The Tarot Garden

Posted by Amulets by Merlin on July 28, 2009
Posted in: Amulets, MetaPlace, Tarot. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

Some months ago Allyn burst into my home with the news of MetaPlace. For some years he and I worked on the creation of video games; for years my hope was to create an environment where one could experience the Tarot in a virtual reality. Allyn announced that MetaPlace could provide us with that very thing.

Between Allyn, my good friend Michael Woody and our ever faithful Tech support provided by Robert, we focused our efforts to create two worlds: one a Virtual Gallery where you can see my sculpture as if you were in a museum and shrink you down to the size of the jewelry in virtual cases, and more.

The High Priestess in the Tarot Garden

The Second world is the Tarot Garden. We focused most of our time in there. After honing our efforts in creating animations that simulate fire, water, wind energy flows and other interesting figments, we were able to cobble together a series of “places” within the world.

You first arrive in the Court Yard: the landing pad if you will, designed to familiarize you with the presentation. There is a short video that you can click on in the center of a grotto: a three dimensional “Tree of Life”. From there you can see the “Three Gardens” of the Major Arcana.

The First Garden lands you before the Fool Amulet suspended in space. There is a harp that you may click that plays the tone attributed to that piece. There is a short video that presents the location of the amulet on the Tree of Life. Each amulet is “clickable” opening a window that presents a short description and a link directly to the corresponding page in my website, should you want to learn more about the piece or purchase a copy.

Following that you walk on a path leading to The Magician, also suspended in space, only there is an animation that illustrates the energy flow. Each amulet is similarly presented with the corresponding elements, videos and tones. Benches are provided for your avatar to perch presenting the screen framed perfectly for viewing. Sound effects add immersion of the experience. The Second Garden holds the Strength amulet through Temperance while the Third Garden holds the Devil through the Universe: all framed in appropriate environmental sights and sounds.

MetaPlace is often referred to as a “Social Network” but is also a “Sandbox” style of game engine. This provides folks who want to develop their ideas into interactive environments the opportunity to display their passions and ideas. Game, demonstrations, concerts and exhibits are throughout the MetaPlace Universe. In order to participate, there is a brief avatar selection and tutorial before you can go out and explore, however this hurdle is a very low impact, well worth the five minutes to get familiar with the system.

If you are a student learning the Tarot or a seasoned professional, you will find the Tarot Garden an experience that will lift your spirits and provide you with a moment of good cheer. Please come see the Tarot Garden and enjoy a virtual world of Tarot come to life.

———

Update:

Metaplace is closed and the Tarot Garden is no more.  To learn more about the Tarot Casters, on which the art of the Tarot Garden is based, please visit: my Tarot Casters page

21 The Universe Amulet

Posted by Amulets by Merlin on July 22, 2009
Posted in: Amulets, Jewelry design, Tarot. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments

A Skyclad Woman suspended in a field of stars, dances with a veil facing away from us.

Like all the cards, this refers to our perception of the universe rather than the Universe itself. Once we perceive beyond the veil of reality we can begin to understand the mechanics of what it is we see.

The letter associated with this card is Tau: the World: terra firma, the Material World. On first examination we think that we are seeing limitless space, however that is but an illusion. Ruled by Saturn, a symbol of limitation, this card represents all that we know: information, knowledge, and hearsay; limited by the constraints of time and space and our ability to understand what we perceive. So often when we look out at the universe we find our own image looking back, reflections of ourselves in nature, random patterns in the clouds and stars. Each time we learn something our universe expands into a larger manifestation.

Central to the expression of The Universe is the Dance. In the classic expression of the Tarot we find the image of the Goddess dancing amidst the stars. Gaia represents the embodiment of all life on Earth as a single form of consciousness dancing the ever-evolving modes of being. Her art is Life itself, her pallet are the millions of forms of life across the land and sea. Within the Tarot this image is expressed with a human form because of our tendency to perceive our world around us by what it is we already know.

Rhythm is of Gaia; each beat is a heartbeat, a turn of the tide or the change of the seasons. Music of all kinds is associated with The Universe Card: Rhythm, tone, song, symphony. Rhythm’s manifestation permeates all things, including ourselves. Seeing the dance of creation is one thing, to participate is quite another. To make music is to participate in Gaia’s expression; Dancing is embodying her movements, her gestures. To make the structured movements and sounds of our own written and choreographed art is to participate in the rhythms of the seasons and tides. To improvise is to participate with her Dance of Creation.

