So what's in a name? Where on Earth, or rather space, did the name "Fingernail Moon" come from?
Once upon a time there was a little girl, who like all children, made conrete, logical assessments of the giant, crazy world around her based on the tiny world she had first hand experience with. Like when the giant fountain in the middle of the big lake downtown shot up massive plumes of brightly colored water, she assumed there were people inside the fountain throwing up buckets of different flavors of Kool-Aid. And when she looked up in the sky at night and saw a gleaming white sliver of a moon, it looked like one of her mother's fingernails had floated up to heaven.
Once upon a time, there was a young woman who felt she might have wandered down the wrong path in life, decided to take a writing class under a rather famous author. Although she had prided herself as a talented writer herself, this famous author proceeded to trash everything she handed him. Until the last class. She wrote a short story, which the teacher hated of course, except for the line about the "fingernail moon," which he surrounded with little hearts. She always believed that he probably used the expression in one of his later books, but she refused to ever read anything of his again.
Once upon a time a new jewelry maker wanted to put some of her creations up for sale on a friend's website. As the friend sat before the computer, fingers poised over the keyboard ready to start listing, she asked, "What's the name of your shop?" The shop? Name? It's supposed to have a name? But the friend was insistent that a name was required at that moment. Suddenly Fingernail Moon was what came to mind. And Fingernail Moon Jewelry was born.
To quote my buddy, Bill (as in the Bard), "what's in a name?" Names connect us to our identity and individuality. Names create and convey meaning, and reveal something about who we are. The names we carry were bestowed upon us by other people at the time of our birth. They had their own reasons for giving us those names. We may not agree with those reasons or those names, but we rarely do anything to change them. I gave birth to this business, and I bestowed this name upon it. True, it was blurted out under pressure in the spur of the moment, but it stuck. And I think the business has grown into the name.
A little while back I was in a cute shop in my favorite Southern town of Beaufort, SC (rememer the Big Chill?) and I found these cute pendants of pictures of the moon in various phases. You could look up the phase on the day of your birth and get the matching pendant. Guess what phase I was born under? A FINGERNAIL MOON!!! A waning crescent to be exact. Supposedly, we waning moon babies are intelligent, learn well from experience, are creative, and make good teachers! Gee, does that shoe fit? Well, some might argue the intelligent part, but I will admit to receiving many compliments on my creative jewelry and on my teaching! Anyway, isn't it wild that I was actually born under the moon that I bore my my business into!
The Moon has always been associated with feminine energy. It connects us to our intuition and emotions, a place where we can find real joy and self-love, and connect to our life's true purpose. The waxing crescent moon's energy is new energy, growing energy, urging you to push on and finish what needs to be done in order to make your dreams a reality. The waning crescent gibbous moon symbolizes a time to feel grateful for what has been accomplished, and a time of self-reflection, to re-evaluate goals, let go of old habits and reflect on lessons learned. It is also a time to become more self-aware and make positive changes as we move forward in rebirth. Over the top for the name of a jewelry store? Maybe, but don't we all find a little mystery, a little charm and intrigue in the moon? And I find that people are attracted to and intrigued by the name. And for me, it has become a connection to my inner self and my true purpose. Making jewelry is not my ultimate purpose in life, but making jewelry has given me a new direction, and this business has given me the ability and opportunity to expand my horizon, to reach out and connect with more people, and to reach deeper within myself.
So Fingernail Moon is the little girl seeing love in the shape of a crescent moon. It's a young woman thumbing her nose at a teacher who attempted to kick her down and moving on in spite of his pettiness. And it's an old lady who has entered a new phase of the moon and has manifested the badass she always was!
