Journal

Sterling silver Sun and Moon pendant on a chain
Men's Necklace Length Guide: How to Choose the Right Chain for a Pendant
Too short and it chokes the collar; too long and it disappears. A size chart, a two-minute string test, and how to match the chain to the pendant. Read more...
Hand-carved Dharma Conch pendant in fire-gilded sterling silver
Can You Wear Buddhist Jewelry If You're Not Buddhist? A Respectful Guide
Tibetan symbols like the Garuda, vajra and wind horse have travelled far beyond monasteries. What matters is how you wear them and what you understand about them. Read more...
Garuda five-pronged vajra pendant in hand-carved S925 sterling silver, worn horizontally on a braided cord
What Does 925 Mean on Jewelry? Sterling Silver Stamps Explained
925 means sterling silver, 92.5% pure. What the other numbers mean, who is allowed to stamp them in the UK, the US and elsewhere, and how to check a piece... Read more...
24K fire-gilded phurba pendant in hand-carved S925 sterling silver, gilded garuda, three heads and a three-sided blade with gold serpents
Gold Vermeil vs Gold Plated vs Gold Filled: What You're Actually Paying For
Gold plated, vermeil, gold filled and solid gold can look identical on day one. How much gold each really has, how it's attached, how it wears, and where fire-gilding fits. Read more...
Garuda vishvavajra pendant in hand-carved S925 sterling silver, bright raised edges against dark oxidised recesses
How to Clean Sterling Silver Jewelry Without Losing the Dark in the Carving
Most silver-cleaning advice is written for smooth spoons. On carved silver the dark in the recesses is there on purpose. What to use, what to avoid, how to treat stones... Read more...
Reversible Celtic sun and moon pendant in hand-carved sterling silver with a fire-gilded 24K gold crescent moon
Meaningful Jewelry Gifts for Men: How to Choose One He'll Actually Wear
Most men own little jewellery and keep it for life. How to choose a piece he will actually wear: what to start with, how to get his size without asking,... Read more...
Hand-carved S925 sterling silver Tibetan tortoise amulet with a fire-gilded crossed vajra and red copper flames
What Is Tibetan Silver? How It Differs from Sterling, and How to Check What You're Buying
“Tibetan silver” is a trade name, not a metal. Where the term came from, what it usually means today, how it differs from 925 sterling, and five ways to check... Read more...
Close-up of the hand-carved garuda and lotus thrones at the centre of the Vishvavajra pendant
Hand-Carved Silver Jewelry: Five Ways to Tell, and Where the Days at the Bench Go
Hand-carved silver leaves evidence you can see. Five things to look for, from crisp graver walls to gold that stops exactly at the line, and why one pendant can take... Read more...
Wind horse locket amulet pendant in hand-carved sterling silver with fire-gilded 24K gold
What Is an Amulet Necklace? Amulets, Talismans and Charms, and Why People Still Wear Them
An amulet is one of the oldest kinds of jewellery. What the word means, how an amulet differs from a talisman or a charm, amulets from Egypt to Tibet, and... Read more...
Forest Lodge Bell Pendant in hand-carved sterling silver hanging from its leather cord
Why We Hung a Bell Inside a House: Bells, Thresholds and the Sound of Coming Home
Bells have hung over doors, on herds and in temple eaves for thousands of years, nearly always so that someone would know. What bells have meant, from the drilbu to... Read more...
Son of the Forest signet ring worn on a man's hand, sterling silver with a fire-gilded Tree of Life
Signet Rings for Men: The Ring That Used to Sign Your Name
Before most people could write their names, they pressed them into wax with a ring. The history of the signet, from Mesopotamian seals to Rome and the Fisherman's Ring, and... Read more...
Hand-carved sterling silver snake ring with a fire-gilded ruyi and red copper flames
Snake Ring Meaning: From Pompeii to Queen Victoria to the Naga
A snake ring has meant renewal, eternity, protection of the home and a little danger. Here is where each meaning comes from, and how to choose and size one. Read more...