The Universe Amulet
The Universe Amulet

The Universe Amulet presents a moderately veiled Gaia, immersed in stars and planets. The letter Tau is set in the middle of the amulet, representing “the World”: the material world covering her like a veil. There is always a part of Her that is obscured: the Unknown. As our experience of the world around us expands, so too does our awareness of it. The more we perceive the more we understand our limitation of perception. The pendant is in the shape of the Fool Amulet: an Egg; distorted by our ever expanding awareness of what is beyond, budging where we find physical limitations.

The Universe Amulet is for those that are explorers, scholars, students, those who have taken on the quest of Life: ever searching for meaning, the source, and themselves. The Universe Amulet is for musicians, dancers, lovers of music and the arts; those that push the envelope and are unafraid of new experiences, new ideas and a larger Universe.

20 The Judgment Amulet

Posted by Amulets by Merlin on July 21, 2009
Posted in: Amulets, Jewelry design, Tarot. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 11 Comments

Two coffins are floating in a sea of Fire, two corpses are reanimated: a man and a woman sit up and offer a baby to an Angel floating over them.

As the Fool is Elemental Air, the Hanged Man is Elemental Water; the Judgment Card is Elemental Fire. The Element purifies, burns off the unnecessary parts of the Self. Emotional turmoil, unneeded angst, prejudice, hate, fear, grudges and so on. What is left is the Self in its pure state.

The Ego represented by the man, sub consciousness by the woman; offers up their child: the culmination of life’s experience, knowledge, wisdom and compassion. The angelic figure above it is the Higher Self or the part of us that is eternal, the vehicle of the Spirit. Each part is an aspect of one’s being. The Man (ego) is quiet while the Woman (subconscious) is much more active: offering of the purified Self.

This Tarot Card is the Baptism of Fire. Attributed to Shin, the Hebrew letter interpenetrated as: Spirit, Judgment represents the incinerating of unusable values, habits, modes of expression and more. Judgment represents the complete destruction of a way of life, world views, opinions. Many have thought of the Last Judgment from the book of Revelations from Christian Mythology and rightly so. The experience is terrible if you have a tendency to cling to these things being taken from you. This is sometimes referred to as The Dark Night of the Soul where we face our self made demons and banish them. The experience is one of burning, loss and at times regret as we try to hold on to the past. Spirit is not all that concerned with the foibles of the flesh. Desires of the body tend to start and stop with the glands, Spirit is more concerned with the over all health of the entire being.

Unlike the book of Revelations, this does not happen at the end of time rather this is a constant process: perpetual intelligence. Through out our lives we discover tools and other helpful aspects of the flesh, however if we become too attached to these things, eventually the Spirit grows weary of the weight of the fetish and begins push it away. If we cling to the desire for dominance, accumulation of wealth and other things that tend to drag us down, the Spirit develops ways of ridding itself of these attachments. If we allow the Spirit to continually evolve, enjoy what is there and not be mesmerized by it, then we will be surrounded by Glory and yet it will have no claim on us. As Shin is at the core of this card, so too is one’s Spirit: the driving force of this continual cleansing of one’ life. Conflict is caused when the Ego clings to the parts being burned away.

In Judgment we learn the Tao.

The Judgment Amulet
The Judgment Amulet

The Judgment Amulet is the shape of the element of Fire, the triangle with the point up. Like the Lovers Amulet, it is framed in wings with male and female shapes representing the Ego and the Unconscious Self. The third shape is a Faceless Angel of the Higher Self: the continence is blurred to represent its transcendence. The Letter Shin is at the base of the amulet illustrating the source of cleansing.

The Judgment Amulet is a potent symbol of Spiritual Cleansing. People that would find this amulet useful in daily life would be Judges, arbitrators, housekeepers, and maintenance crews, gardeners, any whose task it is to clear, cleanse and renew environments, relationships and patterns of behavior. The Judgment Amulet is a potent symbol of Spiritual Purification. It may be worn by those that are going through upheaval in their lives, watching their positions being discarded, acquaintances being revealed as unhealthy and discarded; all this and keeping balance, knowing that this period on one’s life is to be harnessed as a positive and necessary thing.

