From Out the Dark Door of the Secret Earth

Yet under
reason burns brighter fire, which the bones
have always preferred...

It is the light at the center of every cell.
It is what sent the snake coiling and flowing forward...

- Mary Oliver

I saw a mala at the Rubin made entirely of snake spine and was completely smitten.  A few weeks later I found the skeleton of a tiny snake protruding from the ground and unearthed it.  I named her, Eve.  I made myself a wrist mala.  I made some other talismans from the spine and sent them off to far away friends.