Yesterday’s rain could not rightly be called a storm, nor even, really a shower; it was mostly a sprinkle, gone almost before it was born. But it was enough to lift a bit of the heavy pall of smoke that has blanketed the land here for days now — not much, true, but enough to allow us to see El Salto’s faces behind a blue-gray veil.
This dawn, the smoke has returned, and our whole small world is a pale dirty white once again.
It would be almost funny if it weren’t so dangerous— still in the heart of August, and this looks like a winter sky. But it’s not snow that’s leeching our world of color now, but its opposite: fire, of the wildest, most dangerous sort, raging uncontrolled all across the West. We have four separate wildfires that I know of in this state alone, two of them not far west of here, and it is the smoke from them more than the massive conflagrations two states west that is choking the life from the land here now.
And yet, the land lives and breathes, as best it can, and so do its children. We have new spirits here already, those of the winter season such as woodpecker and chickadee. At this very moment, the piñon jays have returned to the feeder outside the window, and to the adjacent aspens, flashes or stormy blue dancing in the hazy light.
And there is, once more, rain in the forecast.
And so there is hope. But it is an odd thing, and a troubling one, too, to live such inversions in real time. We think of the sun as orange fire, the moon as cooling white, and yet their colors are reversed now: The haze turns the sun into a hot white orb, and while the moon glows under the cooler cover of night, the smoke has turned its waxing crescent amber. Still, their roles remain unchanged, and I cannot help but think that as they gaze down upon the body of this troubled earth, her face mostly hidden by the smoke’s veil, they are already at work conspiring at her healing.
Today’s featured work embodies this collaboration, and the beauty and wisdom of the spirits who engage in it. It’s one of Wings’s newest works, and instant personal favorite. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Sun and Moon Dream the World Cuff Bracelet
Sun and moon dream the world into being, hold it on its axis in an orbit of warm fire and cooling light. Wings dreams their spirits into being, too, with this cuff bracelet, a marvel of freehand stampwork that pays tribute to the motifs and medicine of the celestial spirits and their powers. The band’s pattern is formed largely of a single triangular stamp, a peak of rays above three smaller half orbs. Each open-ended triangle traces either edge of the band; two more rows meet in the middle to form radiant Eyes of Spirit, lit from within by a central sun and a moon on wax and wane, each connected by a plain, smooth “Eye” formed of the negative space between them. At either end is a single lifeline, flowing and bidirectional, representing the infinity of possibility for this visionary world of celestial dreams. The stampwork on the band’s surface is so deep, so consitent and uniform, that its spirit echoes softly on the underside. At either end of the inner band, overlays of a pair of hand-formed coils of shimmering copper replicate Earth’s orbit and the way of the hoop simultaneously. At the center of the outer band, set into a scalloped bezel and trimmed with twisted silver, sits a long, tapered oval cabochon of spiny oyster shell and copper composite, shades of sunfire and moonglow heat-treated to meld in a glorious burst of orange flame and snowy white. The band is 6″ long by 1-1/16″ across; the bezel is 1-9/16″ long by 9/16″ across at the widest point; the cabochon is 1-3/8″ long by 3/8″ across at the widest point (directions approximate). Sides, ends and inner band, and front views shown below.
Sterling silver; copper; spiny oyster shell and copper composite
$1,250 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The lifeline at each end of the band, made bidirectional as is Wings’s practice, reminds me that the breath of life flows in both directions, no true beginning and no end, either. With the copper coils held fast in its embrace, it hints at endless potential and possibilities: new lives, second chances, other worlds, older worlds, new worlds born of this one.
This piece reminds me, too, of the need for guidance in a dangerous world, the same sure hand of Spirit that guided Wings’s own hands in replicating its illuminating Eye all across the band’s surface. It’s a beautiful symbol, one that reassures us that we are not alone beneath this vast expanse of sky.
And then there is the stone.
“Stone,” I should say, in quotation marks, because in point of fact, none of it is actual stone. It’s a composite mix of spiny oyster shell infused with copper — not, by any measure, the sort of materials Wings customarily uses, but in this instance, he was so taken with its beauty and spirit that he personally oversaw its purchase.
This entire work, as I said, became an instant personal favorite. It felt like a bringing together of the elemental powers of the cosmos itself — as its name says, sun and moon, dreaming the world into being beneath Spirit’s watchful eye. And distilled into wearable form, it feels now like a prayer: a prayer for worlds other, old, and new.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