With chain and card

Remember the giant Sequoia: The only way these great trees may survive as a species is for periodic fires to cleanse the land and stimulate their seeding.

Baptismal Fire

19 The Sun Amulet

Posted by Amulets by Merlin on July 20, 2009
Posted in: Amulets, Jewelry design, Tarot. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments

A small boy sits astride a horse. Behind him is a row of Sunflowers before a wall; beyond the wall is the Sun. The Sun Card of the Tarot is ascribed to Resh: Countenance, the Face; and the entire zodiac, all of the sun signs, all of the planets: Everything. It is the center of the solar system from which we receive the need light, heat, energy – everything comes from the Sun. The Sun Card uses this metaphor to represent a direction of inquiry: the source. The process of learning itself: knowing the Face of God. The child astride a horse represents Innocence mounted an overwhelming power with ease. To understand this card we must become as a child: with the ability to perceive things without the inhibitions we acquire through our lives.

The Sun Amulet

The Sun Amulet

Sunflowers are an excellent example of the nature of The Sun Card. The Sunflower tracks the Sun through out the day, it even resembles the sun in its shape. We have given it the name Sunflower because of its behavior and its appearance. The wall separating the Sunflowers and the Sun infers the needed buffer between what is and our ability to perceive it. This tool is the persona: the Mask. When approaching a concept that is so vast as to overwhelm the observer, then it is necessary to filter the flow of information. We do this naturally by associating these concepts with ideas already grasped. It is akin to holding up a filter to see the Sun, screening out the majority of radiation in order to observe sunspots. When our minds turn to the Divine, we use persona to interpret these beings: Father, Mother, Brother and so on. These masks are also used in identifying other people: using these assumed labels to interpret another’s actions, confused if we use the wrong one.

The Key is to be vigilant in our assigning of persona to each other and the Powers That Be. By keeping constant knowledge of the fact we associate everything around us with known qualities, we can be prepared for new information and associations without allowing ourselves to be fooled by our own projections. This Card reminds us that assumptions can be dangerous, often costly; that the use of our own persona can mislead others into assuming things about us that can be damaging.

The Sun Amulet is a sunburst, on the surface it is the letter Resh, the Face of the Godhead.

The Sun Amulet may be used as a constant reminder and dedication to the Divine. It can also be a reminder not to take things at face value, that there are always layers of assumption between us, no matter how close we are to others. This amulet would be good for Actors, representatives, politicians, teachers and others that interface with the public.

18 The Moon Amulet

Posted by Amulets by Merlin on July 19, 2009
Posted in: Amulets, Jewelry design, Tarot. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments

A crayfish crawls from pool of water. The Path extends past a wolf and a dog past a stone wall and continues into the mountains. The Moon lights the path and from it tiny Yods descend, lighting the way.

Like the crustacean, our beginnings are very self-centered. As small children we learn that we are not the center of the universe we are on a journey of knowledge and self discovery where by we may begin to learn wisdom. Our defenses are strong to protect the fragile ego within. We move onto the Path and grow out of our shells.

The Moon Amulet
The Moon Amulet

Two canines stand on either side of the road: the wolf representing our animal, feral instincts: desire for dominance, comfort and so on where as the dog represents out need to be accepted by our culture and society. By striking a balance between both yet never giving control to either, we stay true to ourselves, understating and evolving beyond both. We travel past the towers: symbols of the limits of our human experience and the path leads on beyond the distant hills, beyond human experience.

The Moon rides in the sky, sometimes waxing sometimes waning, sometimes in the brilliant full light giving us guidance on our path. However even in the darkness of the New Moon, we are still on our Spiritual Path learning all the while the lessons needed to grow and develop. The descending Yods are like a rain of blessings, not always pleasant but consistently enlightening.

The letter associated with The Moon is Qoph: back of the head. This is referring to several things at once: The Sun Card is often referred to as the Continence, thus Qoph is representing the anterior of the Sun. Qoph’s light is but a reflection of it’s light source. This also speaks to one of the many aspects of sleep: a reflection of reality’s qualities.

Pisces is attributed to The Moon: a changeable Water sign, always in flux. Like Pisces, The Moon Card is in constant turmoil, hardship and challenges wait at every turn. In the Classic definition of Good Karma, it is not a life’s path of calm waters and blue skies, it is a life of challenges, opportunities offered, conflict to over come and painful lessons to be understood. Much like the Chinese blessing: May you live in Interesting times, The Moon Card reminds us that balance in experience is nourishing to the soul.

