A doll to carry your grief

I reached deep into the well of my grief, and my tears sang this doll into being. This spirit holds within her the cycles of life, death, and rebirth. She wears a gown of ocean waves and is adorned with salmon bones on red thread, representing the water, blood, and bones that connect us to each other and to the earth. She carries three glass beads, representing the loving and supporting community that nurtures and supports me - a loving reminder in difficult times.

This doll is deeply connected to the moon and the tides & to ancestors of blood and bone. She serves as a vessel to hold my grief - when I come to her, I’m reminded that I am a part of the ebb and flow of the ocean, my tears rising and falling as the ocean dances with the moon.

“Dear child,” she says, “never forget that grief and love dance this way, too.”

Her tears and moon are woven in tussah silk. The ocean waves are woven in wool.

She is adorned with salmon bones gathered on the beaches of Lingít Aaní, tied to red thread with nine knots (3x3) - each knot a spell for protection and remembrance. She wears three blue glass Russian trade beads honoring the love and blessings that persist even when grief is present.

Her heart holds seaweed, milk thistle seeds, hawthorn berries, butterfly pea flower, frankincense & myrrh resins, and a salmon bone.

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Spirit dolls as grief support

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A doll in your pocket