The Pyre Chapter I. Ring.

Back in September of 2018, Brazil’s oldest natural history museum, caught fire. This fire ripped through most of the buildings, and in photos against a night sky, large swathes of bright flame bloom high above the old buildings. Inside, entire collections of memory were being swallowed up in this blaze, butterflies and other insect collections, shells, taxidermied birds, and perhaps the most devastating - recordings of indigenous languages being spoken were completely lost within hours. Scraps of paper with hand written notes and illustrations rained down over a mile away, blown by the roaring winds generated by the fire. I remember hearing about this happening in real time while driving through the darkness of a lonely midwestern road, the radio on, hearing a woman speaking with devastation in her voice about the loss to our collective memory keeping. I remember thinking : my heart is this pyre too, filled with these butterflies. I could feel her grief from across the sea. I could feel the heat of that fire through her voice. Perhaps our hearts are all connected in this way - through the grief that 'fire' can bring down upon us all - the destructive nature that reduces us all to ashes - the Tower Season it feels were all in privately in the secret chambers of our hearts, and also so vividly and viscerally together, collectively as we reshuffle and try to figure out new ways of being with one another. Are our hearts all a bit the same now that they have been touched by fire ? Edge with flame marks ?  Fire has the power to cleanse and renew as well as to destroy. We use it to keep ourselves warm and to light our way in the darkness. It brings comfort and mimics the solar energy of the sun, the greatest star, forever on fire above us. We carry a bit of this inside ourselves, a heart that is also, a house, a book, a chamber with many rooms, a memory storehouse, a grief museum …..when its set on fire, all of these functions are both made more intense, more sacred and can also all be destroyed - with the potential to be made new again. I’ve been thinking a lot lately of the Phoenix - towards the end of its life, it makes a nest of sacred herbs and spices and immolates itself within this space. From these ashes of both self and nest/home, a new Phoenix rises. I like to think about this sacred fire, this choice, this renewal. What it means to carry a heavy heart, grief, turbulent emotions, and to somehow find the will to make a choice to be ‘new’ - to come out of the ashes of the fallen Tower - a broken heart - a season of grief - a hard time - and feel new feathers forming under your skin, feel the fire in your heart’s blood.  The Ancient Egyptians believed the heart to be the seat of everything : knowledge, memory, and emotion. They so firmly believed in the power of the heart they left it in the body during the mummification process, an embedded star, to be weighed and tested for passage into the afterlife. If the heart weighed more than the feather of Maat, it was fed to Ammit - ‘Devourer of Hearts’ and your spirit died a second death. You were not permitted to go on to the afterlife. I think of this often. My heart being devoured, my heart weighing more or less. Since I can’t truly cremate my heart just yet, these silver hearts carry these smoky feelings for me & maybe they will for you too. I hope so. This listing is for our largest flaming heart ring in the size of your choosing. It is sterling silver, hand oxidized to achieve our favorite shade of stormy gray and then highlighted to reveal the bright luminous silver beneath.   Details: - 59mm tall  - 27mm wide  - Sits 8mm off of the finger  - Solid sterling silver - Last image shows all three heart rings for scale    ***IMPORTANT*** This jewel is handmade to order, just for you, passing through many hands with care and intention in our Philadelphia studio. Please allow approximately 5 weeks for creation before shipping.                   Visit the Policy Page to make an educated and informed purchase HERE. If you have further questions, we are always here to serve you in a kind and timely manner: via bloodmilkjewels@gmail.com