Haute Fashion: Homemade Necklaces Featuring Tara Jewels, Now That’s Haute!

I am delighted to share a special jewel with all my HAUTE readers!!

Do you remember my post on my Meditation at Mar-A-Lago, the National Historic Site, the Mar-A-Lago Club, known as the “Jewel of Palm Beach” that opened officially in January 1927 and was the Estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post (then Mrs. E.F. Hutton)?  Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha. That’s the mantra meditation that the attendees at the Mar-A-Lago Meditation Program with Lama Migmar Tseten learned last month to chant as they were seeking healing, abundance, strength, self-confidence, and awakening.

The Mother Tara teachings according to the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition have been passed through many generations of Indian yogis and Tibetan Lamas and now you can have a precious piece of this vibration and healing in the form of a Tara Jewel brought to you straight from India, Nepal and Tibet. These jewels are available in Florida now for only the most discerning of clients who appreciate wearable art treasures. Now, you can have your own HAUTE handmade necklaces specifically for you!! Talk about finding peace in paradise!!

The purpose to practice prayer or recite mantras is to achieve inner joy and bliss to overcome the layers of baggage of afflicted and destructive emotions that have built up over past years and lives.  I spoke with my dear friend Nick Raftis, student of the Gehlek Rinpoche, one foremost expert “gurus” teachers on Tara in the world. Nick started practicing prayer with Tara mantra at his first retreat back in 1989 at the Omega Institute in New York.

Sonia: What inspires you?
Nick: Everybody that is trying to bring beauty into this world inspires us. [The “us” refers to his beautiful and kind wife Olga who is also his partner in the business.]  It can come from anywhere so we are always trying to be open minded and free to absorb the ever expanding joy of the world. Jewelry has always been sacred in Tibetan temples, and malas have curative powers that heal the person wearing them as well as inspire their Buddhist practice. But according to some traditions, it is inappropriate to wear the mala beads around the neck, so I came up with the idea to take the mala beads and make a necklace with them with a pendant, and this is the basis of the product line today.  I started making them for myself with a friend of mine–who knew all about the healing power of crystals – about 5 years ago for me and my wife, and people liked them and we made more and more. They are one-of-a-kind.

Sonia: What’s your favorite stone?
Nick: I love the sapphires, rubies, and emeralds because of their energy. We have just created some new products using these precious gems. These precious gemstones generate a physical power because they vibrate at a particular frequency that connects with us as individuals. I also like the traditional Tibetan gemstones like coral, lapis, jade, and bone.  The gemstones hold a deep and profound energy that can reflect our spiritual practices both inwardly and outwardly and they also create a spiritual grounding.

Sonia: Your message through the jewelry?
Nick: Express your inner tantric world! Everything in the physical world is an expression of our inner spirit, so we want to express the most important facet of ourselves with our jewelry, and simultaneously financially support our Tibetan spiritual friends who are also trying to bring peace and love to our planet.  Love yourself and love everyone else, because we are all connected together on this planet, breathing the same air, feeling the same sun, looking at the same moon. P.L.U.R. – Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect is our motto.

Sonia: What is most important thing want to communicate?
Nick: We want to recognize the beauty, love, and harmony in the world using the skills that we have. Beauty is our connection to the prime creator and our mother goddess nature, and these energy vibrations of the necklaces connect us to the physical and spiritual worlds using the Tibetan Buddhist archetypes as our expression. These archetypes are manifestations of different energies in ourselves, the inner reflecting the outer, reflecting the inner, and so on like the energy of a laser beam bouncing between mirrors. The light energy frequency/vibrations creates a powerful feeling in the person wearing the necklace that extends to others, so that they can also feel the power and love energy, and in that way bring more beauty into the world and change it for the better. If you want to be more beautiful, wear these necklaces!  Do your spiritual practice and make everything transformed and sacred in your life.

Sonia: What is your gift that you bring to each one of your pieces?
Nick: Our gift is the personal selection which comes from a long background in the Tibetan tradition, realized both in jewelry (which I studied in high school) and the gemstone energy.  We also combine the individual elements to create something more beautiful and powerful than the individual elements singularly.  We have also have collected for decades many of the carved tantric deities that cannot easily be procured today, so we are hand crafting them here in the USA where we have more control over the integrity of the product.  Even though most of our products right now are coming from Tibet, Nepal, and also India where much Tibetan communities reside, we are also launching our locally sourced pendants right now.

Sonia: What is the Tara Mantra that you use when you do White Tara?
Nick: Oh Tara mother goddess, come and hang out with me right now, right here, and bring your healing and compassion blessings to all in the universe.

Sonia: What is your mantra while making the pieces? While selecting the stones? Shapes?
Nick: We just try and be open to the vibrations of the gemstones and the transformational energy of the entire piece – it is like creating art, it must flow through you from another dimension.

Tara is Quan Lin in Chinese and these unique pieces can be found TaraJewel.com or you can call 1.860.515.TARA for more information. A portion of the profits are donated to support Drepung Loseling Monastery, Jewel Heart Tibetan Learning Center, and the Tibet House USA.  Thank you Nick and Olga! Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha!!

XOXO, LOVE LOVE LOVE, Sonia

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