About “You only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see her. And she’s not deadly. She’s beautiful and she’s laughing.” ― Hélène Cixous From the latinized Medousa meaning guardian or protector, in Greek mythology, ill-fated Medusa, once a beautiful mortal, was turned into a snake-haired powerful creature by the goddess Athena. Any creature to gaze upon Medusa would petrify and turn to stone. In Ancient Greece, Medusa's head was supposedly put upon apotropaic amulets and above doorways as a protective pendant. Medusa embodies a connection between beauty, rage, femininity and horror. Mythology is ever-evolving and ambiguity is the hallmark of sacred myth; history has since unravelled the story of Medusa from her canonical origin. Medusa, crowned with venomous serpents and endowed with a fatal gaze, shifts from sufferer to protectress, no longer subject to victimhood but strong and powerful in her metamorphosized form. Shaped by time, the Medusa Relic pieces come in shards, cut to pieces over the course of history. Description Made by hand in our Montreal studio. Original design. Listing is for left side of Medusa's face only. Available in 14K yellow gold.