Its All In the Bones

When people first meet me or visit my Facebook page or website, they idea that I have some morbid fascination with death is what first pops in their heads. I make jewelry with vertebrae (human and animal). I paint animal skulls. I post images of death in all its forms. My home is decorated with all things death related-- skulls, skeletons, bones. My altar is dedicated to the dead.

Am I a completely dark soul with an obsession for death? Well...yes and no.

I have been fascinated with death since childhood- and fascinated even more so by spirits, ghosts and all that is unseen. Being born on November 1st, its hard not fall in love with images of death! My birthdays were always filled with bits and pieces of Halloween and All Souls Day. My work with dead goes back as far as I can remember-even within the realm of imaginary friends in childhood.

As I grew older, I began to realize that my life was destined to be entwined between the realms of the living and the dead. My abilities to see and hear beyond the worlds grew and the more I enveloped myself within the shadows, the more the spirits were keen to communicate with me. When I found myself studying Voodoo, thats when my relationship with the spirits became solidified and my appreciation grew deeper.

Am I obsessed with death? No. Do I venerate death? Yes. 

I have never been afraid of the concept of death. I understand why most people are. Its frightening to think about the unknown. I have had so many occurrences with spirit that my "phobia"- if one even existed- went away.

I find death comforting. We are all going to end up there. Death is also the one thing in life that does not discriminate; Death does not care if you are rich, poor, what race you are, where you are from, who your family is, what religion you practice, who you pray to. Death is a bit of a coming home after a long journey. Death is a place where there are worries, no bills. I do not fear Death for a find a beauty within Her.

When I work with bones--I find it an honor. To hold something so sacred that ones supported the weight of a living thing is a blessing. When I work on a piece, whether painting on a skull or entwining vertebrae into jewelry, I think of what animal once owned those bones. What type of energy that animal had. Where it lived, what it did. I reflect on the essence of the being. When I work on human bones- its an even greater honor. I think of the person, who they may have been, what they may have done. When I hold a human bone in my hand, I think of my ancestors-- of all our ancestors-- those who have walked this earth thousands of years before now. Its a sacred honor to me to hold those human bones in my hand. 

So yes, maybe in some strange way- I am obsessed with Death. But its an obsession of absolution. I know that someday I will be like those bones....that will be all that is left of me on this earthly realm. I have no fear in that.

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Hand painted coyote skull by Snake & Bone; available in the shop