There are few figures in mythology who have undergone quite the same transformation in meaning as Medusa. Historically she was framed as monstrous. Dangerous. Something to be feared. I’m fairly sure her original story was indeed written by a man. Over time, particularly for women, Medusa has become something entirely different. A symbol of survival. Protection. Feminine rage. Reclaiming power after pain. The refusal to become smaller after being wounded by life.
And perhaps that’s why women continue to feel so instinctively drawn to her in jewellery.
Medusa as a symbol of liberation and reclamation
This particular Medusa commission was created recently for Bauble Magpie client R. A self-love gift. A survival gift. A divorce gift.
And perhaps there is no more fitting figure to carry through a moment like that than Medusa herself. Because this piece wasn’t commissioned simply to mark the ending of something painful, but to honour everything that came afterwards too. The rebuilding. The reclaiming. The slow process of remembering your own power after spending too long disconnected from it. There’s something incredibly moving to me about women choosing symbols like Medusa during periods of transformation in their lives.
Not because she represents bitterness or vengeance, but because she has become such an enduring symbol of survival, protection and feminine self-possession. A reminder that surviving something difficult does not diminish your power. If anything, it tends to sharpen it.
For the women choosing themselves
Symbols of feminine rage, independence, intuition and self-possession carried through beautifully carved talismans that carry legends ready to become part of yours.
The Medusa pendant is an intaglio ingot that has been cast from a real intaglio, then recast again to ensure that the original portrait is the right way around – which is to say, the wrong way around.
Check out the Medusa Pendant
The symbols you come back to time and time again mean something…
Over the years I’ve seen women commission seals to mark grief, divorce, healing, reinvention, motherhood, survival and entirely new beginnings. The symbolism may originate centuries ago, but the emotional reasons people wear these pieces remain remarkably human.
Women are often drawn instinctively towards the pieces that reflect something they’re experiencing emotionally long before they fully understand why. And perhaps that’s the real magic of symbolic jewellery.
With love and shiny things, always
Emma and the Bauble Magpie Team
