

I personally associate both animals as powerful personifications of spirit, and acknowledge their (historical) role as familiars and as spectral forms that hedge witches have reportedly transformed into before parting the hedge, passing through the veil that binds the corporeal and the ephemeral, the natural world and its forces, and those we’ve created for ourselves. Various folklore storytelling traditions* recount these animals as beings that can walk between worlds, and interact with energies and forces that we cannot on the physical plane. (*Northern European hedgewitch folklore, another ancestral homeland. I worked with ancestral folklore and tradition and my own intuition to develop the collection.)

Most witchcraft is incredibly subjective in nature, and always deeply personal and personalized to each practitioner and their cultural heritage, folklore, and belief systems. Despite these differences in practice, overall, there has been a tremendous increase in interest regarding the occult, as many folx are awakening to their power, especially those typically marginalized or “othered” by society; there is a mass reclaiming of power and agency occurring within this time period that has served as inspiration for this ever growing collection. Many of these folx have felt drawn to the freedom and personal agency that the craft offers and the expansive consciousness that interacting with the natural world and its forces provides. So to this growing movement of reclamation, personal agency, and empowerment, I devote this collection.

•SYMBOLISM•

Ribs represent protection as does the circle as a shape. Protective circles are cast by many before spellwork begins. Circles also represent continuity, so in combination with its protective qualities, the jewels in the collection that feature circular rib amulets act as an immensely powerful and protective talisman, honoring spirit, personal magick, and strengthening wards.

Claws represent struggle for balance, fighting for a truth, the act of seeking knowledge and the act of protecting oneself from outside forces. Silhouetted against a darkened background the claw talismans within the collection connect you symbolically to either fox or cat, but also to the symbolic act of weighing the scales of light and dark through your workings. (The fox talisman will launch in the next installment.)

Fox: feral & unrestrained, beautiful & clever.

A Dream, a ring for a baby:

As I reach my thirties, I reflect even more frequently on my journey, I feel that lived a plethora of lives, each marked by new casts of characters and fated events that have nurtured (and sometimes forced) my growth. I feel equal parts nostalgic of my journey and different eras, as well as mournful towards the tribulations I experienced to create the testimony of my life story. With aging, comes frequent and profound introspection alongside reconsideration of my proverbial ‘fig tree’ and the fruits and branches I’ve chosen and pruned. Motherhood is a fig upon this tree that I very much want to savor for myself, but am also uncertain of in this lifetime; so much is in catastrophe and logically, I’m just not sure if its meant to be part of my story, and as much as I want it to be, emotionally ache for it from the depths of my heart, its uncertainty has taken a journey to be able to even accept. The first fruiting of motherhood came as a teen, due to circumstance I couldn’t nurture that fruition, but if that branch were to bear fruit again, I fervently hope that I am able to see it through to harvest. This jewel to me represents hope and a dream held dear within, a dream that defies logic and rationality and yet persists, this is the story I ascribe to my personal jewel of this design.

This could be a jewel to dispel the horrors of time ravaging on, it’s the stark realization of time passed watching a child grow before your very eyes, time-lapsed as memories in your mind. This could be a jewel to memorialize someone gone far too soon, to mourn what you wish could be, maybe this will represent a journey of acceptance of what *is* like it does for me, or it could represent a hope and a dream. This is a canvas for you to tell your story or to wear it close to your heart.

I intend to offer custom initial engraving and gemstone options in the future for this jewel once I become more practiced in these arts, to fully personalize every profound story. This jewel would be pair beautifully with different chains and in mixed metals or solid gold tones, please reach out to me to inquire about customization for this jewel to tell a story dear to your heart too.

This jewel features a modern sterling silver reproduction of an antique infant ring. Infant rings were very popular throughout the 1800-1900s as tokens of love and devotion, and many of the surviving heirlooms have sentimental stories to tell as they’ve been passed down through generations. I found the original antique this jewel is cast from at an antique shop somewhere in rural Pennsylvania; it was originally gold filled I believe but has been much loved throughout many years, generations, and hands, and has worn away to its brass core. This demure signet is dignified in its simplicity, and I can tell how beloved this ring was as well the children whom it adorned.