Pagan Blog Project – week two – A#2 – Amber

Pagan Blog Project – week two – A#2 – Amber

Back when I was an angry coffee shop manager (still angry, just not a slinging espresso anymore) a customer came into the shop with a really pretty necklace. While filling up her cup I asked “oh, is that amber? It’s really great” and she said “yeah!” and paid for her coffee and then said “I have lots of jewelry, you should really have this.”

I was so taken aback and flabbergasted. Who takes the jewelry off their neck to give to their barista? I insisted that I wasn’t trying to bully her into making her give me her necklace, but it was too late. She was already taking it off the chain and slipping it into my hand (along with a generous tip. Always tip your baristas!) I felt very on-the-spot and a bit anxious about the whole situation, but I was busy with customers and didn’t have much time to argue with her. She came up to me a little while later, though, and we chatted a bit about amber and gemstones and she said that amber was supposed to open the heart up to the universe and to the oneness and interconnectedness of the cosmos around you.

After my shift behind the bar was over and I was sitting at my creaky old metal desk, taking a break from counting money and sending frantic emails to my baristas, I remember looking at the little charm in marvel and shock, still reeling from the strange and unexpected moment. It can sometimes be hard to accept gifts, and it’s not like I knew this girl or she was a regular customer or anything. She was just a person with a generous heart, reminding me to open my own heart to the universe.

Amber is pretty great, with a rich and lovely history. The first time I heard of amber I was a kid and I was watching Jurassic Park. But then later, as an adult witch, I learned that amber and jet are two stones to be worn by a high priestess – warm and honey-like yellow and deep darkest black, like day and night. Because amber is often found with bugs and insects included in the petrified sap (like Jurassic Park!) those of classical antiquity thought it held within it the essence of life.  It is said to be used as a protective and cleansing stone by Shamans and witches, and is said to attract love.

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For many, many years I’ve been mildly obsessed with amber. Gazing into a jewelry display case full of colorful Baltic amber can be intoxicating, if not a bit hard on the wallet. And here I was, finally, with a piece of amber of my own and a message direct from the universe to me.

I wore that pendant for almost a year. Shortly after being gifted with this surprise amber, I was accepted into a few graduate schools, quit my terrible job, visited my family across the country, started graduate school, and eventually gifted with a few more pieces of surprise amber. My heart has been opened o the blessings of the universe, and I am receiving them gladly. 

I wore that pendant non-stop for many months, until the string broke easily while I was swimming in a lake in New Mexico. I tried to wear it again after that, but it just wasn’t the same. It had worked its magic, opening my mind and my heart to the blessings of the world around me. Of course I still have it, but I don’t wear it anymore, and I probably won’t. Not unless the universe tells me I need to wear it, or until it shows me someone who needs a little ray of golden, warm, honey-like sunshine in their life and their heart open to the love and oneness of the cosmos.