The Moon Amulet is the Moon Itself, obscured by cloud: evident that it is there, yet veiled in a way to keep its mystery: our life’s path may at times be uncertain, yet each time new experiences arise we have the opportunity to gain a better understanding. A Qoph is centered in the amulet: recalling both Visions and Dreams.

The Moon Amulet is for those that have realized their Life’s Path and have committed themselves to walk their talk. Although not an advertisement for being a Spiritual Leader, one teaches by example, treats others with the respect due them and learns from children as well as their Elders of community. This is a good amulet for councilors, advisers, leaders and solitaries.

17 The Star Amulet

Posted by Amulets by Merlin on July 18, 2009
Posted in: Amulets, Jewelry design, Tarot. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

A Sky-Clad Woman kneels before a pool
and pours water from two containers
creating little streams that merge and flow into the pool.
Above the figure we see a cluster of stars
with a single brighter beacon of light.
Behind her is a tree and in it an Ibis.

The Star Amulet
Star Amulet

Nudity in the Tarot represents Truth Exposed
and has little to do with sexuality.
When the figures are clothed,
it refers to things unrevealed
whether we are not able to understand them
because of our position
or that we are simply not yet evolved
to understand it at all.
The Tree in the background
has two fold meanings:
it is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life.
The former is a reference to the choices we make
whether we are to live out lives with good or ill intent,
the results are obvious:
the Intent is the Key.
The Tree of Life is a glyph that represents the entire universe
whether it has manifest or not.
It is the symbol that helps us understand the Tarot
and it interrelationships and correspondences.

The Ibis is a bird associated with the Egyptian god Thoth:
the god of Communication (among other things)
representing the importance of understanding and communication,
tools on the path of perfection.

In the Tarot,
water is the symbol of consciousness.
As the liquid assumes the shapes of these containers
they tend to take on their characteristics.
When poured again the water resumes its transient state.
When poured onto the ground it takes on the shape of the earth it flows across.
So too does consciousness flow through our bodies and our senses.
When in the end our liquid returns to the collective unconsciousness
again it will transmute into that form.
In the process of meditation we learn to observe
the ebb and flow of thought; the forms it takes.

Attributed to it is the Hebrew letter Tzaddi
often referred to as the fish hook.
The process of meditation is likened to “fishing”,
one drops one’s hook (the Star) into the Waters
(The Hanged Man)
to catch Fish (The Death Card:
Transformation of Consciousness).

Aquarius is the Sun Sign associated with the Star.
It is the experimenter, the manipulator.
Considered assign the Fixed Air sign,
meaning that it is both variable and constant.
Like the Star Card itself
it is always in process and requires a specific direction
for it to be of any positive use.
Here again the practice of Meditation keeps it on the right track.
To be able to have a goal that would improve
the health and well being of themselves and others around them
would keep its power influences on the right track.
Without the necessary perspectives,
this sign will create chaos for its own sake.

When I created the Star Amulet
I selected the star itself as its single symbol.
This is an eight pointed star:
four primary directions (the elements of Fire water air and earth)
and four secondary
(the many combinations of the elements: of states of mind).
This constellation of ideas and study
is condensed into a single celestial body.
The central letter of Tzaddi in the center.

The Star Amulet
would be excellent for those who use meditation
as a practice on their lives.
This tranquil amulet
may be used to calm and clarify one’s perspective
achieve a better understanding of themselves and their environment.
Practitioners of Yoga and martial arts,
those who use Meditation and Prayer
would find this amulet helpful
in their daily lives.

16 The Tower Amulet

Posted by Amulets by Merlin on July 17, 2009
Posted in: Amulets, Jewelry design, Tarot. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

Once there were a people
who thought if they built a tower
so tall
it could reach heaven;
they would not have to live
a virtuous life
to go there when they died,
all they had to do was to climb the tower.
Apparently God took exception to this idea
and blasted the tower with a bolt of lightening.
When everyone recovered from the tragedy
they tried to speak of the experience to one another;
but none could understand each others words.

