7 steps to creating an intentional jewel

The power of your intentions.

One of my favourite books The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart, is an in-depth study of just how much of a difference intention can make.

It’s a fascinating read if you want to know the science of it – i.e. randomised control experiments which have been happening for many years in various Universities and Labs. You just don’t hear so much about this as it’s all a little bit hard for mainstream thinking to get its collective head around!

The observer changes the result.

Quantum physics has been telling us this for years. Yes, I know physicists among you will say that what happens in the quantum level of particles doesn’t happen in the actual world of complex matter.
But perhaps it does, and it’s just all about how we are looking at reality.

Anyway, this post is not intended to be a dissertation on the general consensus of ‘what is reality’. Let’s talk about that another day…

Here, I’m interested in your reality – and how you are creating and sustaining it on a daily basis with what you believe, and what you intend.

So what is an intentional jewel?

Jewellery has a very ancient history of being used intentionally.
A wedding ring is the most obvious example. With it we declare our intention to commit to another.

Then there’s amulets and talismans which go back to pre-history. And before Lord of The Rings there was many a story and folktale of magical jewels with all kinds of healing or protective properties. You’d have already heard about different attributes of various gemstones, and their purported effects.

Jewellery can also contain desires and intentions for the one who owns it.
It holds these rather like ever-present memories.

The jewel (and it’s meaning) can be subtle and private, or a very public display transforming you into something more than your everyday self.
I think that jewellery’s intimacy with us gives it a special advantage – sometimes familiar enough to feel a part of our body, it takes on our warmth, it breathes with us. It works for us.

We all have days when we’re unmotivated, dispirited, anxious, lacking focus. On those days, you can slip on your intentional jewel and you’re reminded of what you’re here to do – or be.

I’ve always been fascinated by the somewhat magical properties of jewels, so I decided to harness this fascination, pair it with a bit of doctor-ish research, and add a touch of playfulness.

Thus the EnerJewels collection was born.

EnerJewels are intentional jewels. While they work with inherent qualities and properties of materials, and also use symbolism, this is only the first step in creating an intentional jewel.

The rest, you see, is up to you.

‘Loading’ the jewel with your intention is a DIY process, but I thought I’d give you some pointers…

7 steps to an intentional jewel:

1. Get clear on what you want.
Remember it’s not about things, events, or other people’s behaviour. It’s about how you want to feel.

Look at the desired goal and then dig down to find out how having this will make you feel – this is your real aim, and the only way manifestation can work.

This exercise of finding out how you want to feel can be quite eye-opening. How many times have you achieved a goal only to feel unsatisfied? Makes you wonder if you really know what you want… but I bet you do know how you want to feel.

Separate the goal of ‘things’ out from how being that, or having that, would make you feel. Whatever comes through, make the feeling your focus.

2. Be able to envision it as if it were real.
Not just envision – embody, which means bringing all the senses into play.

What does it smell like? What does it feel like? What is the texture, the shape of it? What can you hear people saying to you?

Do what’s necessary to get clarity – write it down, imagine living it with all your senses.

Know the experience. FEEL IT.

3. Find the jewel. Or let the jewel find you.
Do some research into gemstones and their properties, or go out shopping.

Or be awake to visions you might have. Perhaps it’s a particular symbol that’s calling you. Maybe it’s a particular material  – a gemstone, a river rock you found. Anything that you’d like to wear.

Trust that once you go looking for it, it will come to you – it will be put in your way.

4. Clean and clear the jewel.
If you are seeking an intentional piece of jewellery, you’re already aware or at least suspect that it can carry your energy.

If it carries energy, it’s already carrying it from wherever it’s been previously – the hands it’s passed through, or the way that it was taken from the ground. If it’s a second-hand piece of jewellery this is particularly important.

Cleansing and clearing doesn’t have to be elaborate – start with the intention to clean and clear, then take the action. If you’re inspired to do something in particular, do it.

If not, use the tried and tested approaches such as:
A salt water bath (providing the material won’t be affected), or simply running water from a tap or a spring. Some like to place their piece in the light of the full moon.

