EXILS

 3 in 1 necklace / EXILS (available for sale)

First possibility of wearing, just the message.

Second possibility of wearing : just the gem.

Third possibility of wearing : both necklaces / gem & message

The Romanis. Gipsies. Rromanes. Dispersed wolrdwide. Many of these people wander through Europe, and a lot of them though America.

Do you know that "Rom" means "human", man, human being ?

They are men and women and children, far away from their long, distant roots (it could be in Persia or India), and sometimes from their homes and homelands, often victims (cf wikipedia) of forced assimilations, persecutions, ethnic "cleansing, abduction of their children, forced labour. In England, Romani were sometimes hanged or expelled from small communities; in France, they were branded and their heads were shaved; in Moravia and Bohemia, the women were marked by their ears being severed."

During world war II, they "were marked for extermination and sentenced to forced labor and imprisonment in concentration camps.

They were often killed on sight, especially by the Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) on the Eastern Front. The total number of victims has been variously estimated at between 220,000 to 1,500,000."

Nowadays they still are victims of discriminations.

"The French Roma repatriation is a programme initiated in July 2010 by the Government of France to repatriate thousands of Romanian and Bulgarian Roma as part of a crackdown on illegal camps in the country. Although Bulgarian and Romanian citizens have the right to enter France without a visa, due to their countries of origin being in the European Union, under French immigration rules they must have work or residency permits if they wish to stay longer than three months.

In 2009, France deported 10,000 Roma back to Romania and Bulgaria. The next year at least another 8,300 Roma were deported until August.

Since July 2010, at least 51 illegal Romani camps have been demolished, and France has repatriated at least 1,230 Roma to their countries of origin.

The policy has proved controversial in the European Union, with EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding stating in a September briefing that the European Commission may take legal action against the French government over the forced deportations, calling them "a disgrace" (Wikipedia, "The French Roma expulsion")

As Rromani people, Opal Gemstone has been a "victim" of various superstitions : sometimes it was considered as a source of trouble or even misfortune, sometimes of luck and hapiness.

The fact is opal is a deep, rich and beautiful stone. It's said to be the gem of cleaned minds and pure hearts. Opal reflects what people are, beyond apparences, clearly. If you have bad intentions, bad thoughts, then opal could hurt you in return. If you are well intentioned and wish good things for other people, then opal will be good for you in return.

The beautiful opal i chose for this necklace is asemi-translucide, dark green one.

This necklace is a warm, fraternal tribute to Rromani people, and beyond them, to uprooted, exiled, dicriminated, disregarded, persecuted, shunned, cast aside.

Wearing it, with or without the opal, could also be a social affirmation, a political act, a gesture of brotherhood... it's up to you to decide.

*** français ***

Ce collier, qui peut se porter de 3 façons (juste le message, juste la pierre, ou les deux portés à la fois - un "trois colliers en un", en fait) est un hommage aux Rroms et, à travers eux, à tous les exilés, les errants (souvent du fait du rejet, de l'exil), les "hors caste", les honnis, rejetés de ce monde. Petit rappel - et qui ne sera pas inutile, pour moi non plus ce n'était pas si clair que cela : la  majorité des Rroms n'est pas nomade. En France, la grande majorité d'entre eux sont de longue date installés en France. Mais une partie est restée "errante", du fait à la fois de la précarité et des politiques d'expulsion menées par l'Europe, notamment, et la France. Un bon article de Libération explique tout cela, en tordant le cou aux clichés. Mais ce collier, pour en revenir à lui, est avant tout un hommage fraternel aux migrants, aux errants - qui sont, la plupart du temps, contraints à l'être, et à l'arrachement, de part la pauvreté, les situations politiques, climatiques (cela viendra hélas de plus en plus), les lois diverses et leur application souvent inhumaine (on en a eu l'exemple, encore très récemment, en France, y compris sous le nouveau gouvernement).

A travers eux, tous les proscrits, tous les honnis : les expulsés de leur maison, de leur travail, les sans domicile, etc.

Ce collier, avec ou sans l'opale, peut être porté comme un geste fraternel, une affirmation politique, une revendication sociale. Je conseille de ne porter l'opale que lorsque votre cœur n'est animé que par la bonté et votre esprit habité par de bonnes intentions. L'opale est très "miroir" - de même que les boucs émissaires de nos diverses sociétés : elle renvoie à ce que l'on est, profondément, au-delà des masques, et cette vérité, elle nous la renvoie. Nos intentions envers les autres nous reviennent, un jour ou un autre, en plein visage. Et parfois démultipliées. Que cette pierre, d'un vert sombre si beau, vous le rappelle chaque jour, chaque minute, et vous incite à la compassion, à l'indulgence, au partage et à la bonté... en fait à tout ce que vous portez déjà en vous, et qui ne demande qu'à s'épanouir, pour peu que vous le cultiviez...