The Tower Amulet
The Tower Amulet

When one creates a structure
one must first have a solid foundation.
If the foundation is flawed
then the entire structure will be unsound.
The views of what is real around us
are built on what we rely on as fact.
When the facts are discovered false,
then the structure based on those facts
is unreliable.
In the classic image of
The Blasted Tower of Babel,
we see a bolt of lighting,
the symbol of realization strikes the tower
and theories tumble to the ground.
We see tiny Yods fall from the Tower,
illustrating the strike may be harnessed:
the influence of the Hand of God
(the Hermit),
the blessings of Truth,
(however painful)
will sow seeds for a better outcome.
This Tower
is our inner construct of the world
as it is built up and torn down
over and over,
each time our understanding becomes stronger,
more solid
and reflects the truth.
When we try to re-group,
we often misunderstand each other;
new facts present a need to be re-sorted
and what was once the common
view is fractured.

Peh
is the letter associated with the Tower:
the Mouth.
Words.
The ability to speak
in ancient times
was considered sacred.
Think of it:
the ability to make mouth noises
to convey ideas.
Seems Magical!
With words we can sooth or crush.
The Tower
Speaks directly to this:
the bolt of realization is often carried by words,
so too a faulty foundation may be created.

Mars is the sign of the Tower:
the circle of spirit moving through Matter:
Mars Close In,
conflict if an opposing force attempts to slow it down;
Mars is a God of the sword and field,
associated with cattle,
the battle field produces the best wheat:
Mars clears chaos and order may grow in its wake.

The Tower Amulet
is patterned off of the Tarot Card:
a bedrock of a foundation with a block tower standing on its crest.
A shaft of lightning strikes the top of the tower to its heart.
Over the front of the Tower is the letter Peh.

There are those whose jobs it is to give us the necessary jolt of reality:
Judges, Police Officers, Solders and Oracles.
However,
the Tower Amulet is more of a tonic
rather than an every day piece.
If you are in confusion,
unable to decide what to do,
if you feel like you have been lied to
and wish to know the truth,
then the Tower would be a good tool in meditation.
This would be ideal to keep on hand for a spiritual councilor,
to use for short periods of time
and then to be put aside to build again.

15 The Devil Amulet

Posted by Amulets by Merlin on July 16, 2009
Posted in: Amulets, Jewelry design, Tarot. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

The Court Jester is a strange little devil.
Should anyone but the little fellow
say unkind things to the king,
they would be missing appendages.
So why does the Jester continue to keep his head?

The Devil Amulet
The Devil Amulet

He is a liar,
a scoundrel,
very uncomplimentary
and sometimes
he even tells the truth
at very inconvenient moments.
Should the King have a bright idea,
it is the Jester that shoots it down.
If the king says something stupid,
it is the jester that corrects him,
yet still he lives.

In the Book of Job,
God is in his heaven
and the Devil is sitting at his left hand.
“Check out that guy Job down there” he tells God.
“He really doesn’t honor you;
only out of habit does he make his sacrifices.”
Through persuasion,
the Devil convinces God to let him test his faith.
His land and wealth is stripped of him,
his wives and children are gone
and he is alone in the desert
covered with boils.
In the end of it,
God recognizes Job’s faith
and all is restored.

The Devil in both cases is testing the individual;
this corresponds with the influence
of the sea goat Capricorn
who is always testing the waters,
unsure of anything.
In the Native American folklore,
we find Coyote,
a totem of the tester
who also has a great sense of humor
and indeed here is the key:
Humor is the tool that sets you free.

The Hebrew letter Ayin is associated with the Devil Card:
the Eye.
As Heh (the Emperor) is attributed to the Window
(the influence of perception)
Ayin is the Eye itself.
It is both the physical Eye
(the acceptance of the illusion of matter)
and the inner eye (the recognition of what actually is).

In a nightclub we can find a comedian who is doing a “stand up” routine.
The entire time he is talking he is speaking in half-truth
and innuendo however the audience listens to him and laughs,
not taking his lies seriously at all.
This devil is funny because there is an association
between his lies and the lives of the audience.
They too have similar problems
and are able to see it through the eyes of another
and recognize the humor in their own lives.

In this testing,
this twisting of the truth to reveal it’s depth
we find where that trap lies:
believing the lie.
Urban legends, tall tales, terror-vision;
all become traps where people can get caught up
in the language rather than the story,
the fashion rather than the substance.
One can get entangled by the illusion
and think that what they are seeing is real.
By seeing through the illusion of the jest,
one perceives the greater reality.
But if you want to know the truth you have to be open to it,
no matter what it is.

