Am Wondering
Why I Make Amulets to Sell

Making Amulets Is a Spiritual Practice

This post has photos of amulet necklaces I’ve made.

Please note: the words amulet, charm, and talisman have been synonyms for centuries. I use the words that way because it makes sense to me. Nowadays, some folks use the words differently. Long live diversity!

I’ve been wondering why I feel compelled to make amulets to sell.

Crafting them cuts substantial time from my day that I could use to make a lot more money than I make from amulets.

Much as I love—love!—the magical art of creating them, they are labor-intensive.

Each is a work of art so completely different from the others. This means planning a new design for each amulet, which might also require working out new technical challenges. Also, to bless an amulet, I am guided to create a new blessing spell. No point in making charms unless I do the best possible job I can. Part of that for me means exclusively making one-of-a-kind, so that each is the exact amulet to suit one special person. Too much is mass produced today. And I love—love!–the process of making a special, unique charm. So it being labor-intensive is not a problem in itself.

However, very few people that I know would buy one if I charged for all the time it takes to make one, bless it, and find the special components I search for endlessly. So why am I compelled to make them to sell?

Joan Didion said, “I don’t know what I think until I write it down.” So here goes:

I Craft Amulets in Meditation

Almost as soon as I said that I didn’t have time to make more amulets to sell, I started making one.

Then I remembered that making amulets is a spiritual discipline for me and part of my ongoing shamanic journey. Crafting a charm is a meditation that deepens my connection with the Divine and empowers me. So I found the time.

I Craft Amulets in Meditation aka Ritual

For me, making talismans is a spiritual practice. I’m not saying
everyone has to do it that way, or that amulets are effective only if made in a ritual process. We each have to find our own appropriate way, and far be it from me to insist that the most powerful methods for me are right for anyone else.

Crafting Amulets to Serve my Tribe

I work full-time professionally as a shamanic teacher and healer. This means I have wonderful meditative ritual time during the day, e.g., channeling a curriculum or sending someone a long-distance healing.

I find my profession to be a spiritual discipline, part of my ongoing shamanic journey. and an ongoing meditation/ritual that deepens my connection with the Divine and empowers me. So I’m wondering why I still feel compelled to make amulets to sell to people instead of just for myself.

Heh, maybe I just need a little extra money to pay for my addiction to beads.

Or maybe my Gods want me to provide this service for people. My buyers say their purchases created miracles for them. My clients say the same thing about my classes and healings, but not everyone has time for my classes, and some people are particularly drawn to using amulets. Amulets really hum for them.

So perhaps the compulsion I feel to make amulets for my community is instilled in me by my sweet Fairy Gods so that I serve my tribe in this capacity.

And maybe I should find some folks who can and will pay more. That’s something else to ask myself. … No, I like the way it is: I can make talismans for the people dear to me—my students, newsletter subscribers, etc. … and I earn enough to pay for my addiction to beads.

Since I don’t have time to craft many talismans, my newsletter subscribers often receive first shot at purchasing them. Subscribe to my newsletter by clicking the banner below.