ARTEMIS

The crescent bow Artemis wields is an emblem of the moon. Her archery is intuitive, but precise. The arrow travels swiftly, striking with the uncanny accuracy and the sting of the painfully revealed truth. She is the fierce maiden of steadfast integrity and shining beauty, with a dark and impenetrable heart. She defends her chosen and attacks her foes with equal ferocity. Her hunting dogs will track and flush any hidden prey and will savage the arrogant or unwary visitor to her realm. Her home is in the wilderness and she is both the protector and huntress of its denizens. This way she represents the wild and untamed aspects of the human soul: the raw power of the primeaval that lives inside us, but also the clear vision that is unencumbered by social norms and prejudice. Like other goddesses associated with the moon, her nature is cyclic with the nurturing and taking of life as a central theme. She is a figure of contradictions and paradox, being a virgin and also a goddess of fertility. Young women and women in child birth are under her primal influence and protection, but they are sometimes also taken by her arrows.

Created: 2017

Total length: 950 mm

Blade length: 790 mm

Blade width: 56 mm

Weight: 1117 g

Point of balance: 121 mm from guard

Materials & techniques: The blade is forged in 660 layers of 1070 and 15N20  steel in random thickness showing shimmering chatoyance effects. The pommel and guard are forged in wrought iron with inlayed stars of fine silver. The grip is covered with ray skin and has end ferrules of wrought iron and silver.  The felt lined scabbard is lacquered in layers with fine leaf silver decoration.