Earlier this year, my friend Lisa bought for my birthday a special necklace. Yet prior to putting it on my neck, she encouraged me to have a ceremony surrounding it. Because it wasn’t just any necklace. The script was written in the language that pre-dates the Filipino language of Tagalog, before colonization Babayin. The word is powerful: FREEDOM.
Although my birthday was months ago, I have not felt the time was right to wear it. I tried a ceremony on the afternoon of a full moon last month. I walked five minutes from my home to the sand, and into the ocean, and held this in my hand thinking of intentions. But it wasn’t time to wear it yet, and I let time pass.
Yet something shifted this month. It was the day after I paid off my credit cards (which had built up after moving back to America). There was a sense of freedom that emerged: financial freedom. And I knew it was time to do a ceremony for the necklace and finally wear it.
Yesterday morning, I walked towards the beach, but this time I stopped and saw mini labyrinth lay before me. It was in the shape of a snake, a reminder of transformation lay before me. I placed my necklace in the center, along with palo santo and a lighter. I slowly walked toward the center of the snake’s mouth, and when I reached it I picked up these items and cleansed the necklace. Now was the time to place it on my neck.
And maybe somehow a shift was made.
Today is the second day I am wearing the necklace, a stranger in line at the coffee shop gave me a compliment to my necklace. She queried if it was in Hebrew, and what it meant. I told her it was “Freedom” in the Filipino script language before colonization. She found it intriguing, and shared it with her husband next to her.
There was power in sharing the story, in simply telling this stranger about my necklace. It serves as a reminder there is intentional choice and strength in what we wear and the narrative we share behind that. Everyday is an opportunity to make a statement in what we stand for.
It Only Takes A Smile 