Oxidized sterling silver elephant ring with darkened recesses and fire-gilded tusks
Oxidized Silver: Why Hand-Carved Jewellery Is Darkened on Purpose
The black in the recesses of carved silver is not tarnish. It is a deliberate patina. Here is how it is made, how to tell it apart from tarnish, and... Read more...
Reversible Celtic sun and moon pendant in S925 sterling silver, gold crescent moon and eight stars on a hammered oxidised sky
Sun and Moon Necklace Meaning: Two Lights, One Pendant
What a sun and moon necklace means, from a gilded Bronze Age disc in a Danish bog to a Gaulish lunisolar calendar and the Norse siblings Sól and Máni, and... Read more...
Six-Tusked Elephant God ring worn on the hand, a 32g sterling silver statement ring
How to Find Your Ring Size at Home: A Guide for Men
How to measure your ring size at home with a strip of paper or a ring you already own, a US size chart from 7 to 13, and why wide... Read more...
Wind horse cuff bangle worn on the wrist
How to Wear a Men's Cuff Bracelet: Fit, Width and Sizing
How to measure your wrist, how wide to go, how a cuff should sit, and the one habit that ruins an open silver cuff faster than anything else. Read more...
Garuda ring worn on the little finger as a pinky ring
Pinky Rings for Men: Where the Tradition Comes From and How to Wear One
Dukes, engineers, Roosevelts and movie gangsters all wore them. A short history of the pinky ring for men, and how to choose the size, the hand and the ring itself. Read more...
Garuda Pendant front view – sterling silver Tibetan amulet with fire-gilded 24K gold crown
Tibetan Buddhist Jewelry: A Guide to Ten Sacred Symbols
Garuda, the vajra, the stupa, the phurba, the wind horse and more. A short guide to the sacred symbols in Tibetan Buddhist jewelry, what each one means, and how to... Read more...
Hand-carved S925 dragon ring with 24K fire-gilded horns, brows and whiskers and red copper flames
The Chinese Dragon: Rain-Bringer, Emperor's Emblem, and Never a Monster
It brings rain instead of fire, lives in rivers instead of caves, and has never hoarded gold. On the Chinese dragon, the long: its nine resemblances, the Dragon Kings, the... Read more...
Odin Necklace sterling silver Viking pendant, front view
What Did the Vikings Actually Wear? Silver, Rings and the Jewellery of the North
Arm rings you could cut into money, brooches worn in pairs, hammers cast in the same mould as crosses. What the Norse actually wore, and why silver in the Viking... Read more...
Wind horse locket pendant in S925 sterling silver with fire-gilded 24K gold flames
The Gau: Tibet's Portable Shrine, and What People Carried Inside
A small silver box worn against the chest, sealed and almost never opened. On the Tibetan gau, the tsa-tsa, prayers and blessed things people carried inside it, and why the... Read more...
Roaring bear ring in hand-carved sterling silver with a 24K fire-gilded mouth
The Bear's Shirt: Bears, Berserkers and the Old North
Why the old North was careful not to name the bear: the berserkers and their bear shirts, Bödvar Bjarki who fought as a bear while his body sat still, and... Read more...
Taotie double-body bangle in hand-carved sterling silver with fire-gilded horns and scrollwork
The Face on the Bronze: What the Taotie Means
A face that stares out from China's oldest ritual bronzes, and a name given to it long afterwards. On the taotie, the theories about what it was, and why we... Read more...
Forest spirit deer ring in hand-carved S925 silver, antlers formed from 24K gold Norse knotwork
The Deer Who Listened: From the Deer Park to the Flying Stones of the Steppe
Two deer kneel beside the Dharma wheel on every Tibetan monastery roof. Far to the north, stone deer have been flying across the Mongolian steppe for three thousand years. On... Read more...
Odin Necklace sterling silver Viking pendant, front view
Thought and Memory: Odin's Two Ravens, Huginn and Muninn
Every morning Odin sends out two ravens, Thought and Memory, and every day he waits for them to come back. On Huginn and Muninn, the eye he gave at Mímir's... Read more...
