We are releasing some special pieces of Maori jade, which we started collecting many years ago.
They were carved by and purchased from traditional Maori carvers in New Zealand, where the stone is called Greenstone or Pounamu. This stone is found only on the South Island and is considered a treasure, both culturally and spiritually. The shapes that it is carved into tell important stories about ancestral and supernatural beings, phenomena of Nature, and humans’ place in the world.
Pounamu is also considered protective, guarding the life energy of the wearer, in the case of jewelry; or of a building, in the case of Jade objects. In particular, it is said to make the wearer invisible to evil or to beings that wish them harm. Both of us have used our own Pounamu pieces this way, to slip unnoticed through crowds or to keep our own energies held tightly for health or magickal workings, and we find that slipping one of our pendants on gives a feeling almost like pulling a cloak around ourselves.
There is much more to explore in the history and symbolism of this beautiful stone, and a great resource to start with is at the Encyclopedia of New Zealand website.