A Veve Made to Be Worn: The Cast Legba Pendant in Sterling Silver

A drawing that becomes an object

A veve is first known as a drawing. It is traced on the ground, in flour or cornmeal or another powder, as a sign and a focus for a working, and then it is gone, swept away or walked through when the working ends. That impermanence is part of its nature as a drawing. It is made for a moment, and the moment passes. A cast veve pendant is a different kind of thing altogether. It takes a sign that is usually temporary and gives it a permanent, wearable form, in solid metal, made to be carried day after day rather than drawn and erased.

That change of form changes the work. A drawn veve belongs to a particular working, on a particular day, in a particular place. A pendant veve belongs to the person who wears it, and travels with them. It is present at workings, and it is also present between workings, when the wearer is doing ordinary things. That continuity is the point of a pendant, and it is also a responsibility. A tool that is always present should be treated with the steadiness that always-presence requires, not worn carelessly one day and forgotten the next.

The pendant in this article is a cast Legba veve pendant, in sterling silver, offered as a Vodou piece. That shared craft is worth understanding first, before anything is said about Legba himself, because the craft is what makes this object different from a printed image of a veve, or a mass-produced charm stamped out by machine.

How a lost-wax cast pendant is made

That contrast is not snobbery. It is a description of two different objects. A printed object made from metal powder and plastic has a layered texture and a lightness that gives it away in the hand. A cast object has weight, a solid surface, and the marks of hand work, because a human hand made the wax form from which it was cast.

In lost-wax casting, the design is first worked in wax, then cast in metal from that wax form. The wax is lost in the process, which is where the name comes from, and the metal that remains is a single cast piece, not an assembly of printed layers. Sterling silver, the metal of this pendant, takes its own bail method in the maker's practice, and the result is a piece made to hang and be worn, not a disc that happens to have a loop added as an afterthought.

That process also explains why a cast pendant is made to order, and why it takes time. Nothing in this article promises a delivery date, and any no-guarantee wording here is about the magical work itself, not about delivery of a physical pendant.

Sterling silver, and why the metal matters

Sterling silver is the metal named in the title of this pendant, and it is worth pausing on what that means in practice. Sterling silver is a working metal: bright, solid, wearable every day, and capable of holding fine detail from a cast. A veve is a design of lines and crossings, and a metal that cannot hold fine lines will blur the design into a general pattern. Silver holds the line. That is a practical point, but in a working tool, practical points are working points. A sign whose lines are blurred is harder to read, harder to focus on, and harder to work with, in the same way a blurred text is harder to read than a clear one.

Silver also wears in a particular way. It will show use over time, especially if worn every day against skin and clothing, and it can tarnish if left damp or unworn in a closed place. That wear is normal for a working tool, and it is not a sign that the pendant has stopped being useful. It is a sign that it has been carried. Keep it in a clean, dry place when you are not wearing it, away from other metal objects that could scratch it, and clean it gently with a soft cloth. Do not use harsh chemicals or abrasive cleaners on it unless you know, for sterling silver specifically, that such a cleaner is safe.

If the bail loosens, or if the pendant shows damage, stop wearing it until it can be repaired properly. A tool that is falling apart is a distraction in a working, and a safety risk if it can fall off unnoticed. A tool you are worried about losing is a tool you cannot focus with, and focus is the whole of this kind of work.

Wearing a veve, rather than drawing one

Wearing a veve pendant is a practice in itself, and it deserves thought before the pendant arrives. A drawn veve is made, used, and gone. A worn veve is present in the morning when you put it on, present during the day's work, and present in the evening when you take it off. Some practitioners wear a pendant only for workings, putting it on to mark the beginning of a working and taking it off to mark the close. Others wear it daily, as a constant focus. Both are legitimate approaches, but they are different approaches, and a practitioner should choose one deliberately rather than drifting between them without noticing.

If you wear the pendant only for workings, keep it in a clean place set aside for working tools, and put it on as part of preparing the space and yourself. That act of putting it on becomes part of the working order, like lighting a candle or clearing a table. If you wear it daily, be aware that it will be present in ordinary situations as well as ritual ones, and treat it accordingly: not as jewellery to be shown off, and not as an object to be left in a pocket with keys and loose change, but as a tool that is being carried. Either way, the pendant should have a proper place when it is not being worn, not a bathroom shelf or the bottom of a bag.

