Cowrie shells large, set of 10

The cowrie shell is well-known in cultural and spiritual traditions all over the world.

As an important currency, its usage can be dated back to approximately 3500 years ago in China. Nowadays a reference to this can still be found in Chinese language; the character “Bei” means both “money” and “cowrie shell”. The usage as a currency can be attributed to multiple factors; cowrie shells were quite rare to obtain and thus valuable, almost impossible to counterfeit, and lightweight and thus easy to carry along.

With the rise of international trading, the cowrie shell quickly found its way all over the world and became an international means of payment. For an idea of its value; In Africa one cowrie shell bought you a woman, and in Siberia one shell equalled the value of a sheep or three shells that of a young bull.

Some of the scientific names of cowrie shells still remind us of those times, like ‘cypraea moneta’ or ‘monetaria moneta’. And by association, a familiar use that can nowadays still be found is to keep 3 cowrie shells in your wallet to attract financial prosperity.

In traditional shamanism, such as the lineage of Spirit of Wolf, the use of cowrie shells dates back to the times of the Silk Route. With the merchants, the cowrie shells came to Siberian regions. And since they quickly became a common currency, also a shaman sometimes was paid for his work with cowrie shells. In those days however, a shaman was completely provided for by the local community in regards to all his possible daily needs such as food and clothing. Therefore a shaman had actually no need to use the cowrie shells as a financial means and it became common to attach them to his clothing and/or attributes, as a symbol for his status. And from there, they quickly also became common amulets, talismans and spirit houses.

Nowadays cowrie shells are still a very common sight on the clothing and attributes of traditional shamans. They can be sewn on both horizontally and vertically, representing the mouth or an eye of a spirit.

Also in many other spiritual traditions all over the world, the cowrie shell can be found. Because of its resemblance to the female genitals for example, it is used in all kinds of ceremonial and ritual work surrounding the feminine, fertility, pregnancy and giving birth. And in Central Asia the cowrie shell has since long been a symbol for the mother goddess Umai in her aspect as a patroness for women and children.

Also more worldly usages can be seen. In the Netherlands for example they were traditionally used in different games and then had local names like ‘keutsjes’, ‘varkjes’ or ‘zeugjes’.

These cowrie shells are sliced open at the top, so they can easily be handled in all kinds of sewing purposes. They are approximately 20-25 millimeters long (being from all natural origin, they of course vary slightly in size).