Pilgrim Necklace

I wanted to say a few words about this necklace before I release it this afternoon. It’s a design that was born from experience and intention. I walked the primitive section of the Camino de Santiago across Asturia and Galicia Spain over the span of a few weeks this past summer and it was a wonderful time.

A friend recently asked me what the pilgrimage was like and while I’m still reflecting on the experience and working on a longer form written piece for you, I briefly shared with her:

“What I enjoyed about the journey was the quiet, ancient feel of it — like God built the way with careful hands, weaving into the path thirst, hunger, quenching, satiation, sunshine, heat, shade, cold springs, steep climbs and descents, shabby meals and decadent feasts, water and wine…and I was grateful for it all and my heart found rest.”

I loved thinking about the pilgrims who had walked the way ahead of me and what might have been common between us. It was such a lovely journey and my only regret is that I was not able to linger longer in places that tugged on my spirit.

While descending from the highest pass on the primitive section of the Camino I saw a yucca patch and picked a handful of seed pods to carry along the trail and eventually home to Idaho. In this necklace design they represent the deep relationship we are intended to have with natural rhythms and nature — I don’t believe we are separate from nature, I believe we are part of it, and much of the chaos we see in the world today is due, in part, because of the separation, the divorce many of us suffer from what is natural and good and true. This yucca pod I gleaned from the Camino was taken from the highest place on the trail where the view was vast and the air was clean and the sun was hot. I’ve suspended it from ten square crosses in an attempt to create a sort of…rosary. Each square cross is a tangible object you can assign a thought, a worry, a prayer, a person to. They are intended to focus your mind when it needs focusing — to help you go deeper into thought and devotion and prayer.

Whether you are a praying person or not, I intended this piece to be imbued with some of the peace and joy I found on the Camino de Santiago this past summer as I walked, day after day, step after step, across Northern Spain on the ancient Catholic pilgrimage that has led so many people home to love, healing, faith and a sense of belonging to nature.

Buen Camino. Dios te guarde.

Love,

Jillian