Holding the pendant is another form of working with it. Take it in the hand, look at the design, and let attention settle on the lines rather than skimming over them. A veve is a design meant to be looked at closely, and a cast pendant repays close looking in a way a flat image does not, because the lines have depth, shadow, and weight. That close attention is itself a practice, and it is available every day, without a full working, whenever the wearer takes a moment to hold the pendant and focus.

Placing the pendant in a working

In a fuller working, the pendant can be placed on an altar or working surface, worn during the working, or held at particular moments, according to the practitioner's own system. This article does not invent a rite for Legba, and it does not replace teaching in the tradition to which the veve belongs. A general article can describe the object and how it is carried, but the rite itself belongs to the system and the teacher, and a practitioner who has not been taught a rite should not invent one from a general description.

What can be said generally is that a pendant, like a seal, can be worked with in several familiar ways: holding it, putting it under a candle during a working, putting oil on it where the practitioner's practice calls for oil, carrying it, and wearing it as a pendant. Each of these is a way of giving the object a place in the working, rather than leaving it as decoration on a surface. A practitioner should choose the ways that fit their own practice, and use them consistently, so that the pendant gathers a history of use rather than a history of being moved from shelf to shelf.

Putting a pendant under a candle, where that is part of your practice, is a way of keeping it at the centre of a working for the duration of the burning, rather than letting attention wander. Putting oil on it, where oil is used in your practice, marks it for a purpose, deliberately, naming that purpose in your own words. Neither act is magic in itself. Both are ways of marking attention, and attention is the material of the work.

Before you order: questions to ask yourself

Before ordering a cast veve pendant, ask yourself plainly whether you want a working tool or a piece of jewellery with an interesting design. Both are understandable wants, but they lead to different expectations, and ordering one when you meant the other leads to disappointment that has nothing to do with the quality of the object. A working tool will be worn, held, placed, and kept with care, and will show wear. Jewellery is judged by appearance alone, and wear is counted as damage. This pendant is offered as a working tool, cast by hand, and it should be judged as one.

Ask, too, whether you have a practice in which a Legba veve has a place. A veve belongs to a tradition, and a practitioner who works in that tradition, or who is learning it properly, will know where the pendant fits. A practitioner who is drawn to the design without a practice behind it should pause and consider whether to learn the tradition first, or to choose a tool from a tradition they already work in. That is not a prohibition. It is a practical question, and reflection about being specific about what you want, and why, is good practice for any tool, not only for this one.

Finally, consider the practical side: sterling silver, made to order, with the timing noted above, and a bail made for wearing.

Keeping a record

Keep a short record for each working in which the pendant is used: date, purpose in one sentence, how the pendant was used, whether it was worn, held, or placed, and what you noticed afterwards, over days and weeks, not just on the night itself. If nothing changes, that is also information. It may mean the purpose was unclear, the timing was wrong, the work was not appropriate, or simply that the situation needs a different approach. Without a record, memory will smooth everything into a general feeling, and a general feeling is not evidence of anything.

Do not repeat the same working endlessly in the hope that repetition alone will force a result. Do the work properly, once, observe, and then decide calmly whether a second working, a different approach, or no further working is the right next step. Repetition without reflection is not persistence. It is noise, and a pendant worn daily will amplify noise just as readily as it amplifies attention, if the wearer does not keep a clear record and a clear purpose.

Cast Legba Lehgba Leghba veve pendant, in Sterling Silver. Vodou

A veve made to be worn, not drawn and erased: lost wax cast in pure metal, starting from a wax version, with a bail for wearing as a pendant.

I make these as lost wax cast pieces, cast from a wax version in pure metal, one at a time, and I bless each one myself before it is sent out. This one is the Legba veve, in sterling silver, made to be carried and worked with, held, worn, placed, and kept with care. I make no promise about what it will do for you, and that wording is about the magical work itself, not about delivery of a physical pendant. What I promise is that it is cast by hand, in the way described here, for this work.

Cast Legba Lehgba Leghba veve pendant, in Sterling Silver. Vodou, $124 CAD. View the product

Other metals are listed in the general cast-piece notes; this pendant as titled is sterling silver.

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