The Healing Power of Sound

     As a child my friends and I would often chant, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."  Oh, how wrong we were.

 Sounds can hurt as well as heal.  In medicine,  ultra sounds are used to obtain visual images as well as heal tissues. While gentle sounds soothe the nervous system,  loud, angry dissonant sounds agitate and stress it.  The picture to the left was created by sounds and is the cover of a book about cymatics.

 A mantra  is word, a symbol, or a group of words that can bring spiritual transformation through their repetition.  Scientist believe the cosmos was created with a big bang in other words a sound.  The bible states that in the beginning there was the word. To some, the sound of creation is the word "Aum."

Tibetan prayer wheels have mantras  inside that are sent out into the universe when the wheel is spun.

After looking at the hand held prayer wheel I bought while traveling in Nepal, I was inspired to create a piece of adornment.  I call this pendant a prayer package because it looks like a little gift and a word is hidden inside.

I use recycled tins, recycled copper flashing and bench scraps to make my prayer packages.  The word sits next to the wearers heart and is activated by the breath or prana.  This is much like spinning the wheel to send out the prayers.

Click on photo to see more prayer pendants

While many of my prayer packages have the word already selected by me,  For instance the one below  says "Light",   I also like to give my customers a chance to choose a word that has meaning for them.

Click photo to view pendant

 One custom order was for the word, "wealth" as in plenty-more than enough.  I had wanted to use the word abundance in the past but six letters is about the maximum that words in a prayer package.  Wealth became the perfect substitute for abundance and I ended up making a pendant with that word inside. The top picture is of the pendant containing wealth.


“I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine.” ― Emily Dickinson

Find Direction and Balance with the Stacking of Stones into Rock Caiirns

 Balanced stones can be found through out nature where just the right elements of wind and water leave a stone or boulder in a state of balance.  These stones are so intriguing that many people have taken to balancing stones as artistic expression.  

Check out his site Gravity Glue

Michael Grab of Colorado stacks stones using nothing but gravity. Just like in life if he tries to force the balance point, the rocks tumble to the ground.  Balance requires trusting nature and being willing to let go of control.

The balancing of rocks into cairns has been used for centuries as directional markers.  When hiking in the Cascades the trail can often be across rocky terrain.  Cairns are built by fellow hikers to help show the direction to follow.  So cairns show us the way home, a path to follow and help us connect to the earth. 

Om rock cairn by janeojewelry

I love cairns and spend time stacking stones whenever I am camping along a river.  I also love the beach and find my coat pockets full of rocks after a visit to the coast. I have combined these two loves into a  piece of zen jewelry.     

I stack and balance the stones I have gathered on my bench and drill them the way they naturally want to balance.  I listen to kirtan music and the chanting helps me find my own inner place of balance where I am both connected like the stone and flowing like the sea. The stones spin on the wire and can also be used as a contemplative device.

 Om is believed to be the vibration of creation so I call my line of beach stone jewelry Om Rock Beach Stones.   These are an earth friendly product as the rocks are a gift from the sea and the metals are either bench scraps or recycled copper flashing..