The Face Behind The Jewelry: Get To Know The Intuitive Metalsmith

As a child, I loved looking for fossils in the slate with my Dad in the nearby abandoned coal mines. Whether at the ocean or a local river, my eyes were always searching for unique looking stones. I was mesmerized by the beauty of gemstones and how they were created when reading about them, or learning about them in class and at museums. Growing up, I regularly saw my dad and grandfather welding and always found it fascinating. My dad was the kind of guy who I truly believed could fix or build anything. Even if he had no prior experience, he knew how to research how to do it, and his engineering mind and skills came together to create. As an adult, I now realize most of that was done out of necessity, but I still recognize how incredible of a skill it is - one I’ve learned to adopt myself.

In 2014 I began working for a company valuing estates' jewelry and antique silver. It sparked my interest in how jewelry designs changed throughout history, and seeing the different manufacturing methods. It helped to further my knowledge of jewelry and gemstones, and I loved being able to save pieces of history from ending up being melted down at the refinery. This became a strong passion of mine, and in 2019 I set out on my own to continue this work.

As it did for many, 2020 came and flipped my world upside down. Along with the worldly challenges, I was also personally going through my Saturn return. For those of you who are not into astrology, your Saturn return is an astrological event where Saturn returns to the same point in the sky that it was at during your birth. It is known to be a time of upheaval and great change in your life - and it sure was for me. During this time, I realized I had abandoned my creative nature. For most of my life, my ultimate dream was to be a singer-songwriter. I had dozens of songs I had written, so I began recording them and even pitched them to some producers. However, the more I worked at it, the more I could feel in my heart that it wasn’t the journey I was meant to be on. It was simply the only thing I had been known for, praised for, and told to pursue. It’s simply what I chose to fill the void, but my life was shifting, and that void was no longer being filled.

In search of a new creative venture, I tried many different things. It wasn’t until I began looking into metalsmithing that I could feel that spark of excitement in me again. After spending hours researching, I invested in some basic tools and copper to begin experimenting with. I diligently worked on my soldering, sawing, and all of the other skills until I felt confident enough to purchase some silver to work with. That was when the magic happened. I found myself creating for hours at a time, my mind quiet for the first time in my life, and the creative spark quickly became a raging fire. I began making pieces of jewelry as gifts for friends and family as practice. Using my intuition, what I knew about them and their current place in life, and their astrology, I began creating unique pieces just for them. They raved about how perfect of pieces I created just for them - as if I read their minds. As this happened over and over again, I realized how much of a gift my intuition really is.

As an adult, I now realize I’ve been intuitive my entire life. I can remember as a child walking into a room and being able to feel the feelings of the people around me. When I’d ask what was wrong, I was regularly met with the “oh honey, nothing is wrong.” However, I could feel that wasn’t true. My intuition would kick in and I’d state, “I’m sorry you’re upset because (insert recent event).” And 9 times out of 10 I was correct, but the shock on their face was always the same. The look of shock as if I was playing a game of “Operation” on them and was pulling out their innermost thoughts and feelings right in front of them. The shock that a child could pick up better on how they were feeling than the adults around them. Many times, the shock quickly turned to anger. I quickly learned that although people want to be seen and understood, it also makes them feel extremely vulnerable and exposed. After being met with negative reactions time after time, I quickly learned to keep to myself.

I tried so hard to shut off that part of myself. I could keep it inside part of the time, but sometimes it would burst out of me quicker than I could think. It has caused strain in relationships, I’ve lost friendships, and many people learned to keep things from me so I couldn’t play “Operation” with their innermost thoughts and feelings. It became very isolating, and I grew used to the fact that I was different and misunderstood. From my point of view, I was trying to show that I understood them and could see and feel what they were going through. However, most people never found solace in it and found it very intrusive. 

I spent many years suppressing my intuition, keeping to myself, and not opening up to others. It led to alcohol abuse, and chronic health issues including debilitating migraines. This went on for years and most of my twenties. Thankfully I sought professional help, and began to unravel the mess I had gotten myself into. I continued to find solace in metalsmithing, and that helped me push through. Then one day I was speaking to a friend who is a medium and psychic, and admitted I’ve never been able to sit down and meditate and keep my mind quiet. I couldn’t focus on guided meditations, and didn’t know what was wrong with my brain that I couldn’t figure it out. Meditation is always recommended for helping your stress levels and mental health, and again I felt broken and like there was something wrong with me. She began to explain to me that it doesn’t have to be something I force upon myself, and most likely I was in a meditative state while metalsmithing. She recommended me to try speaking with my spirit guides and welcome their messages while I was metalsmithing and in that meditative state.

That’s when the light bulb went off in my head. I remembered realizing that while metalsmithing, it was the only thing to clear my mind and bring an overwhelming sense of peace and calm. She was right, I was in a meditative state and I didn’t even realize it. I listened to her suggestions and began opening myself up to messages and speaking with my spirit guides and ancestors. It started to work, and came in slowly, but after several weeks I began getting full blown messages while creating jewelry. For a while, I assumed the messages were for me and my own betterment. However, I began to feel the pull to write again - not songs, but to write down these messages as if I should share them with others.

Weeks went by, and I couldn’t shake the feeling of starting a blog to share the messages that came in while I was creating a piece of jewelry. As if the messages that came in during the work for a certain piece of jewelry were tied to the piece - they were a package deal. I kept brushing off the idea as my plate was full preparing for my first time traveling for work for the Oddities & Curiosities expo. I was so excited and baffled that I had even been accepted as a vendor, that was all I focused on leading up to the events. It was an incredible experience. It solidified that I was on the correct path as I talked to people and they told me how much they connected with my art and admired my work. I even spoke to several people about my plans for my “intuitive customs” and they absolutely raved over the idea. It’s an idea I have had since I began metalsmithing. More details to come later about the intuitive customs!

At one of the events, I was talking to a group of people, and they asked if I did wholesale. As we were talking about that, one of them disclosed to me they are psychic and are offering readings that day. We exchanged social media info to keep in touch, and continued about our days. In the back of my mind I kept feeling the pull to go get a reading. I’ve had readings before - palm readings, tarot readings, charm readings etc. I had always been interested in the occult. Finally, when I had a moment I went to find their booth and get a reading. I asked for a general reading with no specific questions in mind, and the reading was spot on. It clarified a lot for me, and validated a lot of feelings I had been having. When it came to the career portion of the reading, I was told that good things are ahead, but I need to tap into my confidence and speak out and speak up more. This would help me to find my community, and in turn help me expand my career. I was also told that I needed to tap into my spirituality more, and revisit a skill or something I used to do regularly that I haven’t done in a long time. Writing, the skill I used to do regularly was writing. 

That reading solidified the push to create this blog to share my intuitive messages, continue tapping into my spirituality, and hopefully build a community around it as I go. I’ve always believed in divine timing and people who have gifts - but I never expected to be one of them. However, as I look back at how the last few years have unfolded, and the series of events I have experienced - I can see the big picture. I understand why things played out the way they did to lead me up to this point. I can see how these people came into my life exactly when I needed them most, and I was open to hear what they had to tell me. Of course I can’t wrap up an entire lifetime of experiences and events that led me to this point in a single blog post, but in summary, I’m glad I’m here - and I’m glad that you, the one reading this, are too. I hope you’ll come along on this journey with me as I continue to create jewelry and share my messages with you.