Kodiak Island Talisman With Opal

Sterling Silver - $145.00

"Cut down that maple tree...burn the trunk to ashes, and Ma'll leach the ashes for lye. Scatter the leaves and they'll make winter mulchin'. Seeds that have been shook off will come up. No, Sir, if you can't kill that old maple, you ain't goin' to be able to kill me. I'll be in something a hundred years from now, even if it's just the praire grass or the wind in the timber or the wild geese ridin' out the storm."

Native Americans in and around Alaska believe that everything: animal, plant, rock and sky, has a human spirit (an Innui). Whether we are "..human beings learning to be spritual, or spiritual beings learning to be human..," we can all use comforting and personal articles to remind us of our connections. We have designed and carefully handcrafted our Kodiak Island Talisman after a Shaman's Talisman found in the excavation of a semisubterranean log house of the Koniag Culture of Kodiak. The Koniag were a culture committed to and bound by taking their living from the sea. (They invented the two-person kayak.) We believe the Talisman was intended to keep fisherman safe while out in their small boats.

We designed our Kodiak Island Talisman around a piece of crazed 2000 year-old Fossil Walrus Ivory with brown and white sun and rays pattern. Above the fully bezeled and backed Fossil Ivory we placed a "good luck comet' of seven Sterling Silver beads, graduated in size. Above this bright comet is a spectacular blue/green Aurora Borealis opal, topped by a long, curved freeform Silver bead, which 'keeps the heavens pressing down on the water to keep it calm.' 1 1/2 inches high, 5/8 inch wide.

Each of our Kodiak Island Talismans is unique because we choose a unique freeform opal, handcraft a slightly different curved freeform Silver bead, and individually make each of the round Silver beads. Each comes complete with a Sterling Silver chain.