We think we have it bad in the US, but think of the financially challenged or economically lopsided countries that don’t have our infrastructure, our food supply and ways to get help when we need it. Whether it be by geographical, geopolitical or economic circumstances it is eye-opening to consider what difference a border may make and the systems that play a part within it.
Our little shop is located in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Within a 3-day span, back in the middle of March, the Canadian government told all Canadians they must leave mexico, or they would have no insurance when they came home.
The airport was soon packed with Canadians rushing home trying to get any flight they could. The tourists disappeared and Puerto Vallarta became a ghost town.
All businesses were shut down.
When you think of the beaches in PV, you think of the vendors dressed in white trying to sell their wares to a steady stream. Now there is no one to buy a thing.
Our shop has struggled. The shop was closed for a couple months, and now there are rumors of a second wave of the virus to shut the shops down again. They will soon have an online presence and we hope this will help.
In Guatemala, the factories are shut down. It is the smaller work places, the families, that are making masks and what ever they can to sell to the US. The shipping companies have half the staff, so artisans and small business owners stand in line and wait to send their shipments north. Even so, the journey to make its way here is more tumultuous than normal. Their price to ship is 10 times what we pay here.
Through these times of change, our team of women weavers and our tee shirt maker have reached out to me. Although they typically have additional sources of income, the need for work has increased and I’d like to help.
I know what they can do and design and the beauty their work can inspire.
Next month (September) I am switching over to Shopify in an effort to give you a site that is easier to navigate, purchase items on your phone and dive deeper in our world.
We will be debuting a new line of clothing and accessories for the first time in years - gorgeous shawls, ponchos, tee shirts, sweatshirts, and of course, brand new woven ikat masks and gaiters from Guatemala.
If you’d like to be notified of our beautiful new shop, send over your email below. Thanks for reading, we all look forward to having you be part of this new world of Lady Faith.
]]>I started Lady Faith 15 years ago on the beaches of Puerto Vallarta while on a meditation intensive. On that trip, filled with the sense of the waves and where the salt met the air, the beauty in the changing skies at sunset and the crispness of guitar strings being plucked below the ringing bells of the church I discovered mala beads. A tool that can help put you into a state of meditation.
I enjoyed, loved that it could distract the mind. Using a repeated mantra to get your focus out of your head. Out of your head and into your heart. There is a tactile quality to these beads, being able to touch something, a devotional item just for you. An item devoted for you. A sacred item, but not for something out there, but something within yourself.
As I began to travel throughout Mexico something kept repeating. These beautiful outdoor markets with precious stones, the same artisans in and out of the street day after day. This connection to the people and the gift of these stones had some sort of magical quality for me.
It answered something for me then just as it does for me today. I started having beads made for myself. I would gather stones that I was most drawn to, the energy that each represented with each distinct quality radiating from each. It was a way of making these devotional items for myself. Something made with just the right intention to transport me to a quiet place where I can more deeply connect with the peace within myself and be more available for those I love and the nature around me. At the same time it also gave me the chance to help these women financially, who were around me in Mexico.
Where we are today, in a world of screens and media this connection tends to get lost. The connection to people, the connection across cultures and perhaps most importantly this connection to ourselves. If this connection isn’t there, if that personal devotion is lost then everything else can’t be felt. No connection to others, no sense of who or where you are, your sense of environment externally and internally is lost. This connection to something divine won’t have a chance to shine through and a sense that there is more than what is in front of us is lost.
What we produce here are items that can help you tap back into these senses that we often take for granted. It’s these subtle senses that drive us forward into a life of devotion, a life full of quality or color, energy and caring for ourselves and one another.
We’re currently launching our new brand, something that represents our heart-centered approach to our products and this idea of opening into the divine. Based on the story of Juan Diego and the apparitions of Mother Mary in what is now Mexico City. It represents Our Lady of Guadalupe’s gift to Juan Diego - a proof of her presence and a gift of the divine presence available to us all.
The flower blooms in such a way to help inspire a meditation, an eternal state balanced between man and nature and something very much related to what we do here.
We started producing these quality pieces of jewelry all of those years ago and our mission remains the same, although now we step into a new era where our message can reach those on a more personal level - a deeper level than ever before. Inspired by recent events and an increase in technologies, we felt it was right to make our message clearer. That your connection to the divine is real and that it is possible for you.
In whatever way that can relate to your life - more understanding in relationships, to your current stage in life, a deeper connection within yourself, or a fuller connection to the world around you. These are tools to represent this for you - constant reminders that you can wear, give to others, or use in meditation or prayer. They are reminders that you are loved and that your presence here is real. ■