Mountain Laurel Bean Necklace long

The seeds of the Mountain Laurel are as lovely as the tree itself. Also known as Burn Beans and Mescal Beans, these seeds are from the tree Sophora secundiflora. Early botanists who named it were honoring the Sophia, Gnostic goddess of truth and wisdom. Supposedly the very toxic seeds were brewed into a hallucinogenic, vision-seeking bevarage by the Apaches, but nobody really knows what the recipe was, how lethal it may have been, or if this is why botanists named the plant for Sophia.

I wear these beautiful red beads for legal situation, personal protection, speaking truth to power, women's protection. I matronize only a few trees in Austin that have the most perfect red beans, and I gather and drill the beans on Wednesdays in the waxing moon. I use dark glass seed beads with blue or peacock irridescence as contrasting spacer beads. The short necklaces are about 14-15 inches long, choker length and have 28 beans for each day of the lunar cycle. The long necklaces fit over any head, are about 27-30 inches long and have about 63 beans. These seeds are TOXIC and you should not let anyone or your dog chew on them.