Durga - Orissa, India
Laura Amazzone
Divine Intention
The intention underlying Amazzone Jewelry is to educate and remind others of the rich legacy of female and non-patriarchal male deities around the globe. These spiritually charged, unique, one-of-a-kind pieces promote healing, transformation and self-empowerment not only to the wearer, but to all who come in contact with them.
Pieces are created in a meditative state and possess certain qualities and energies of the divinity. Each necklace comes with a card describing the Goddess or God as well as the spiritual properties of the stones and energies in the piece.
My passion for beads and jewelry making has led me to study the historic, ritualistic, and decorative use of jewelry in Goddess-centered cultures. I have been creating beaded necklaces since I began my menses. Incidentally, my research has shown me that beading first began with women charting their menstrual cycle with the moon. Our blood is a source of our power (whether we are the maiden, mother, or crone), and the connection between beading, the moon, and women's bodies celebrates the life, death, and rebirth cycles of existence.
Artistic Vision
Beading is meditative for me. I see the thread upon which I string the beads as a grounding anchor that connects us to the Divine Mother. Each individual bead symbolizes aspects of Goddess that are inherent in every woman. Before I begin each piece I meditate and invoke Goddess. Each necklace is named after a Goddess from various cultures around the world, who comes to me, and informs the work. As I bead, I channel Her attributes into the piece. In this divinely inspired creative state, I charge each piece with protective, loving and healing energies for the wearer.
I use beads that I have collected during my travels in Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific. My necklaces are made of treasures from Mother Earth: semi-precious stones, Lithuanian amber, shells, bone, wood, glass, silver and other silver metals.
Jai Ma,
Laura Amazzone
~ Ambika
Biography:
Laura Ambika Amazzone is a writer, jewelry artist, teacher, prietess and yogini. Over the past ten years she has studied the myths and rituals of the female-centered Kaula and Shakta Tantra tradition and goddesses in India, Nepal and Southeast Asia with teachers both in Asia and the US. Laura has received initiation into the Shakta Tantra, Sri Vidya, and Kashmiri Shaivite lineages. She completed her Master’s degree in Philosophy and Religion, emphasis in Women’s Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2001.
Laura has published several articles on the Goddess Durga and other South Asian Goddesses. Her book, GODDESS DURGA: EMPOWERING WOMEN, TRANSFORMING THE WORLD will be published by Hamilton Books, an imprint of University Press of America in 2010.
Laura teaches as adjunct faculty in the Yoga Philosophy Program at Loyola Marymount University.
Check the events page for other upcoming workshops, classes, jewelry trunk shows, and writings.