The Grief Path

My inspiration for creating jewelry for grief and loss came from my own experience of healing from trauma. Following a deeply traumatic event linked to the birth of my first child, I endured a long battle with postpartum depression. At a point when I was feeling out of options and nothing seemed to help, I developed a relationship with a piece of jet.

Despite what you might expect, I am actually not someone who uses crystals for healing in any sort of regular practice. But this jet was different. It felt warm and smooth and unexpectedly light. It was soothing to the touch and felt like a black hole I could dump my sorrow into, an endless void that would never get too full. After months of feeling like I had talked my issues to death with my therapist and loved ones, this shiny black rock felt like it could hold everything I could possibly need to unload. I envisioned it as a sponge literally soaking up negativity and sadness out of me through my hand.

In the moments when there was just. too. much. grief. for me to handle (and there were many), holding the jet gave me somewhere to put the sorrow outside of myself. It helped me sleep on sleepless, tormented nights. It gave me something solid to hang onto when I was on the brink of panic attacks, something to remind me to breathe deeply and stay grounded.  Over time I believe it was one of the main tools that helped me let go of the pain.

I've shared this tool with other friends and I'd like to share it with you.

I made the jewelry in my Trauma, Loss & Grief Collection using jet (180 million year old fossilized wood) and onyx, both stones traditionally used in grief and mourning jewelry. The collection includes smaller pieces - if you want something you can wear 24/7 - or larger pieces - if you want to be able to remove the jewelry to hold the jet/onyx in your hand, as I described.