About Tides of Tethys

  
 
In 2022 I moved to my Neptune line from my Saturn/ Rahu line. My relocated chart makes me a Pisces ascendant with Neptune on the midheaven, a wildly different chart to my natal. To honour this shift I dove into the celestial seas and retrieved the name: Tides of Tethys. Tethys being one of our old gods. A goddess of the seas and a Titan. She is also the namesake for a moon of Saturn which contains a chasm named after my ancestral home, the Island of Ithaca

Tides of Tethys (formerly Psychic Desert) was created in 2015. After I completed a Master of Fine Arts at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology I began exploring the concept of jewellery as wearable pieces of art and was drawn to the study of the ancient jewellery of our ancestors for whom jewellery was more than adornment; it was a magical item, a charm, amulet or talisman.

The pieces I make now as Tides of Tethys are predominately talismanic. My focus is directed towards periodic releases of small, quality hand crafted collections made to astrological timing.

All my pieces are hand-crafted using ancient techniques of wax carving, sand casting and lost wax casting. I use only the finest materials with a focus on sourcing high quality earth grown gemstones and using only solid sterling or argentum silver, and solid gold.

What is wax carving:

Most of the jewellery available today is made by machine. Whereas, wax carving is essentially the process of sculpting a piece of jewellery in wax, which is then used to create a mould. Molten metal is poured into this mould, resulting in a beautifully intricate metal replica of the wax original.  I am one of the only talismans makers that hand sculpts my talismans. 

The technique is likened to other forms of sculpting, but what sets it apart is the combination of creativity, precision, and the finishing of the cast that results in a wearable art form. 

What is lost wax casting: 
Lost wax casting builds a mold around a sacrificial wax model. After the mold investment is set, the wax is melted out and forms a cavity where the metal or glass flows in. Using this method of casting captures fine details in both metal and glass. This ancient method has been used since 3000 B.C. to visually capture the stories of ancient cultures and religions throughout history.
What is sand casting: 
Sand casting is a piece of ancient metallurgy knowledge that has translated seamlessly from the Bronze Age. It involves forming cavities within packed and bonded sand that is then charged with molten metal. The chosen metal solidifies to reproduce the cavity shape in fine detail.
I have been a working artist for 26 years. I hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts through Queensland College of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts with Distinction through Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. I came to jewellery through a painting practice and have exhibited my work nationally around Australia. 

I have studied astrology with Chris Brennan as a participant of the Hellenistic Astrology course and  I initially learnt astrological magic with Ryhan Butler and I continue to learn from many astrologers both living and Mighty Dead. TOT also has resident astrological advice from seasoned Astrologer Gray Crawford, who is a regular speaker at NORWAC as well as a teacher at the esteemed Kepler College. 

As for astrological magic, key texts that influence my work are the Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm (Picatrix), Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Marsilio Ficino's Three Books on Life, and Ahman Al-Buni’s Shams al-Ma'arif. There are many more texts that continue to inspire my work but they are too numerous to mention here. Ultimately and above all else I look to the celestial spirits and ancestors of blood and practise for guidance as everything I make is in service to, and in their honour.