In designing this amulet I chose the five point star.
It symbolizes (amongst other things) Ideal Man (human rather than male-ness).
Each of the points represents an element,
the fifth on the top point being of Spirit representing its balance and influence.
I reflected the image:
the mirrored star is a reflection of the truth.
On the star pointing up I have inscribed the classic triangles,
in the reflected image I used Hebrew letters,
representing an interpretation of those elements.
In the middle of the two stars:
a hand holding a torch thrust downward, gutting smoke;
the light is cloaked:
the truth is obscured.
The Letter Ayin placed over the hand representing how the Eye
may be directed to see many facets of reality.

The Devil Amulet would be an amulet for writers,
comics, filmmakers, anyone who creates fiction,
images or media that can inspire, reveal the truth or test one’s metal.
This is for the trickster,
the joker or the teller of tales.
It is an amulet representing Humor,
the telling of stories and the practical joker.
It is also for the scientist:
one who tests theories, weighs ideas for their merit.
It is for the Editor,
one who looks to stories and weighs the validity of their meaning and truth.

Help for the Clueless

Posted by Amulets by Merlin on July 15, 2009
Posted in: Help for the Clueless, Jewelry design. Tagged: , , , , , . 4 Comments

In the mid Nineties
I attended a festival called “Starwood”
located in upper state New York.
This festival is a celebration of counter cultures of all kinds,
what ever branch of tree you are up in.
They celebrate life through dance, song, drumming, body painting,
costumes or what have you,
pure fun – for most of us.
Some folks consider it a refuge for the Clueless…

One of the problems we face in our lives
is when we choose to work in environments
where people are on vacation.
I discovered this early when I worked in Yosemite in my youth:
people on vacation had spent the better part of a year
grinding away at their jobs
and finely have a week or two to blow off some steam
only to discover that when they packed their suitcase,
the usually forget their common sense.

Starwood is a prime example of this:
only to an extreme.
Perhaps it is the kind of tension we carry within ourselves
while we work so hard only to find release when we have time off.
Perhaps it is the opportunity to spend a few care-fee days
without having to punch a clock.
Perhaps it is because Starwood has a huge bar that never seems to close
(although I actually saw it closed on several occasions,
only to discover that people have bottles stashed in their tents).

Never the less
I found myself for several years running
attending Starwood,
each year
more and more silliness occurred
in high fashion and full color.
After setting up my booth and living space
(we spent two weeks there,
attending the festival that is the week before Starwood:
Sirius Rising, more of a family event than Starwood)
only to discover that because of the contour of the field
people mistook the break between my tents
as a pathway to the restroom.

Through the day and night
folks stumbled through our encampment,
sometimes even waking through our camp fire
to find relief.
After a couple of days of this and following much debate,
M’Lady Tony decided she had had enough.
She sought out a large stick and wrote with a heavy marker
KLU by 4
and drove it into the middle of the now worn path
and glared at the first attempted trudging through our encampment.
The second attempt was made by an unwary,
yet full bladdered man
only to find M’Lady step up
and threaten him with a sound beating
with a Clue-by-four.
This did not go un-noticed.
I had tried to appease her with a few words
about the vacationing man and his lack of brains in his luggage,
but to no avail.
She was Determined!
Later she decided to post a guard at our “gate”:
a small waif of a girl in a fairy costume
planted herself across the path with the clue-by-four across her knees
and a scowl that would send most smart people running.
There were several people over the days ahead
who found themselves being herded about with the stick
and eventually
(the last two days of such “coaxing”)
we were able to have a meal in our encampment
without dirt flying into our food
due to a hast trip to the lue.

I was Inspired.

The Clue Fairy Amulet
“The Clue Fairy”

In ’95
(or there-a-bouts)
I introduced to my line of Jewelry
“The Clue Fairy”
She is a tiny yet well detailed creature with tattered wings,
a baseball cap turned around on her head
and shouldering the Clue-by-Four:
ready to give you a clue!
However
I felt that it was not enough.
I also created the Clue Coin.
A tiny coin of some girth and a portrait of a clueless “DUDE”
(sometimes referred to as the “Dude Coin”).
Although it is only good for half a clue,
it is well worth carrying.
Many have found that by holding the clue coin on them
they are armed against their offspring:
“Dad, you simply don’t have a clue!”
but indeed they are wrong!
Present them with the coin to prove it!
If you use three coins to roll the I Ching,
you already start with a clue and a half:
fortune is already smiling on you!