Hand-carved S925 Tibetan tortoise amulet with fire-gilded crossed vajra and red copper flames
The Tortoise That Carries the Sky: Luoshu, the Nine Palaces and Tibetan Astrology
A flood, a river and a tortoise with numbers on its back. On the Luoshu magic square, the nine palaces, and the golden tortoise of Tibetan astrology that carries the... Read more...
Hand-carved S925 naga serpent pendant with fire-gilded gold and red copper flames
The Naga: Serpents of the Spring, Keepers of the Hidden Book
Serpent beings of springs and deep water: the naga king who sheltered the Buddha in a storm, the lu spirits Tibetans still leave offerings for, the old feud with Garuda,... Read more...
Ink drawing of Kang Rinpoche with its summit turned gold, a still from our film Bard of the Snowlands
King Gesar and the Bards Who Dream the Epic
Tibet's inspired bards say the epic of King Gesar came to them in a dream. Who Gesar is, how long the epic runs, the bard's hat and trance, and why... Read more...
Kang Rinpoche, Mount Kailash, with the first light of morning turning its summit gold
Kang Rinpoche: The Mountain We Are Named After
Mount Kailash, Kang Rinpoche to Tibetans, is sacred to four religions, walked around by pilgrims for centuries and never climbed. What its name means, the kora, the rivers that begin... Read more...
Hand-carved sterling silver Tibetan stupa pendant with turquoise and fire-gilded gold
What Is a Stupa? The Tibetan Chorten, Its Meaning and What It Holds
The stupa began as a mound over the Buddha's relics. What a Tibetan chorten holds, how to read it from base to spire, and why it is never left empty. Read more...
Hand-carved sterling silver elephant god ring with one broken 24K gold tusk
Ganesha's Broken Tusk and the Six-Tusked White Elephant: What They Mean
Why Ganesha is shown with one tusk, where the six-tusked white elephant comes from in the Buddha's story, and what the two sacred elephants say about strength. Read more...
Celtic Tree of Life signet ring in hand-carved sterling silver with a 24K fire-gilded tree
The Celtic Tree of Life: Meaning, History and the Knot Without an End
Sacred trees in early Ireland, the crann bethadh, why the modern Tree of Life design is drawn as an endless knot, and how the Celtic tree differs from the Norse... Read more...
Hand-carved sterling silver crossed vajra pendant with a garuda at the centre
Vajra Meaning: The Tibetan Dorje, Thunderbolt and Diamond
The vajra began as Indra's thunderbolt and became Buddhism's diamond. What the Tibetan dorje means, why it has five prongs, how it pairs with the bell, and what the crossed... Read more...
Hand-carved sterling silver Dharma Conch pendant carrying the Eight Auspicious Symbols, beside Tibetan prayer beads
The Eight Auspicious Symbols: What Each One Means, and Why They Travel Together
The parasol, the golden fish, the treasure vase, the lotus, the conch, the endless knot, the victory banner and the dharma wheel: what each of Tibet's eight auspicious symbols means,... Read more...
Fire-gilded sterling silver phurba pendant held in the hand, crossed vajra crown and three-sided blade
The Phurba: Why Tibet's Ritual Dagger Has Three Faces and No Edge
A phurba looks like a dagger but cannot cut. What the Tibetan ritual stake is for, what its three-sided blade means, how it is tied to Vajrakilaya, Padmasambhava and Samye,... Read more...
Garuda Vishvavajra Pendant in hand-carved sterling silver, fire-gilded in 24K gold, with the garuda at the crossing
Garuda in Tibet: The Bird That Eats Poison
Why the Tibetan garuda is always shown with a serpent: the Indian myth, the older khyung of Bon, the chick born already able to fly, and how the great bird... Read more...
Mount Kailash, the sacred mountain Tibetans call Kangrinboqe, under snow in western Tibet
Lungta, the Wind Horse: What It Means, and Why Tibet Gives It to the Wind
Lungta, the Tibetan wind horse, runs at the centre of every prayer flag. What the name means, why it is given to the wind at Mount Kailash, and how we... Read more...