We send much thanks to Rachel M. Clark-Beil, a talented writer and very good friend who wrote “Possession’s Invention”. We decided to include it in our ‘about us’ as it reveals a unique and creative mythology of how Possession began. She wrote it and read it at our first night open, which was a ‘First Thursday’ event in the Pearl.

“Possession’s Invention”
A Tale for Steph from Rae
First Thursday, Possession’s First Day, April 2005

Years ago, when winter was whiter and tulips were taller; when frogs had just two eyes and rainbows ended in backyards, I traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to visit my father. He and I were similar in some ways and different in many others. He lived in a decadent mansion in England; I lived in a humble bungalow in Portland, OR. He owned property in 100 cities; I owned a bicycle, some clothes, and a few trinkets. He traded antiques, working with blind monkeys, digging through rubble to search and recover rare antiquities. I traded my bologna sandwiches for olive and cream cheese ones.

But I will say, those trinkets were to come into their own someday.

In the 80’s, with rings on my fingers and bells on my toes, I traveled the North American continent, learning the secrets of the black market hippy bead trade. Got pretty good at it, too; for a couple of years, I made a living stringing beaded curtains, tall enough to dangle from a sultan’s doorway. Yep, they were high-falutin’ all right. And you couldn’t just find me in the yellow pages- (whisper: you had to dig a hole into my buried bead mine. The password was da-va, and the only way to find it was to look for a ruby sparkle above the Ross Island on the rainiest day of the year – yellow arrows, just like the finest of Neverland, would then point the way to my door.)

That said, 1,000,000 beads, a collapsed tunnel, and a case of carpel tunnel syndrome later, I packed my carpet bags and moved into an 8-inch pink, gold, and turquoise genie bottle that I’d picked up for a song at a flea market in Chautauqua. I took up comfortable residence there with a pink and black kitty cat named Ariana Jasmine.

Jasmine and I traveled together to distant cities, borne on the winds of hurricanes and giants’ breath. While flying about, we educated ourselves from aloft, eyeing the great treasures of the lands. We studied rainbows, learned to speak hummingbird, and learned the art of living in style. There were three additional key figures to our journey, those would lead us back home: A wizard from Worcestershire, a fly from Florence, and a Captain from Casablanca.

The wizard happened to also be a tycoon. He found my bottle lying in his birdbath at the end of an overly-purple rainbow one morning while he was doing his calisthenics and adding on his abacus. We were deposited there by a long-necked great blue heron who’d given us a tour of the British Isles after finding us wintering in a mermaid lagoon near the Isle of Man. For hours that morning in the birdbath, we entertained a Florencian fly who’d gotten sucked up by the heron’s jet stream. He was telling us all about the merits of French furniture design.

Anyhow, the tycoon ended up only believing that he was a wizard. Oddly, when he opened my bottle and let us out, he recognized me as his long-lost daughter, St. Ephanie. I granted him three wishes, and in return, he told me that I could decorate my bottle with anything from his home. He thought he was being clever, since everything in his mansion was a hundred times larger than my bottle! ~ I must add that not only was it a hundred times larger, but it was also a thousand times more valuable, of exquisite taste, and completely lovely.

What he didn’t know was that anything I wanted, being a genie, was shrink to fit! I scooped up his chandeliers and dangled them from hooks on the neck of my bottle. I lined the walls with tables, hutches, and buffets. I laid the floor with Turkish rugs and decorated the shelves with vases, jewels, and long-ago-kidnapped elves that had been frozen into adorable reclining positions.

Now before you think me rude, I should let you know, years before, my tycoon father had promised me the world, and I simply felt that it was time to make good. However, I didn’t get away with it! He sent me a bill a year later for every last thing, except for the shipping and handling (it’s expensive to get a genie bottle packed with antique furniture from Europe to the states!)

You see, the bottle, despite the fact that everything had fit into it, could not handle the weight of the great treasures. And the winds that carried it before were no longer stout enough. We crashed onto an ocean liner headed for the Straight of Magellan. Upon impact, the entire contents became their original size. If it hadn’t been for Captain Kastoff’s voluminous patience and proficient packing skills, all would have been lost. He dropped us at the Port of Portland, tooted his farewell (not before caressing my cheek with the lucky winds of the Mediterranean), and wrote down my billing address.

A crew of old friends waiting at the dock was a delightful surprise. Without them, I would have been lost – even though I’d arrived home. Like brownies on a moonbeam, they hustled into the needy little space I’d rented, swept the cobwebs, moved crate-loads of treasures, swung from the rafters, and erected statues, vases and urn-loads of flowers. On top of all that, despite the fact that it appeared as though I was completely out-of-my-gourd, never once did they doubt me or encourage me to quit. Rather they said, “You go, Girl!”

So here I am today: part entrepreneur, genie, collector, hippy, interior designer, jewelry designer, mother, child, sister, and friend come to rest at the end of some giant rainbow that will actually reveal itself one day to be a great circle. – Yes, a great circle filled with experiences that I bring to it, for all the risks they may bring. (One evening during the mermaid-wintering, a dear turquoise tailed friend who’d traveled across the Mediterranean during World War II shared a lesson: how can you lose if your goal is the possession of extraordinary experience?) Thus it is that someday, I will look back, down, or however onto that rainbow circle and say “Look how I filled it!”

May you all possess extraordinary experiences; and may you all enjoy the stories that travel with each of your possessions.

Purple Heart
XoxoRae’05

My name is Stephanie Nolte and I have lived most of my life in Portland, Oregon. I went to school in England for my sophomore year but other wise attended Lincoln High School. I went to college in California, where I studied the arts. I have been inspired by the ‘old world’ and the art of design not only through school but through many amazing adventures and wonderful people over my life time… and of course, I think I was just born to enjoy it as well. I began my business thirteen years ago which eventually sprouted into my own retail store in the Pearl District of Portland Oregon, which was truly a rewarding and educating endeavor to say the least. However, with the evolution of time and technology, Possession has now moved to an online and event based business. I have family abroad which allows me to continue to bring in antique treasures from Europe, which we combine with new and vintage home and gift.

I want to send heartfelt thanks and smiles to: my Mother and Step Father for all of their amazing support and tireless help! My Father and Step Mother who have also supported and encouraged me with every turn and situation. Without my family, I could not have done any of it!

This is the first container we ever filled in England. Good times indeed!

Please enjoy some photos of our old retail stores. We had two different locations at different times: