by Heidi Trilling

Sheila Edwards-May, owner and Earth Goddess of Tokenz in Half Moon Bay. Photo: Heidi Trilling.

November 2011—

Need a spiritual lift? Want to delight your senses? Crave an escape? You’ve come to the right place.

Stepping over the threshold of Tokenz on Main Street in Half Moon Bay is like wandering into the crystalline cave of a mermaid, a soothsayer and a medicine woman, all in one.

“I am very lucky, indeed,” says owner Sheila Edwards-May, surrounded by twinkling semi-precious stones and satiny wooden sculptures, “to be doing exactly what I enjoy doing.”

Since 1992, Edwards-May and her unique boutique have been providing Half Moon Bay with a portal to global arts and crafts. The exotic vibe of Tokenz comes from authentic handcrafted items from Indonesia, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Fascinating, every one.

Serene and sacred Indonesian statuary graces a corner of Tokenz. Photos: Heidi Trilling.

A former flight attendant, Edwards-May has traveled to over 60 countries and is virtually fluent in French and Spanish. She continues to visit exotic locales to find intriguing arts for her shop, and has traveled to Bali, Lombok, Java, and Mexico this year alone. Edwards-May has also learned to speak rudimentary Bahasa Indonesia, as well as little tidbits of Hebrew, Russian, German and Farsi.

“I love language and come from a family that loves language,” Edwards-May says, “and when customers come into the shop, I like to give them a welcome in their own tongue — if I can.”

Her facility with languages also allows Edwards-May to cultivate lasting relationships with the individual artists and families who make the beautiful items in Tokenz.

“There are so many intriguing cultures and rituals in our world,” Edwards-May says. “It’s important to me to honor them and the artists who make these beautiful things. I’m so happy to be able to showcase these arts here.”

And she showcases them marvelously.

The shop is a feast for the curious browser. Cases, shelves and walls are lined with intriguing statuary from many cultures, glittering gemstones and crystals, wondrous textiles, hand-dyed clothing, perfumes, exquisite jewelry and jewelry findings, and one-of-a-kind gift items. In the back, there’s a small room devoted to beading and craft supplies that is chock-full of tiny charms and whimsical trinkets to discover. Beyond that is Edwards-May’s storage room — itself a treasure trove, with stained glass casting rainbows of light on the walls, and a radiant painting of her son as a baby, which presides over shipments from the far corners of the globe.

Edwards-May makes some of the jewelry in the shop herself. She also repairs jewelry. “Maybe it’s just the clasp, or maybe it’s Grandma’s pearls that need to be hand-knotted,” Edwards-May says. “It’s enjoyable to me to take time and take care for things like this. People are always so happy when you put some caring into something. You can feel it in the finished product.”

This caretaking fits into Edwards-May’s personal philosophy, as well as her work ethic. “The path that I have been on has always been akin to Buddhism, because I believe very much in peace and in love and in caring for other people. My shop gives me the opportunity to do all of that.”

Tokenz offers gorgeous Balinese beadwork items, as well as other exquisite one-of-a-kind arts and crafts.

As well as offering visitors an entrancing collection of handicrafts to explore.

“Oh, yes,” Edwards-May says cheerfully, in her Londoner’s accent, “I am so grateful to have this space! And I have no trouble filling it to the rafters with things that I love!”

It was a blending of these two key ingredients — gratitude and love — that led Edwards-May to open Tokenz in the first place.

“I started Tokenz in 1981 in San Francisco. It was a manufacturing entity, not a retail entity,” says Edwards-May. “I designed and manufactured zipper earrings. Then others. Over 400 different styles, and I sold them in over 2,000 stores nationwide. … The ‘z’ in Tokenz comes from the ‘z’ in zipper!”

And how did zipper earrings evolve into a shop full of beautiful, sacred art objects?

“Ah, it must be my own personal path that led me to the beautiful things,” Edwards-May says. “It has always been important to me to separate the back room — with the humor and earrings and fun — from the front room with the sacred and the beautiful. They both need their own realms.”

According to Edwards-May, all of us need both of those elements — the fun and the sacred — in our lives, too.

“We all need art,” Edwards-May says, emphatically. “We all respond to it, we all are affected by it. Some things are light and make us laugh. … And primitive, hand-made art objects seem to be imbued with such richness and beauty and power, they speak directly to our souls.”

Like spiritual jumper cables, these art objects can also help us heal or feel centered. Or remind us of who we are.

“Many of us have heard about ‘mindfulness’ and ‘enjoying the moment,’ and ‘counting our blessings,’ but how many of us remember to do this on a regular basis?” Edwards-May asks, as she expertly repairs the delicate clasp of a silver necklace for a customer. “Sometimes we need reminders. The arts remind us. They reconnect us to ourselves.”

This connection to art, to artists and to customers, says Edwards-May, is what keeps her in the moment, and grateful.

“I know that, in my life, there have been rough times,” Edwards-May says, “and it’s easy to forget the good when things are rough. That made it worse, for me.”

How did that make it worse?

“It’s because, for a time, I forgot my gratitude,” Edwards-May continues, handing the shining necklace — fully repaired and good as new — back to its thankful owner.

Edwards-May sets her tiny pliers on the counter and smiles. “And finding my gratitude again, and being grateful every day since, for all aspects of life — hearing a bird singing, having a meal with dear friends, laughing at a good joke, making a bracelet of amethyst beads — being grateful for everything … that has made all the difference.”