The Undying Flame Project.

The Undying Flame: The Zakk Wylde Amulet Project

Some projects I embark on have deep personal meaning. Creation usually comes from inspiration and need, and for years I’ve had an idea burning in my mind that simply refused to go away.

The project I’ve been working on began with music, admiration, sorcery, and a guitar player who has been an inspiration to me since I was a kid back in my home country.

I grew up in El Salvador without much. My mother tried her best to take care of me, my twin sisters, herself, and, by extension, my grandfather. Financially speaking, those times were tough.

And I wanted to learn to play guitar so fucking bad.

I’ve always had this thing where, if I truly put my mind to something, somehow I manage to work hard enough to make it happen. I knew buying a guitar could be difficult for my mother, so I started formulating plans of my own.

Eventually, I ended up talking to the director of our public Catholic school. She was a nun who wasn’t a native Spanish speaker and mostly spoke English. Whatever speech little ten-year-old me gave her must have been inspiring enough—I can barely remember what the hell I said, but I remember being incredibly determined—because she told me to come back in a couple of days.

Meanwhile, without me knowing, my mother had spoken to a local band of older men who played guitar at birthdays and local bars. She asked if they would take on a guitar apprentice.

Me.

So there I was: a ten-year-old boy learning among a bunch of seniors.

I knew absolutely nothing about this arrangement until my mother surprised me by dropping me off at the shack where they practiced.

Then, the following day, the nun called me back into her office.

She told me she had spoken with a local church. Guitars had been donated to the school, one of the teachers happened to be a musician, and the school was starting a guitar workshop.

Somehow my little plan had worked twice. In the end, I was able to borrow a guitar from school and eventually my mother surprised me with a guitar of my own.

I played mostly folkloric and Catholic music at school. At night, I played at the shack. Eventually, once I could actually hold my own with everyone else, I became the youngest member playing with those old guys at local bars and birthday parties.

By then, though, I had already discovered metal.

And that was what I wanted to hear.

Black Sabbath and Ozzy were constantly playing. MTV México aired in my town, The Osbournes became huge around that period, and that entire world became part of my life before I ever came to the United States.

After moving here, I continued playing, but culture shock and not knowing English forced my attention elsewhere. A large part of how I learned English was simply reading things I was curious about and trying to translate them myself as best I could.

Eventually, the guitar went down while I developed other skills.

Years passed.

My involvement in the esoteric arts eventually consumed much of my time, and art itself took different forms in my life.

But eventually, I found myself holding a guitar again.

Returning to the Fire

As I began playing again, I naturally returned to the musicians who originally lit that fire within me.

Ozzy Osbourne has always been one of them, and naturally that road leads to two guitar players whose work left an enormous mark beside him: Randy Rhoads and Zakk Wylde.

There is something beyond technical ability that I have always respected about Zakk.

Obviously, the man can fucking play.

But there’s also the discipline, perseverance, unmistakable identity and, especially, the loyalty he has demonstrated throughout his life and career. His relationship with Ozzy and the loyalty between them has always meant something to me.

Eventually, that gave me an idea:

What if a piece of that story could become an amulet for other artists?

From Guitar Pick to Amulet

I reached out with what was admittedly a strange proposal.

I wanted guitar picks signed by Zakk—not simply to collect them, but to transform them into a very small series of handmade amulets dedicated to artistic inspiration, confidence, perseverance, and the strength to continue creating.

Barbaranne Wylde was kind enough to hear me out and ultimately sent me the signed guitar picks that became the foundation of this project.

And then the real work began.

Divination Before Creation

Before preparing the spiritual material for the amulets, I spent several days performing divination and consulting my guides.

The question wasn’t simply:

“What ingredients should go into this?”

I wanted to formulate something whose purpose actually resonated with Zakk’s beliefs, his musical ability, his artistry, and the qualities that inspired this project in the first place.

The result became a specially formulated powder intended for artists and creative people, centered upon inspiration, confidence, artistic strength, perseverance, success in one’s craft, and protection while doing the work.

Eight Days of Empowerment

The powder then underwent eight days of spiritual preparation and empowerment through different stages of my own practice.

Rather than attempting to collapse several traditions into one thing, I approached each current through its own proper place within my work.

Each stage had its own shrine, offerings, prayers, and manner of working, but each added layer upon layer to what would eventually become the spiritual body hidden behind those signed guitar picks.