5. Create an anchoring ritual.
Why a ritual? Rituals are actions (they can be habitual but they don’t have to be) that are designed to bring you, jewel and environment into alignment.

What does that mean? Maybe you’re thinking this sounds weird – how do you ‘align’ with your environment?

Think about it as being ‘in accord’. Accord is harmony and coherence.
One way to be in harmony with your environment is to set up your environment in a way that feels harmonious to you.

Since you want to evoke a specific emotion, which you will anchor into the jewel, set it up by using particular objects, times of the day or cycles of the moon. Ultimately it’s your choice, and by becoming bodyful (more consciously embodied) you will be able to make those choices easily.

(I’ll be talking more about bodyfulness, or rituals in this blog – so stick around.)

Here’s a suggestion for an intention anchoring ritual:
Condition your space. Emotions, aesthetics, music, dance, poetry are all acts to condition a space.

Place flowers, beautiful fabrics or objects in the space – or choose a space outdoors that has it’s own beauty and power.

Or create an altar on which you arrange special, meaningful, or sacred objects and images.

The idea is to evoke in yourself the sensations that you intend to experience in the future, when you wear the jewel. This may require meditation, or particularly inspiring music.

In the ritual process put on your jewel, and incorporate the way it feels into your emotional state – in other words be aware of it – touch or hold it.

If your intention is something very practical, such as focus then it’s probably enough to condition yourself through some kind of action – like your morning exercise ritual, or any situation you go into that you already feel focused.

Can’t think of anything for setting focus? Next time you’re doing a disciplined activity that needs focus, wear your jewel. Notice how it feels to be focused while holding and bringing your attention to how the jewel is feeling on your body as you wear it.

On a practical level you are creating a connection between your awareness of experiencing that emotion (focus, brilliance, valuable-ness etc) and the piece of jewellery you can also feel yourself wearing.

You are forming neurological connections between these experiences of wearing, and the experience you desire to have.

6. Keep your intentional jewel in a special place.
If you have an altar you may want to keep it there. Don’t let it hang with your other run-of-the-mill jewels!

Continue to condition your jewel by wearing it. Not every day (unless of course it’s meant to be never taken off like a wedding ring).

Wear it when you want to evoke that emotion.

Say you want to evoke brilliance, just before a difficult meeting, or a challenging phone call. Take a nice relaxed belly breath,  hold the jewel, or touch it in some way so that you notice it, and then evoke that feeling of being brilliant, which you intend to make a regular integrated part of your life.

7. Embodying your intention is a practice.
Continue to condition your jewel regularly through focusing energy on it, meditating and envisioning yourself feeling that feeling, doing what you want or need to do to cultivate that feeling in your life.

And condition the space it lives in (through offerings of fresh flowers, good thoughts, affirmations etc).

Although we may think that the thing we desire (love, abundance, brilliance etc) is something we lack, it’s important to remember that if you desire something, you already recognise what it is like to experience that desire.

At sometime you have already felt like that, otherwise you could not desire it.  And if you have any inkling of what it’s like, it’s possible to re-capture that feeling. Those pathways are already laid down, neurologically speaking.

In the way that every skill is learned through practice, a regular practice of evoking the sensation you seek through some kind of ritual, or through use of music, for example – or simply by recognising and acknowledging when you feel that way – uses those pathways again.

The more you use them, the easier it gets to evoke that experience again and again.

When you have a great experience and you’re wearing the jewel, condition it again by holding it while you absolutely enjoy that sensation, acknowledge it and indulge yourself in it. This is your power to create your own reality.

And if you have a negative experience that seems to hang around the piece and not dissipate, clean it again and re-condition it through steps 4 to 7.

 

Most of all – love your jewel, admire it’s beauty, and enjoy wearing it.

Over time when you put it on you will feel it as a somewhat magical experience.

You will feel how the jewel helps you in loving yourself and in becoming so much more the person you want to be.

Want to know more about intentional objects? Feeling skeptical, or doubtful about it’s effects?

I like to approach the intentional jewel from a holistic point of view – from the historical, the magical, the bodyful, the aesthetic and artful, and yes, including the rational and intellectual.
Keep visiting me here to find out more.