Lately I have felt the mysterious hand of fate at work very close to the surface in my life, creating new and amazing chapters. I am learning to be more receptive to this energy and am grateful to have the opportunity, in living the way I do, to answer its call with increasing fluidity.
I have been in a pattern the last few years of heading south in the fall, and was planning to do so but first decided to make a special gift to take with me for some very dear friends. I won’t say too much about it for want of keeping their surprise, but suffice it to say that during the carving process, which involved a lot of circles, I stumbled upon a peace sign. It was completely by accident and resulted as a matter of placement. I immediately began sifting through all the archived leaves in my collection and there it was—again and again, repeated in almost every leaf. I was stunned that I had overlooked the obvious for so many years.
I had always sought out what made each leaf unique; looked for new images and unusual forms. In doing this, I neglected to absorb the unifying elements. And in the case of leaves, one of the unifying elements happens to be where the main vein of the leaf branches out to the sides. Somewhere along that length, there seems to be a place where two of the side branches sit symmetrically, forming the foundation for a peace sign. Although not universal, it appears to be present in an uncountable number of leaves.
Upon finishing the original piece I was working on, I spent a full day carving this design again and again in the small leaves in my collection. Time slipped away and became abstract. I was consumed in my carving with an contented enthusiasm I haven’t felt in quite a while. Each leaf expressed this same design in its own beautiful way.
And then it hit me: this was filling the gap I had been feeling the last couple weeks—it was the missing factor to the equation. How revelatory to have discovered such a thing, at a time when the world seems to need peace more than ever. It was then that I realised what I must do.
I haven’t made leaf pendants in a long time, for a few reasons. I maintain my preference to wall art, but I think I am meant to make an exception in this case. I will be putting together a limited-edition peace pendant collection, to make available and spread around. It feels right and for the time being, I will be lending my full attention to this project. I will continue to embrace living instinctively and follow the path that feels right, wherever it may lead. I have a feeling it will be somewhere amazing. And to those of you out there who are feeling overwhelmed by the polarity that exists out there in the world, I share with you my little pieces of peace along with the words of Mahatma Gandhi:
“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”
If there is any thought I would like these pendants to remind us of, its that we can be the change, and the peace, we would like to see in the world.