Once my portion of the project was finished, I packaged everything—the completed powder and the guitar picks—and sent it halfway across the world to my teacher and friend, Ajarn Apichai, who had previously agreed to undertake this project with me.

Connecticut to Chiang Mai

The second half of the project belongs to my teacher, Ajarn Apichai in Thailand, with whom I have studied Thai sorcery for several years.

I didn’t want Ajarn simply reproducing what I had already done.

I specifically asked him to take the powder I created and blend it with powders and sacred materials from his own practice that he believed complemented the purpose of the amulet: blessing artists, encouraging creativity and talent, strengthening the spirit, strengthening the spiritual eye, boosting inspiration, supporting success in artistic work, and offering protection to the person carrying it.

That distinction is important to me.

This isn’t Thai sorcery pretending to be Conjure or Quimbanda, nor Conjure or Quimbanda pretending to be Thai sorcery.

This is a collaboration in which two sorcerers contributed what belonged to their respective practices toward a shared purpose.

Ajarn incorporated his materials into mine and constructed the bodies that would sit behind the guitar picks. Takruts were added to the pieces, with additional work incorporated into the special editions.

The amulets were then taken through further blessings in Thailand, including work at the temple of Ajarn’s own teacher, where multiple monks participated in blessing the pieces alongside his other sacred work.

There were delays.

There were international shipping problems.

There were new regulations that neither Ajarn nor I had previously encountered, and the two of us had to figure them out as we went—not only for this project, but for whatever work we decide to send between us in the future.

Eventually, after traveling from Connecticut to Thailand and back again, the finished pieces returned home.

The Finished Amulet

The signed guitar pick forms the face.

Behind it rests the spiritual body created from the combined powders and materia prepared between Connecticut and Thailand.

Within the special pieces are takruts and additional components selected specifically for the work, all enclosed within the finished medallion and framed in hand-tooled silver.

Seeing the completed amulet makes me look at the entire journey compressed into something that fits in the palm of my hand.

A guitar pick began as an object associated with a musician I admired as a kid and still admire today.

It became a signed artifact. That artifact entered multiple shrines.

It passed through spiritual washes, divination, hours of Catholic prayer, hours of Thai prayer, offerings, blessings, and several stages of spiritual work.

It crossed an ocean.

Then crossed it again.

Technically more than twice if we want to count all the shipping delays, but let’s not fucking talk about that.

And eventually it came home as something entirely different.

A unique piece carrying a very long story inside a very small body.

What Is the Amulet About?

At its heart, this project isn’t about celebrity.

It’s about the artist.

Anybody who creates for long enough eventually discovers that inspiration isn’t always there when you need it.

Confidence disappears.

Life gets ugly.

Money gets tight.

Responsibilities pile up.

Sometimes you put the instrument down. You stop drawing. You stop writing. You stop painting. You stop making things altogether.

I know that road personally.

But sometimes the fire comes back.

For me, picking up the guitar again reminded me of that kid in El Salvador who desperately wanted to learn despite having very little available to him.

It also reminded me that the artists who inspire us can become landmarks along our own roads—not because we need to become them, but because their work reminds us of what dedication can create.

That is what I wanted these amulets to carry:

Inspiration when the well feels dry.

Confidence when doubt creeps in.

Perseverance when the work becomes difficult.

Protection while practicing your craft.

A strengthened eye to see what others might overlook.

And above everything else:

The fire to keep creating.

Two special pieces were created specifically for Zakk and Barbaranne as my gratitude for allowing this strange idea of mine to become a reality.

The remaining pieces form an extremely small limited edition available in two forms.

Only five hand-tooled silver framed editions will be available.

Another seven pieces were completed in regular waterproof protective casings.

That’s it.

These are one of a kind.

They won’t be mass-produced.

In reality, they couldn’t be.

Too many hands, prayers, spirits, miles, hours, conversations, and moments of genuine inspiration went into making them what they became.

This project was an experiment, a collaboration and, in many ways, the first step down a road I’ve wanted Manticore’s Den to walk for a very long time: creating pieces where art, personal history, traditional spiritual craftsmanship, and the people who inspire us are allowed to meet.

And now, almost a year later, I finally get to show you what came back.

The Undying Flame Amulets will be released Thursday, August 20 at Manticore’s Den.

— Gary Noriyuki/ Tata Ezundu.
Manticore’s Den