1) Let’s trace a realization all the way back to its origin. Once upon a time in 2004 at the Margo Channing Memorial “Three Months Ago I Turned 40 Years Old . . . Forty, Four Oh” Party, a former colleague gave me a copy of Victoria Finlay’s wonderful book Color, a tour through the natural elements that made the colors in an artist’s paint box. This led me to her next book, Jewels, inspired by the Moh hardness scale. Peridot was the fifth stone she explored, after amber, jet, pearl, and opal, but before emerald, sapphire, ruby, and diamond. It was the peridot that stayed with me the most somehow.
2) Since leaving ye Instytytte, I’ve become more interested in semiprecious stones for some reason, particularly pendants, and their meanings. (The Pocket Book of Stones by Robert Simmons is most helpful to me.) Most often I wear a small citrine, my Speck of Sunshine, which “opens the inner doors to increased clarity of thought, enhanced creativity and magnified powers of will and manifestation . . . capable of awakening the powers of creative manifestation.” Last year I also got a small malachite oval, “protection from negative energies,” but the sort of rich deep green I’ve loved all my life.
3) Peridots sport a spring green color that, to me, makes them look more alive than other stones. It embodies the idea of viriditas put forward by Hildegarde von Bingen, of budding energy. And The Pocket Book of Stones backs this up: “. . . little green nuggets of positive energy. Their vibration brings an inner sense of warmth and well-being . . . creating an integration of Love and Will . . . and it can aid in attracting and creating our most important inner visions.”
4) As you know, the most unexpected and meaningful event of the year was the appearance of the Boyfriend. And other meanings of the peridot apply to both of us. So . . . so it was a sign, one of the many similarities and coincidences that have marked the last four months, that an IG jeweler I follow would offer not one but two tiny peridot pendants. Since when do pendants come in pairs? The Boyfriend and I picked them up in New York earlier this week, and I’m wearing mine right now. He does not really wear a lot of jewelry, but will keep his displayed in its little box where he can see it. It makes a nice little talisman for us.
5) These last few days in New York — Saturday night to Thursday noon — were actively focused on the Boyfriend’s work: two recording sessions in the recording studio, lunch with his production manager, and, to my delight, getting to see him lecture live on Edith Wharton and meet a few of his very devoted fans. Next week he will visit me for a few days and a lighter schedule: one event, one concert, and (so far) one function. We can use this time to create our most important inner visions.
