Bloodstone and Garnet Mala Finds Nice Home

Bloodstone and Garnet Mala

Have I mentioned already about a thousand times that I have the nicest customers in the world?

Well, it's true.  And now you've heard it again.

I love the internet, as a way to encounter people who share similar interests and as a medium for creativity - writing, photography, and more.

A customer who is also a blogwriter recently wrote in liberatedself.wordpress.com about a mala I made for him, and I really enjoy reading his posts.  He's writing from the inside out about what it feels like to try to allow change in thought and being to develop.  It's very personal, enthusiastic, and well, I just love it. I think you might too. It's the kind of writing that inspires me.

Honestly, it's people like this that just make my day.

Take care, now!

A New Website About Malas & Prayer Beads - Dharma-beads.net

Photo from Dharma-beads.net

Recently I was alerted to a new website about malas and other types of prayer beads, Dharma-beads.net.

I'm really excited about it!  Prayer beads from many faiths are included, with lots of well-written and insightful background material about each.  The writer explains the difference between some types of malas, and she was lovely enough to include this picture jasper mala in the section on Hindu/Buddhist malas.

I feel greatly honored to have my work included in this blog.  There is a list of stones for different symbolic uses, information about prayers and mantras, and a bibliography of great books with which to follow further into the subject of malas, rosaries, and subhas.  I was intrigued to find the section on what kind of stones to use in malas for work with certain chakras, because I know a lot of people really want that information.

 When you have a moment and can read for awhile on it, please check it out.  It was created as a labor of love, obviously!  And I really enjoy the respect of different faiths and enjoyment of all things prayer bead included on it.

I think you'll love Dharma-beads.net.

Picture Jasper Mala with Bamboo Coral, Turquoise-colored Howlite, and Poppy Jasper

Farewell to a precious being

Gidget - 17 years old - Rest in Peace

There is no such thing as a being who isn't precious.  Not in the ideas of the Buddha, who taught that the lives of beings are all considered sacred.

But we all have favorites. One of my most special friends through the years has been this cat, a calico cat names Gidget.  To say she was strong and feisty is an understatement.  She outlived all other pets for 16 years.  One day I came home and she had a young cat cornered in a bookshelf, where he had been for hours, judging by certain signs. When we chose her from the shelter, she was an adorable young cat taking little nips at her brother in the cage.  They weren't playful nips, they were her fierce way of keeping things in balance.

After we got the labrador last year (Stella's hiding in the shadow in the top photo) the two animals gradually reached detente, but Gidget was the dominant one.  She ruled the roost. Over the months the two became close, finally sleeping together on the dog's bed.

One day Stella the lab came to me and cried quietly.  She's not a cryer.  If it's not mealtime or time to let her out or walk her, I never hear her cry. I went over to the cat, finding her groggy and subdued on the dog bed. Later the vet diagnosed serious kidney infection, probably with other medical problems.  We treated the infection, but she just got worse and worse. She had a nice week when she was well enough to go out and lie in the garden, but then she dwindled. 

In the final week, Stella the lab gave her bed entirely to Gidget, watching her constantly.  

We had to euthanize her last week, which was a very difficult decision.  I wanted her to pass at home, but she was in too much suffering.  So the kind vet helped her out with us nearby. Vets have the hardest jobs in the world, I think. What compassion.

Now it's very quiet in the house.  Stella sleeps a lot.  Her little buddy isn't here to hiss at her and tell her to back off, and there's no one to sleep with.  It felt amazingly sad, but she was an older cat whose time had come.

Not sure what else to say.  My prayers and best wishes go out to you if you've lost a beloved pet.  Time will heal and the memories will remain. 

Please, take as any photos as possible of your pets, so you'll have visual memories of their beauty.

May all beings enjoy happiness, be free of suffering, and discover their true natures.

What it Takes...the Agony & the Ecstasy of Mala-Making

Bodhiseed Mala with Different Possible Focal and Marking Beads

(a quick photo of choices for a customer)

It seems that it would be easy and maybe take 20 minutes tops to string 108 beads on a strand of cord or bit of wire.

It's not.  It takes hours sometimes!  

Here's why. (And if you make malas or any kind of prayer beads, you'll understand.)

Things have to feel right. I have to be able to sit and focus for awhile without fidgeting, without becoming too distracted.  That's harder than it sounds, as I am a world-class fidgeter. 

More than that, I try to have a gentle feeling about the beads and the customer receiving the beads.  Starting with a compassionate intention and joining it with artistic standards, one ends up doing painstaking work.

Each bead needs to be right.  No cracks, few irregularities (and only if the rest of the bead has an ultra-interesting pattern), and it has to be the same size as the other beads. I have a digital caliper next to me and measure a bead that looks a bit small or large.  I'm not aiming for absolute perfection; that's not possible.  But I'm aiming for creating something beautiful that will be a lovely tool.  Each bead needs to be a worthy part of a whole.

When creating a new design, I use the same ideas I would use designing anything: do the textures of the main beads, marker beads, and guru bead look and feel good together?  Do the minerals seem to complement each other?  For instance, it's very hard to pair semi-precious stones with woods.  Some minerals seem that they'd be perfect, but when I try them it just doesn't look right. So I use a lot of carnelian, turquoise, quartz, moss agate, and turquoise-colored howlite for markers in wood malas.  Surprisingly, Czech glass goes really well in wood malas, so that gets used a lot.

Once the beads are out on the table, and all the tools are spread out, and things "feel" right in all of the above ways, I can start to string.

Here's where it can get tricky.  If what's going on around me is too distracting or interesting, I end up putting an extra bead here and leaving one out there.  Restringing because the number is off gets old fast. So I generally answer any questions from family (when they're around) with something like "twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one..." just to let them know I'm counting. It's kind of odd, but they get the message.  I can talk to them when I get to 108 or 111.

I'm always counting.  I'm always praying.  I'm always trying to get them right and make them better.

I guess that's what keeps me challenged. This is simple work, but each choice brings in a new color, texture, or feel.  It is endlessly interesting to make malas.

***

Yes, you'd think it would take half an hour to forty five minutes to string a mala.  But it takes so much more than that.  

The same thing goes with communicating with customers, writing letters about malas and the materials in each one, and packing the malas for shipping. There are also the hours behind the scenes looking for the best materials for the best prices.

Each task gives me another chance to be mindful.  That alone, is reason enough to love this work.

Thank you for your support of Compassion Malas! It's been a wonderful, interesting, and surprising four years since it began.

Peace and Love,

Laura