Mother’s Day is a day to express our gratitude to the all-nurturing beings that tenderly welcomed us into this planet and guided our initial rhythms of existence.
This is an opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude for the unselfish commitment of our mothers. Fortunately, over history, civilizations around the world have created rich myths and symbolic iconographies to celebrate and illustrate the supreme phenomena of the divine feminine life-force.
The following are the most powerful and enduring of these symbols originated in ancient Greece.
The Humble Yet Vital Bee
Consider the humble honeybee, or “melissa,” which was cherished in Greek mythology and associated with fertility, rebirth, and the never-ending journey from bud to blossom. Bees are the harbingers of spring, carrying pollen to ignite new blooms and embodying the fundamental wonder of plant rebirth every year.
The Melissa line showcases stunning 14k or 18k (available upon request) gold jewelry pieces, inspired by the iconic Minoan bee pendant found in Chrysolakkos, Malia, Crete. They are wonderful artistic tributes to mothers’ unwavering nurturing energy.
The Regenerative Snake
Of course, the melissa is not the only animal associated with ancient Greek fertility symbols. The sinuous snake, which sheds its skin on a regular basis as part of a regeneration process, represented the perpetual life/death/rebirth cycle, the unbroken feminine force that births generation after generation.
The sculptural Snake collection pieces of Kotinos evoke the primal, sensual life essence that flows through all mothers. Their serpentine forms, coiled in everlasting continuity, embody the motherly ability to usher new souls into the earth while also escorting the departed out.
The Eternal Spiral
Another collection of Kotinos features spiral designs that echo this everlasting motherhood journey. In ancient Greek art and architecture, spirals represented the eternal paths of life – the cycles of development, death, and rebirth, as well as the continuous progression between each phase that mothers nurture indefinitely.
The swirling gold spirals on these jewelry pieces represent the constant changes from one state of being to the next that characterize both macro patterns of existence and the numerous everyday phases of childcare and family life.
The Resilient Olive Tree
Other Greek nature symbols, such as the olive tree and its narrow leaf or branch designs, have an equally dramatic impact. The olive tree symbolizes calm, sustenance, wealth, and the hard-earned victory over life’s challenges that mothers valiantly exemplify.
Kotinos’ olive leaf pendants, rings, and bracelets honor these floral symbols of persistence, renewal, and feminine determination to see fresh life bloom even in the toughest of situations.
The Protective Evil Eye
And for those loving mother souls who tirelessly protect their families from danger, the signature evil eye patterns seen throughout Kotino collections have a profound significance. The vivid blue concentric circles believed to impart protecting spiritual qualities while avoiding negativity, represent the distinctive mother’s intuition for shielding her precious brood.
So, for the beautiful feminine spirit that has lovingly guided your journey through the great cycle, what better Mother’s Day present than jewelry that connects the wearer to these ancient symbols of fertility, resilience, and the incredible healing energies that spawned and support our very existence?