SPIRIT ART
BY SHERRY JONES of the Missoulian

                If Hollywood stars are the legend figures of our time, perhaps it’s no wonder that  Heyoka Merrifield has designed jewelry for so many celebrities.

                Among the rich and famous who own his work: the actress and singer Cher; model Cheryl Tiegs; ex-Beatle George Harrison; musician/artist Joni Mitchell; musicians Bob Dylan and Michael Jackson.

                “I lived in L.A. seven years,” says Merrifield, who now makes his home near Stevensville.  “I was in that Hollywood circle.  A lot of those people take on a mythical place for us.  Our goddess projections go on these Hollywood actresses; our hero figures are the John Waynes.”

                And Merrifield, 58, is a lover of legends.  Mythology from a panoply of cultures pervades his work, imbuing each painstakingly crafted pendant, each minutely detailed bronze sculpture, with meaning that goes beyond mere ornamentation.

                “We grew up in sort of a mythologically deprived society,” says Merifield. “We’ve taken myths into the realm of fairy tales and lies.  And myths are an important part of survival.  If we don’t have some kind of myth to relate to the unexplained phenomena around us, I think we don’t do very well.”

                Science’s “big bang” theory, for instance, has all but done away with creation stories involving gods and goddesses-legends found in many cultures through many years.  But the two theories, Merrifield asserts, don’t have to be mutually exclusive:  “They’re basically talking about the same energies- the energies in ourselves, in our psyches.

                “If you go around the world,” he says, “some myths appear over and over again.  We’re all human.  Those myths are speaking about our humanity.”

                As do Merrifield’s own creations.  His “Lady of the Lake” pendant, for instance, depicts a muscled woman with flowing hair standing on board a ship, wielding a sword.  She is Merrifield says, a British high priestess fabled to give the sword Excalibur to King

Arthur.  “She’s a central figure as far as the polictics and religion of that time,” Merifield says.  “It’s a myth that’s really important to us.”

                Another, “Birth of a New -Beginning,” uses amber, gold and a glass-like stone called rutile quartz to create a phoenix rising from the head of a woman.  According to Egyptian mythology, the phoenix is an immortal bird found in the Arabian desert which sets itself on fire every 500 years or so and emerges anew from the ashes.

                “When there’s a new beginning, a new age, it’s preceded by a cataclysm,” Merrifield says.  The same goes for the individual, he adds; the harshest personal crises often come before renewal and change.

                That many of Merrifield’s works depict women is no accident.  He calls it “celebrating the goddess energy.”

                “There’s a balance that’s coming back ito our politics and our way of seeing the world,” he says  “Goddess energy is coming back into a balance, where male and female is seen as equal.  My contribution as an artist is, I like to do symbols that help bring balance.”

                For Joel Syestra, co-owner of the new Native Earth Trading Company, Merrifield’s work brings a lot more than spiritual messages.  They are, he says, stunning examples of fine artisanship.

                “Heyoka’s really an amazing artist,” Syestra says. “His carving of the stone and the metal work are extremely high levels.  It’s rare to see osmeone who can incorporate both. He’s amazing because he does so much himself.  He does every piece himself,” unlike more famous jewelers such as Tiffany and Faberge, who pay workers to cut their stones and smith their gold for them.

                “And,” adds Syestra, “he does it better than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

                His early mentors, says Merrifield, were the ancient Egyptians, who produced works he’s still trying to match, quality-wise.  “You could put it beside anything contemporary, and it passes what’s done today.”

                Native American symbols also infuse his work.  “It’s my primary myth,” he says of that cultur’s spirituality.  For 3 years he lived on Colville Indian reservation, north of Spokane, he says, and on the Crow Reservaton in Montana he participated in a four-day sun dance of fasting, sweating and visioning.

                “It feels more comfortable to me than the Christian-myths,” he says.

                Christianity has had its turn with Merrifield.  As a child (named Edward; he took the name “Heyoka” from a dream) he lived in a fundamentalist  household; his father worked as a babtist minister in East Los Angeles.  Since then, he’s walked a number of spiritual paths, including zen Buddhism: “They’re all rich and beautiful,” he says.  “They all have something to offer to us.”

                What he takes from the gods, he gives back through his jewelry and his bronze sculptrues.  Which, he says, is exactly as it should be.  “In the tradition of ancient cultures, jewelry wasn’t decorative.  It was madicine power, something that is helpful to you in your daily life.”

                For instance, Merrifield wears every day a pendant depicting a bald eagle on one side and an owl on the other.  These are his own totem animals, he says, birds of high flight an long, keen vision - one during the day, and one at night.  When he performs a spiritual ceremony, he turns the pendant so the owl faces outward, so it can help permeate the dark unconscious.  The eagle faces outward otherwise, offering him protection.

                Of course, a piece of jewelry can only go so far.  But try telling that to some of his more excitable customers.

                “I get calls, “My stone cracked.  Something horrible’s going to happen in my life,” Merrifield says, grinning.  “I try to help them as best as  I can.  That is not what a talisman’s all about.  I think our main powers come from our own center.  But I do think we need all the help we can get.”