IMPORTANT: This jewel is limited and we do not know if they'll be available again in the future. We recommend Express Shipping with signature required upon delivery to make sure it arrives safely into your hands. 

Please note : This necklace will be created with an 30" bar link chain. If you desire a different chain length you must reach out to us immediately after placing your order. 

Inspired by variations of the Pythia series, this 'skeleton key'  was created from a collage of life cast bat bones that echoes the style of a baroque mirror frame. At its center, the delicate silver bones cradle a polished hematite disc. This framed mirror inspired design is meant to represent the divinatory aspect of ‘crystal gazing,’ a nod to the divinatory roles of the Pythia.

The double barrel of the key represents being able to both lock and unlock at the same time, or the idea of closing and opening at the same time, the ability to have choices in your hand, even if it doesn't feel like it. 

Pythia was the name given to the high priestess at the Oracle of Delphi; always a woman, who would be possessed by the God Apollo to directly receive his enigmatic prophecies, as she inhabited a dream-like trance. When she was consulted, she was thought to have sat upon the three legged tripod of Apollo deep within the subterranean levels of the site of Delphi, which was considered to be the center or ‘navel’ of the world and the site where Apollo slayed Python, son of Gaia, a serpentine/dragon-like monster. It is from the rotting corpse of Python beneath the temple, that Pythia gets her name. Much like modern divinatory requests, it seems the Pythia was consulted for ubiquitous queries such as ‘whom should I marry?” to more potentially history changing questions from rulers about to go to war. In every instance, the Pythia’s divinations were considered to be coming directly from Apollo and therefore unimpeachable.

Keys: 

Skeleton keys have long been an obsession of mine. My godmother is an auctioneer and took me along to auctions and estate sales. Treasure for me were always the wooden boxes filled with greasy and dirt caked keys, beautiful with their time earned patina, with their memories and silent stories. As a kid, I imagined every beautiful key I came across no matter how small or large, belonged to a haunted house. Even the tiny keys that came with my school fair diary were special to me. Keys have that sort of resiliency that many other sorts of old objects don’t, they survive the wear and tear of misuse, they surface like relics from the muck of time. 

Keys are an ancient tool, created first by the Ancient Egyptians in wood and modified by the Romans in metal and made small enough to be kept on a person, coined as the first ‘skeleton keys’. These were used, as now, to lock doors and boxes or 'safes', to protect precious objects and people. Thusly one of the mundane and ubiquitous tool has also come to garner potent symbolism over time and has been woven into a current everyday object that even digital technology can’t seem to make obsolete. At the time of my writing this, I still use metal keys to gain entrance to my apartment and studio; I moved out of a house in Philadelphia in 2020 in one of the oldest parts of the city that still employed the use of skeleton keys. Perhaps the key is an object where the old world and the new continually shoulder up against each other, no matter how much modern technology tries to replace them.

As a talismanic jewel the key is a liminal object representing a potent tension and duality as it can both lock and unlock, making the person who holds the key, one on a threshold.

*For locking: Being able to lock something behind you will always give the power and feeling of protection, therefore keys will always have the symbolism of protection embedded in them. The first key I can remember owning was a tiny key that fit to a tiny lock that latched onto a diary I owned in elementary school where I kept all of my secrets. This consisted of all of the titles of the books I’d write, but they sounded like spells, things I desperately wanted to change about myself; revenge I’d like to take on bullies. These days, protecting my loved ones, my heart, and extending protection to those I can feels most important to me. Feeling safe and helping others feel safe in my presence is something I'm always thinking about, and the presence of a key against my body helps remind me of these tenants and makes me feel safe.

For unlocking: Keys as objects that can 'unlock' show up as symbols across cultures. It’s a symbol of gaining access: for some it's about knowledge and wisdom or about gaining access to higher or unearthly realms: Saint Peter was known to hold the keys to heaven while Hecate is known to hold the keys to the unseen world/ the gates of death. As an initiatory symbol, it suggests garnering levels of knowledge that lead upwards on your path, or crossing thresholds of the unconscious. It also suggests the ability of survival, of being able to find 'a way out', of reaching a place where you are able to unlock or solve an obstacle that was complex or troubling, such as a Sphinx's riddle.  

*Details*:

- 35 mm at it's widest 

- Almost 72 mm from top to bottom ( including jump ring )

- Solid Sterling Silver  

- Shown on Jess with 30 inch chain

- Set with one 16mm Hematite disc

- Both pendant and chain are hand oxidized to achieve our favorite shade of stormy gray and then highlighted to reveal the bright luminous silver beneath

This listing is for one Key of the Pythia necklace set with one Hematite stone. 

Hematite

Appearing as a gunmetal gray color and named for the greek word for blood, hematite is a grounding and protective stone, thought to help stem excessive bleeding. It has been associated with magic, blood, and protection for centuries as well as its practical application of being a pigment. When ground down, its shiny, near silver coloring transforms into a reddish hue akin to the color of dried blood. It is the very same pigment used in prehistoric cave paintings and has also been used as war paint. Hematite was also used as an early mirror for its reflective properties, making it an object that can be used for scrying. 

***IMPORTANT***

This jewel is handmade to order, just for you, with care and focus. Please allow approximately 6-8 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