Over the past fourteen years
(or so)
the stories of the clue fairy have become legendary.
I have been able to offer help for the clueless
at science fiction conventions,
festivals and gatherings
through out the eastern seaboard.
Doing my part to raise the bar
or perhaps waive the clue-by-four about
for those in need!

What is an Amulet?

Posted by Amulets by Merlin on July 14, 2009
Posted in: Amulets, Jewelry design, Multi Faith, Totem Jewelry. Tagged: , , , , , , . 2 Comments

For as long as people have ascribed objects with special affinity
they have harnessed the use of Talismans:
objects associated with “magic” or “special powers”.
Amulets have come in a variety of shapes and sizes:
tools, weapons even vehicles.
Amongst these objects,
jewelry has been the most popular of Talismans:
the Amulets.

An Amulet can be a ring or pendant made of metal,
stone, bone or other substance;
however the intrinsic value is the focus here.
In its basic Latin translation: amuletum,
the “Amulet” was to “repel trouble”;
however as society has progressed
and our needs and desires have become more sophisticated,
the use of amulets has expanded.
A common amulet used today is a wedding ring:
it represents special meanings:
love, trust and a reminder of a promise made.

The Chakra Tree Amulet

The Chakra Tree Amulet

From the 12th century the creation of amulets became more sophisticated:
the greater Key of Solomon
and its various seals
have expanded the purpose of the Amulet to a wide variety of uses:
bringer of rain, lucid dreaming, clarity of thought and so on.
Our history is filled with Amulets from many cultures
including Native American, Gypsy, Romanian, and Celtic;
nearly every culture has its amulets and their use.

In my own work I began with the Tarot.
Each card has a specific meaning and purpose,
reflections of how we think and respond to each other,
the fine tuning of a person’s virtue and their lessons.
I then developed the metaphors that step beyond the two dimensional image,
allowing the bearer of the amulet to focus on the idea and intent
of each of the Major Arcana.
From there I have studied and implemented a host of symbols
to provide a wide variety of Amulets for many purposes.

How do I get a piece of jewelry to work as an Amulet?

It is preferable to harness a piece of jewelry
has already been targeted to work as an amulet.
The important step is to find a connection with the piece,
something that first “reminds” you of the intent.
For example,
if you wished to become pregnant
(provided you have a partner that will assist you in the physical step),
you would find an amulet that would represent fertility to you.
To activate the amulet is simply developing an affinity with the piece.
“This pendant makes me feel fertile”.
Touching that “place” may require some work on your part:
you need to discover that fertile part within
and connect with the amulet you are using.
A great example is found in the first book of the legendary series:
The Sword of Shannara.
Towards the end of the story,
our hero finds it difficult to activate his Talisman
until he discovers the spark of truth within himself
necessary to ignite the “Magic” of the blade.
Although a book of fiction,
the principle is the plain:
to harness such things one must first find that part within one’s self
before the enhancement can take place.

Looking again to the Tarot Amulets,
each piece is designed to help one find that spark within through lore,
imagery and intent.
If one is studying the Chakras, Kundalini and Yoga,
then the Strength Amulet would be a good tool
to help one focus on one’s studies,
exercises and meditations.
It is an enhancement;
it does not take the place of real practice and study.
A lens in of itself does not create light:
it magnifies and focuses the light
giving one more control over what is already there.
With Amulets and Talismans it is not so much the object
rather it is the relationship between the person and their amulet
that makes the difference.
It is not the Wedding Ring that makes you married
it is the relationship between all parties concerned
that creates the marriage:
the rings enhance the marriage and give it a physical point of reference to focus on;
the symbol of the eternal circle and the experience of its presentation at the ceremony.

I have created hundreds of designs;
and always creating more.
On occasion a person will need a piece that will help them accomplish a task,
focus purpose or celebrate life.
Many times he or she will produce a design providing
the necessary connection to their desired goal.
From their art
(or from a description of the design)
I then create what they would like.
To see my line of Jewelry,
sculpture and other works of art and to learn more about how your amulet can be made,
please visit my how to order custom page.