Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, or Words? Help Me Choose My Mascot!

Good morning! Sunshine morning today, and a meeting of poets to look forward to.


Today's prompt: Give yourself, your condition, or your health focus a mascot. WEGO represents the concept of a mascot as part of our "branding," to make ourselves more recognizable and visually appealing. That's all well and good; but to me, even more important in the concept of a mascot is the idea of something that transmutes the focuses of my writing into a symbol, that encapsulates my best self, that offers protection.


So, I have several candidates for a mascot, some of which you've seen already. I'd love your thoughts as to which one should be "the mascot"--please let me know!

Animal 

My fluffy "security duster" is an obvious candidate for blog mascot. It's my favorite green, symbolizing growth, nature, renewal. Its tactile appeal takes me out of my head; also takes me out of the moment of emotional torment.

I put it in the "animal" category because that's where humans originally come across soft fleecy fluffiness. I'm not much of an animal lover/pet person, but I recognize the value of pet therapy and how animals can take us out of our heads.


Turtle totem--a couple years ago, I had a vision in which I was "given" the turtle as a totem and protective animal. This worked all kinds of ways. At the time, I was undergoing chelation for heavy metal toxicity: the word "chelation" comes from the Greek word for "turtle." The Latin for turtle, testudo, is also the word for a military formation in which a unit of infantry close ranks and make a wall and roof with their shields. Thorough protection. And it was explained to me in the vision that, per the Aesop fable, I was constantly being "the hare," rushing rushing striving pushing, and needed to allow more "tortoise" into my modus operandi.


Phil had given me these bone turtles from China--I wore one around my neck for a while, but couldn't find an aesthetically pleasing way to use it as a pendant.

 Vegetable

Continuing the green theme of my security duster, an aloe plant seems like a pretty obvious potential mascot.

It grows expansively with little soil, needs little fuel--just like me! It has healing properties and wisdom within its leaves. There is so much more happening under the surface (more on that in the "Words" category). It is patient and enduring, and its bitterness and astringency are bracing and medicinal.

Mineral

Two candidates for the "mineral" category also.

First, my "three-ring circus" ring.

That was my engagement ring--it cost $1 at a thrift store but we love it, so don't tell anyone! I'm wearing it as my wedding ring right now, because my actual wedding ring, which was always too big, kept falling off, and I didn't want to lose it.


This is a candidate for a mascot because of the three intertwined rings--different realities intersecting with one another, touching one another, circles completing themselves but impinging on others--all good reflections for me in terms of thinking about how my presence in the world affects other people, how my actions affect others, how different facets of my own complex self are mutually influencing.


The other "mineral" candidate--I mentioned in my Ten Essentials post how much I love collecting rocks, and my particular penchant for rocks with holes in them. One of the "holey' rocks Phil and Terry found for me on their hikes two weekends ago was smaller than any I've found yet--here it is with my pinkie for scale (and my pinkies are tiny!)--

Like the turtles above, I've wondered about making this into a pendant and wearing it, but don't have the talent to know how to make it look nicer than a rock on a string around my neck! I love how round this one is, how it looks almost like a face in repose. The juxtaposition of the solidity of rock with a space of "nothing" bored right through it is a call to meditation similar to the interlooped circles of my ring.

Words

Finally, since I'm a "words" person first and foremost, my initial reaction to this prompt was that I already had a mascot: it's the tagline at the top of this page! "The unapparent harmony is more powerful than the apparent one," Heraclitus' fragment 36. Not only does this explain the (possibly not catchy or sexy) name of my blog; it also offers an explanation for the quest for balance that inspires all of my conscious actions--and yes, I perpetrate all too many unconscious actions!

What do you think? Please tell me which of these would be the best mascot! Any advice from you jewelry-makers out there on how to make the rock into a pendant would be welcome also. And shares of what your mascot would be. Much love.