My cross and religious medal collection is vast. How vast? So vast, I decided to focus only on the cross collection to not get any more overwhelmed than I already am about it. It's so countless, I didn't even bother. Seeing them together was enough to remember to set some sort of limits. Should it be a dollar amount limit or a quantity limit? I have no idea, but least I am thinking about it which is better than before!
As a hoarder, "how vast?" has been my new daily question to myself, especially as I sort and list on my etsy shops! Oh, and I have three etsy shops now! But that's another story!
Many of my crosses have flown the coop and some have left their stories:
This garnet cross sold despite it's missing piece and just as I imagined went to a jeweler, Jen Ecklund who could fix it up and turn it into something even more beautiful. I also practiced my nil to nothing negotiating skills. And even more importantly, it went to another cross collector! Now that's what I call a good story with a "cherry on top!"
Side Kick Story: "Via Love" has been Jen Ecklund's etsy shop for five years today, November 30th! Congratulations Jen on your fifth year etsy anniversary! All her jewelry is luxuriously unique! I especially love her cornucopia garnet necklace and blue cornflower! So, after you see her handmade jewelry, you can just imagine the beautiful magic the garnet cross will receive!
Update: On December 1, 2012, Jen sent me this! It's been magically transformed!:
Note from Buyer Thank you sooo much, its beautiful and will be a special piece coming from you! I'll love wearing it in sweater weather. We go to Gatlinburg every fall when the leaves turn, it's beautiful. Your cross will be special knowing it came from you.
Now..."The hoard of all hoard" is the third story! Once upon a time, I had at least 100 of these "God Protect" pocket knife cross key chains! And only God knows why!
Most of these went to Moon Raven Designs, an etsy shop that turns the cross pocket knife from key chain to necklace and aptly names it, The Sisters Cross.
And lastly, the fourth cross story and hopefully not the last is from another jeweler, Regina in Brazil, a sweet souled person!!!!
She wrote:
"This cross, in fact, was the request of a client who became a very dear friend, who can send me words of affection and is a very special person although not known personally.
She asked me to make a paste using turquoise and agate beads, with a crucifix because it is very religious.
I searched for a whole afternoon and the one that I found was this.
Then yesterday she told me she preferred a mother-of-Pearl Cross and I decided to make the paste to me, this cross really enchanted me.
I hope to honor the memory of the ancestors, I will use it with great care and respect and I'm sure that I will bring only good energy." ---Regina
Saying good-bye: It is so much easier letting go of pieces when they come with a story because I feel reassured that they are going to a better home from which they came, but I still have a problem when too many sell at once. It's still too stressful for me to say good-bye in large amounts. Although this whole process feels like one big gigantic conflict after another, it is a chosen adventure and I choose to stay on course!
Between putting together these cross stories and writing the incense burner story, I decided another tool that might help me end my cycle of hoarding is taking pictures of my mass collections to get a better perspective on how my collections have taken over my life, especially when I know my collection is most likely bigger than I think!
Many years ago, I started to pin the crosses and medals I collected into a Costco Frappicino box. Before I knew it, I had three or more of them covered in crosses and medals. Here is one I recently reenacted, so I could get a perspective on the vast extent of my cross and medal collection.
This cross and medal collection branches out from my extensively large Religious Folk Art collection that stems from my Mexican Folk Art Collection and Native American Collection.
I had the crosses and medals displayed so I could pick and choose what I needed for my own religious folk art creations, needless to say, most of my religious folk art creations used my charm and milagro collections, but not my religious crosses or medals.
What I learned:
1. Interesting enough all these crosses were negotiations in practice. I don't know why, but I can negotiate well on large ticket items, like real estate investments, but not so well on little things, like items in my etsy shops. I think it's because I don't have any attachments to real estate, which is good, since I have deep attachments to my collections as a whole and individually.
2. Counting my collections was-is eye opening, mind boggling and overwhelming, however seeing each collection as a separate entity and then counting each individual piece is as equally if not more CRAZY! Yes, it makes me feel crazy, which I think is one or two steps past overwhelming.
Another conscious reason to be aware of knowing is that all this stuff is driving me crazy! It's been an underlying, right below the surface, tip of the ice berg, brewing meddlesome craziness! Now it's out in the open and although I can see the entire ice berg, it seems to be more like an onion and there's going to be many layers to peel away before I reach the core! I hope this adventure is better than digging a hole to China!
3. I'm probably thinking way too far ahead, but since this is about my cross collection, I'll let it out here. One of my HoarderRehab Etsy Goals from all of this is to be more like our greatest teachers on Earth or at least the ones I can read about, who gave up all or most of their earthly possessions.
I'm not religious, so I'd probably lean more towards Gandhi than Jesus, but giving up one's possessions is a miraculous leap of faith and there seems to be a fine line between Jesus and being homeless. That scares me! Then, I read somewhere that the cross represents a ledger, it must not be one of credit and debits, but one of trespasses and trespassers? Then there's the idea of scarcity vs abundance.....hmmm....
3. This is going to be a slow and long process and I hope documenting it will help me end my cycle of hoarding habits! I've tried the fast and short process and it didn't work for me, so I have to remind myself to be patient, even though I'm not- because this adventure has to work this time around!
Parting Thoughts: Has anyone out there felt as wishy washy as me about giving up something? even if it's off your hands with payment? How did you get over it? Is it true, that pure joy is an instant lobotomy? I guess this means I still have things to work out. Is it the hours of searching and years of collecting? Is it the memories each thing holds? Is it all the time trying to find the buried memory, honoring it and letting it go? Why does this struggle end up being a battle? Sigh...I think it's time for some gratitude!
Thank you etsy for starting me on this adventure and continuing it with my new shop, The Destiny of Things! Thank you Allee Willis for helping my HoarderRehab and keeping it real with truthful humor and by accepting my submissions to your Museum of Kitsch!
Thank "you" for being here and taking part in my HoarderRehab!
