Not artsy or crafty, but having fun anyway

As a birthday gift, Arlan bought me two plain boxes at a store in the industrial area that sells household goods and a few art supplies. 

I had visions of creating a secretive altar in one of them, but my lack of either artistic talent or craft skills is impeding my vision. The wood is light and dry; I worry that it would absorb paint and turn any outline into a smear of color. So I just sketched with pencil on paper and stuck the paper into the box. (I ran out of paper, so the outside has a post-it note.)

Just as frustrating as my poor drawings skills is the fact that I'm not as proficient printing letters as I am writing in cursive. Not satisfied with my work, but unsure what else to do, I set that project aside for more thought. 

Then I started designing a Hebrew priestess prayer cord. Fun!

Beading supplies are not readily available here, but I've enjoyed thinking about what symbolism I'd want in a prayer cord. I started with the idea of a sea turtle charm and 13 beads to represent the 13 months of the year. I divided them into two halves, days of rain and days of sun, with the leap month, Adar Alef in the middle.

I listed all the holy times for each month. I'd forgotten about some of the special Shabbatot, but they're all on the bead list now, along with holy days, modern Israeli holidays, and the Ethiopian holiday of Sigd. (I thought about including Novy God, but didn't.) I probably wouldn't include little beads for the holidays in each month. Some months would have six extra beads and some would have only one or none. And would Sukkot be represented by one bead or seven?

Then I wondered if Kohenet's 13 priestess archetypes might align with the 13 months, based on the holidays. Then I considered what a symbol might be for each priestess. Too many symbols would be too busy. 

So just 13 moon beads and a sea turtle charm.

But I wanted more beads. How about the Seven Species? Naturally, I had to find out when each one is harvested. Seven didn't fit into the 13 moons evenly, so I had to come up with something else.

I thought about the Four Holy Mothers (ברז׳׳ל). So of course, I had to consider their children, the tribes of Israel. (The half tribes, descended from Dinah's daughter and Yosef, correspond to Libra and Scorpio, so I assigned them to the months of Tishrei and Cheshvan, and I placed the tribe of Levi, which had no portion in the Land, in the month of Adar Alef.) Those four didn't fit into the pattern of 13 beads, either.

And obviously, the 3 Gates of the World (Earth, Ocean, and Sky) also wouldn't fit neatly in the pattern of 13 beads.

However, all three sets of symbols together might fit into the pattern. Here's one possibility I'm considering:

Charm(s): Sea Turtle
Gate of Sky
Gate of Earth
Gate of Sea
Bead 1	Elul	Days of Rain	Seeker Priestess
Seven Species Bead
Bead 2	Tishrei	Days of Rain	Queen Priestess
Holy Mother Bead
Bead 3	Cheshvan	Days of Rain	Wise Woman Priestess
Seven Species Bead
Bead 4	Kislev	Days of Rain	Shrine Keeper Priestess
Priestess Bead (me)
Bead 5	Tevet	Days of Rain	Mourning Woman Priestess
Holy Mother Bead
Bead 6	Shevat	Days of Rain	Witch Priestess
Seven Species Bead
Bead 7	Adar Alef	(leap month)	Fool Priestess
Seven Species Bead
Bead 8	Adar / Adar Bet	Days of Sun	Maiden Priestess
Holy Mother Bead
Bead 9	Nisan	Days of Sun	Midwife Priestess
Seven Species Bead
Bead 10	Iyyar	Days of Sun	Weaver Priestess
Seven Species Bead
Bead 11	Sivan	Days of Sun	Prophetess Priestess
Holy Mother Bead
Bead 12	Tammuz	Days of Sun	Mother Priestess
Seven Species Bead
Bead 13	Av	Days of Sun	Lover Priestess
Charms:  Tree & Snake

I had lots of ideas for charms that could dangle at the end opposite the Sea Turtle charm:

• A bell and a pomegranate? (Decorations on the High Priest's robe in ancient times.)
• A tree and a bronze serpent and a woman (Goddess symbols from the Garden of Eden.)
• Two candles? (The Sabbath Bride.)
• A water jug? (The water drawing ceremony during Sukkot.) 
• A hoopoe? (National bird and a symbol of leadership and knowledge.) 
• A pillar? Two pillars? (The goddess Wisdom, the Temple, and the Tree of Life.)
• A mirror? (A priestess symbol throughout the world.)
• A lamp? (Wisdom goddess.)
• A moon and a sun? (The Hebrew calendar is both lunar and solar.)
• A wheel of the year? (Fits the theme of the cord.)
• A labyrinth? (A symbol of the goddess and of priestesses.)
• A seven-branched menorah? (Like the one that stood in the Temple.)

Miscellaneous notes:

Possible symbols for the Priestess Archetypes

• Seeker Priestess (Labyrinth) - month of Elul
  
• Queen Priestess (Staff or Throne)
• Wise Woman Priestess (Crossroads or Pillar) 
• Shrine Keeper Priestess (Mirror) 
• Mourning Woman Priestess (Stone) 
• Witch Priestess (Feather or Boat) 
• Fool Priestess (Snake or Chariot) 
• Maiden Priestess (Drum or Dancer) 
• Midwife Priestess (Cord or Frog) 
• Weaver Priestess (Loom or Spindle) 
• Prophetess Priestess (A Well or Bee) 
• Mother Priestess (7-branched menorah or a Breast) 
• Lover Priestess (Grapes or a Dancer)

The Seven Species

• Grapes, harvested in Elul and Tishrei
• Figs, harvested in Elul and Tishrei
• Olives, harvested in Cheshvan
• Barley, harvested in Nisan and Iyyar
• Wheat, harvested in Sivan
• Pomegranates, harvested in Tamuz and Av
• Dates, harvested in Av, Elul, and Tishrei
  

The Four Holy Mothers

• Holy Mother Bilhah (mother of Dan and Naftali) 
• Holy Mother Rachel (mother of Yosef and Binyamin) 
• Holy Mother Zilpah (mother of Gad and Asher) 
• Holy Mother Leah (mother of Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehudah,Yissachar, Zevulun, and Dinah)
  

The Tribes and Times of the Year

• Elul (Virgo) Gad
• Tishrei (Libra) Efraim - half tribe, from Dinah's daughter and Yosef
• Cheshvan (Scorpio) Menasheh - half tribe, from Dinah's daughter and Yosef
• Kislev (Sagittarius) Binyamin
• Tevet (Capricorn) Dan
• Shevat (Aquarius) Asher
• Adar Alef - Levi (priestly tribe, had no portion in the Land)
• Adar (Pisces) Naftali
• Nisan (Aries) Yehudah
• Iyyar (Taurus) Yissachar
• Sivan (Gemini) Zevulun
• Tammuz (Cancer) Reuven
• Av (Leo) Shimon

The Three Gates of the Year

• Gate of Earth (Sukkot, during month of Tishrei)
• Gate of Ocean (Pesach, during month of Nisan)
• Gate of Air (Shavuot, during month of Sivan)
  

I've been dreaming a lot since I started planning the beads. (A bear played a significant role in one dream.) I wake up with more ideas for the cord every day and I wonder what ideas will come to me the next day.