This may be apropos of absolutely nothing, but it tickles me when the totally tubular trunkulence of my favorite deity turns up in the unlikeliest of places. Yes, folks, Ganesh has been hanging out at Neiman Marcus, courtesy of Judith Leiber. What sort of obstacles do you think he was evoked to remove there? Maxed out credit cards? Bouts of better judgement?

While I have generally appreciated Ms. Leiber's designs for their fun factor, fussy jeweled clutches are not exactly my taste. Even if I could afford to buy one, I'd more likely spend the money on something at least large enough to hold a book. But if Mr. Big were to give this to me not only would I be a good sport and carry it to the party I also would march right out to find some Indian-inspired boho couture to wear with it. I have bought clothes to match lesser accessories.

Ganesh (aka Ganesha, Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar), is one of the "best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon" (Wikipedia). One of the five prime Hindu deities (alongside Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Durga) Ganesh is invoked at the start of every Hindu ritual. His devotees are known as Ganapatyas and the festival to celebrate and glorify him is Ganesh Chaturthi, this year on September 3rd. Ganesh is the Lord of Beginnings and is worshipped as the god of education, knowledge, intellect, wisdom and wealth. Starting a writing project? Ganesh, the patron saint of arts and letters, is your guy.

I have quite a soft spot for Ganesh. He is the first deity to whom I have felt any real devotion and he is the only one of whom I actually have statuary. He takes center place on any significant altar I keep and I find myself invoking him a lot. I suppose that is only natural for a woman who lives by her wits, but as someone who also has an annoying tendency to get in the way of her own success, I am ever grateful for his benevolence.

Is it blasphemous to use the Lord's likeness to create an object destined to contain lipstick and cash for cab fare? I don't think so. There are lots of ways to display our reverence. This one just happens to be portable and sparkly.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:32 AM