Healing Gemstone Pendants (costumer search)

While cleaning one day, Ari and I found an interesting document buried and forgotten. Since then A thick simple typed up page titled Healing Gemstone Pendants has been sitting on top of People's main showcase. Then today a curious costumer named Kristin asked if we might have copies.

In all reality, this was deemed deserving of a re-do for your viewing:

Healing Gemstone 

Pendants

Aventurine- is a good luck stone, especially in financial matters. Stimulates creativity, intelligence and perception. A great healing stone, it gives a sense of mental and emotional well-being.

Amethyst- is said to remove stress. It is nature's grand cleanser and also functions as a spiritual stimulant. It can also enhance the dream state. Amethyst is the birthstone for the month of February.

Bloodstone- is considered a powerful healing stone with many magical properties. In ancient folklore, bloodstone was said to give off audible sounds as a guide. It gives one the ability to banish evil and negativity of all kinds.

Carnelian- is an energy booster. It helps the insecure person to find strength within them so they can come into their own. It is said to increase the appetite. In addition it can help with manifestation of one's desires, and brings good luck.

Citrine- is known as a "success" stone because it is said in folklore to promote success and abundance, especially in business and commerce. Its lore also says that it enhances mental clarity, confidence, happiness and will power. Citrine is purported to bring good fortune, sometimes in very unexpected ways.

Leopard Skin Jasper- helps discover and connect with one's animal totems or "power" animals. This is a protective stone, and it is particularly protective during shamanistic journeys.

Obsidian- Can be used to stimulate growth of the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual centers, and to provide strength in times of need. It further provides vitality to one's lifework and/or fulfillment of one's aspirations.

Quartz Crystal- remarkable tools for healing. Great protector and exquisite channelers and transmitter of divine energy. Crystals enhance pureness, clarity and depth. They cause one to be more clear and open.

Red Jasper- A gem stone of will power. Wearing red jasper jewelry it is said to stimulate a war like nature. And prepare one for conflict by giving energy and courage. Is thought bring protection from danger and dangerous situations.

Rose Quartz- Is a calming agent on the heart center, Healing any blocks that may exist. This quartz carries with it the quality of acceptance, forgiveness, and universal love.

Sodalite- Helps the wearer to think rationally and form logical conclusions. It is an excellent stone for working in groups as it helps the members to create an atmosphere of mutual trust and self esteem. Enhancing solidarity and enabling the group to establish common purpose and work together towards their goals.

Smokey Quartz- Can transform negative energy patterns. It tends to penetrate and dissolve energy fields which have been generated from negative forms, anger and resentment.
 
Tiger's Eye- Is a stone of protection that is also very grounding. It enhances integrity, will power, practicality and correct use of power. It is a stone that enhances good luck and brings prosperity often in the form of money. Especially protective during travel.

Ari and I have already discussed having a discussion regarding this post thru the comments of this blog and you are more than welcome to join in.

A SUZANI FOR SPRING

Suzani Room at People's Imports

The room on the side of People's Imports with the beds and multitude of African statues i like to call the "Suzani Room." Many customers ask what that means, and it has been that way since last October when a tall woman with dark hair and fashionable dress came in at the end of one slow weekday, looking for these beautiful bright tapestries ("suzanis") which had been half-hidden in a corner by a cabinet. She took her time examining every one of these, even after the store closed, asking us questions i should have known about the origin and design, and told us emphatically as she made her purchase that we should put these magnificent works of art in a more visible place. Honestly, her intent, type-A personality is the sort that often throws my laid-back self nervous, but her energy was unusually bright, like that of a goddess.


As Kat and i were given duties to swiftly redecorate this room for a private party that weekend, this woman's advice went through our minds. A day or so later, our friend Sierra throwing the party told us to make the room look more "flowery" and "goddess-inspired" - maybe with something like this (picking up one of the suzanis with a flowery circle at center). Serendipity. i mentioned our recent late-afternoon customer's similar suggestion and she responded that "well, goddesses can be demanding."

Detailed picture of People's star Suzani

So i picked up this suzani tapestry and hung it on the wall by the bed. The goddess would be pleased. Then i picked up another from the pile, and it was one of the most divine wall-hangings i had ever seen. Purple and huge spread out, with a pink eight-pointed star in the center -- a symbol associated with Isis and Inanna -- this one begged to be placed prominently. I hung it over a central doorway to the room i now called the "suzani room"....and then i hung up more, mostly dark swirly raspberry red with embroidered yellow and white flowers and green branches and the artist's signature. Later in the day we finished setup of the room.
it was my first redecorating project since starting, so i was pretty happy.
And, party time came, and the goddess was indeed pleased.

Fast-forward to March and the suzanis are still just as prominent, and with the coming of spring and collective retail remerchandising, it feels wrong to move them. In fact, new ones are coming in and they are just as beautiful and goddess-inspired. Circles, flowers, the seasons and the wheel of life: Persephone's voice echoes through as if via a scrying mirror.

Suzanis, embroidered tribal textiles from central Asia, notably Uzbekistan, are a landmark craft of nomadic Uzbek people and their land. The name origin is Persian (Farsi) and means "needlework." They are made from cotton and silk in a variety of colors and styles based on region and many are one of a kind. Traditionally they were made by or for girls and used as bride-dowry in marriage.
Uzbekistan, in the highlands of central Asia, is on the overland Silk Road from the Mediterranean to China by the mostly evaporated Aral Sea, and is the home of legendary Samarqand and its bazaars. Mostly windy desert and grassland savanna but mountainous and greener along its eastern end, it is a land of livestock herding and textile trading trying to recover from drought caused by massive irrigation projects by the Soviet government in the mid-20th century. The land has gone through Persian, Islamic, Mongol, Russian and Soviet rule before establishing autonomy in the early 1990's.

Uzbekistan

Symbols commonly represented in traditional suzanis include:
Pomegranates/Fruits/Red colors - fertility, abundance, blood, mother earth. Hellenic/Mediterranean influence from the west, beginning with Alexander "the great" of Macedonia
Vines/Grapes - Hellenic influence
Boteh (paisley, teardrop) - Persian influence from the south, seen on Persian rugs
Tulips, Hyacinths - Persian "oasis/garden" influence, seen on Persian rugs
Yellows, Browns - the desert or grassland
Palak/Circle/wheel - seasons and the sun, continuity, survival. pre-Islamic Uzbek/Turkic highland tribal, across mountain ranges and once all of Central Asia.
Many-pointed star with dots surrounding/Dark blues, purples - the heavens: sun, moon, and orbiting planets. pre-Islamic Central Asian tribal.

The silk material historically was the main trade from India and the lands south and east of the Hindu Kush mountain range. Cotton grows on the Uzbek steppe and is a traditional export crop.

People's newest Suzani features the wheel motif

The suzani fabric's softness and size make it perfect for blankets, throws, wall hangings, or shawls. We have some rectangular pieces and some square, many with red, burgundy, or black field, but also yellow or brown fields speckled with tiny mirrors. In the modern day. they are also made into pillows, dresses, and tablecloths, and the motifs are found across the textile industry from fashion boots to rugs. Some rugs in our store from Afghanistan and around central Asia are labeled "suzani" noting the silk embroidery on them, though the patterns are unique to those lands and local cultures.

If you find yourself wanting to decorate for spring or honor the divine feminine with bright colors and tribal symbols of nature, the stars, and the seasons, we can show you some tapestries that tell a girl's life work or a story of the fruits of a desert crossroad.

sources:

http://www.bukhara-carpets.com/making/suzani.html
Wikipedia: Uzbekistan
www.uzbek-crafts.com