Mermaid Hematite Banded Serpentine – Kettle River
A substantial piece of river-worn banded serpentine, smooth and dense in the hand, showing soft green-to-gray layers that shift as the light moves across the surface. In places the darker banding has a subtle metallic quality that strongly suggests hematite.
Pulled from the Kettle River in Grand Forks, British Columbia. The Kettle River is a tributary of the great Columbia. Its waters travel south and east before joining the Columbia and continuing the long journey to the Pacific Ocean. This is a distinct watershed from those the mage has collected from before — a different river system that still answers to the same ocean mothers at the end of its path.
Serpentine is the stone of the serpent — the old Snake Goddess, the coiled chthonic feminine, the power that lives in the deep earth and in the blood. It soothes, protects, and carries a quiet, ancient wisdom. When hematite is present within it, the current becomes more specific and more formidable. Hematite is iron, blood, and the martial force that fortifies. Together they form a natural alliance: the serpent who also carries the blood-memory and the protective gaze. This is the current of Medusa — serpent-haired, iron-willed, able to turn the hostile eye back upon itself. The combination of serpentine and hematite is one of the cleanest earthly expressions of that power.
This stone has been included in lunar workings and bound in rootwork by the mage. While it is not a talismanic piece in the formal astrological tradition, it has been magically charged and now carries her lunar current. The mage holds living relationship with Rán and her nine daughters, the wave-maidens of the North. In the old lore, Rán is the goddess who casts her net across the sea and claims those who drown. Her name carries the sense of robbery or taking — she does not ask. Those she takes are received into the hall she shares with Ægir beneath the waves, where the drowned are guests at the feasts. Gold was sometimes carried into the water so that one would not arrive empty-handed at her table. The hospitality of that hall is legendary; the drowned continue there as guests under her claim.
In this there is a striking parallel with Freyja: both are hostesses of the dead and keepers of great halls of feasting. The difference lies mainly in the selection. Freyja chooses from those who fall in battle and have not drowned; Rán takes those the sea itself claims. Both receive, both host, both feast the dead under their own right.
Uncut. Unpolished. Still carrying the river, the lunar charge, the serpent, and the iron blood of the deep earth.
Offered as an individual ritual stone.
Mermaid Hematite Banded Serpentine – Kettle River
A substantial piece of river-worn banded serpentine, smooth and dense in the hand, showing soft green-to-gray layers that shift as the light moves across the surface. In places the darker banding has a subtle metallic quality that strongly suggests hematite.
Pulled from the Kettle River in Grand Forks, British Columbia. The Kettle River is a tributary of the great Columbia. Its waters travel south and east before joining the Columbia and continuing the long journey to the Pacific Ocean. This is a distinct watershed from those the mage has collected from before — a different river system that still answers to the same ocean mothers at the end of its path.
Serpentine is the stone of the serpent — the old Snake Goddess, the coiled chthonic feminine, the power that lives in the deep earth and in the blood. It soothes, protects, and carries a quiet, ancient wisdom. When hematite is present within it, the current becomes more specific and more formidable. Hematite is iron, blood, and the martial force that fortifies. Together they form a natural alliance: the serpent who also carries the blood-memory and the protective gaze. This is the current of Medusa — serpent-haired, iron-willed, able to turn the hostile eye back upon itself. The combination of serpentine and hematite is one of the cleanest earthly expressions of that power.
This stone has been included in lunar workings and bound in rootwork by the mage. While it is not a talismanic piece in the formal astrological tradition, it has been magically charged and now carries her lunar current. The mage holds living relationship with Rán and her nine daughters, the wave-maidens of the North. In the old lore, Rán is the goddess who casts her net across the sea and claims those who drown. Her name carries the sense of robbery or taking — she does not ask. Those she takes are received into the hall she shares with Ægir beneath the waves, where the drowned are guests at the feasts. Gold was sometimes carried into the water so that one would not arrive empty-handed at her table. The hospitality of that hall is legendary; the drowned continue there as guests under her claim.
In this there is a striking parallel with Freyja: both are hostesses of the dead and keepers of great halls of feasting. The difference lies mainly in the selection. Freyja chooses from those who fall in battle and have not drowned; Rán takes those the sea itself claims. Both receive, both host, both feast the dead under their own right.
Uncut. Unpolished. Still carrying the river, the lunar charge, the serpent, and the iron blood of the deep earth.
Offered as an individual ritual stone.
