White Copper Golden Light Mantra Geometric Pendant

Fitting a passage of scripture onto a geometric plaque is a typesetting problem. More characters means smaller characters, and the smallest legible size depends on the path of the graver rather than on point size. The Golden Light Spell on this plaque is not laid out as a solid block. It runs around the outline, breaks at the corners and starts again on a new line. Reading it means turning the piece, the way you read the colophon on the side of a seal. A little space is left between characters so that light passes through the gaps, and the plaque does not go stuffy.

The advantage of a geometric shape is that it stays out of the way. Round, square and oblong plaques each have a temperament; a faceted geometric one is the quietest and quarrels with nothing in a wardrobe. The facets of white copper catch light for a moment, restrained, nothing like the flare of a high-polish piece. The antiqued finish keeps dark in the recessed lines, so text and ground separate and stay readable. The plaque is thin enough to disappear into a shirt pocket.

In Daoist practice the Golden Light Spell is one of the Eight Great Spells, recited at both the morning and evening offices. Popular use is plainer: walking at night, entering an unfamiliar place, when the mind starts to panic, recite it silently a few times. Recitation is about drawing attention back in, and once it is back a person steadies. As for whether it works, everyone has their own account, and this is not the place to guarantee anyone’s. The words are only a few lines; the weight of them is in whoever is saying them.

Three options: the pendant alone, with a Chopin chain, or with a rosewood cloud cord. The Chopin links are flat and lie as a straight line against the neck, so the chain does not dig into a shirt collar. The rosewood cord adjusts, is more comfortable than metal in heavy summer sweat, and does not come cold against the skin. The pendant is light, so neither cord nor chain drags at the neck; which one suits depends on the neckline you usually wear. Round necks take a cord more casually; shirts take a chain more neatly.

With engraved pieces like this, the thing to avoid is anything hard rubbing at the cuts. The dark inside them is the antiquing, and once it is rubbed away the characters and the ground are one colour, a flat white mess. Clean with a dry soft brush, or a bulb blower. Store it on its own, not in a pouch with a set of keys; copper scratches more easily than you would think. In sweaty seasons, press both faces with a dry cloth every few days — less trouble than fixing spots after they appear.