By the calendar, it is the last day of the year. This world passes beyond us tonight, into the middle distance of memory far beyond our reach. At midnight, we will be presented with a new world, on born of the new year.
In years past, this was always occasion for hope.
This year, hope is difficult to come by. Love seems, in the world of the coming year, in very short supply, and it will be harder than ever to have faith that we can build a better world out of it.
It is time to call upon the gifts of the spirits, to rededicate ourselves to practicing the simple daily virtues that mark the way to go well through life. We need bravery, yes; generosity, certainly; all the other virtues, too. Perhaps what we need most of all right now is wisdom.
But we also need hope. Joy. Love.
In recent days, Wings has completed a number of new small works, earrings all. One we featured on Wednesday. Four belong to a complementary series that will herald the new year tomorrow. But one remains, and that is the pair shown above, one perfect to close out a year that has so often swung between the tragic and the sublime. From their description in the Earrings Gallery here on the site:
Heart Dance Earrings
In our way, every dance is a dance of the heart. With these earrings, Wings summons a pair of dancers to the circle, shimmering silver beings holding fast to a bit of icy-pale rose quartz, a stone that some say represents matters of the heart. He repeats the motif on the drops themselves, each adorned with a single hand-stamped heart at top and bottom: moving up one side and down the other, creating their own round dance and sacred hoop. Earrings hang 1-15/16″ long (excluding wires) by 3/8″ across at the widest point; cabochons are 3/16″ across (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; rose quartz
$195 + shipping, handling, and insurance
They say that rose quartz is a stone of love — not only romantic love, but love of humankind, a symbol of friendship and goodwill, of conflict resolution and the hard work of peace. I have no idea whether those traditions are correct when they posit that it is a jewel of the heart.
What I do know is that in our traditions, when the need arises, any need . . . we come together in a circle, as a community. We engage in ceremony. We feast. We sing. We dance. And every dance, no matter its ultimate purpose, is a dance of the heart: to shore up the courage and strong heart of a warrior; to open one’s heart with a generous spirit; to seek the spiritual blessings of medicine and healing, visions and dreams, and the wisdom found in the hearts of elders and ancient spirits; even in social dances, to celebrate joy and life as part of the heart of the community.
On this final day of the calendar, as we head into the deepest heart of winter, it’s a time to come together in the circle, to seek strength and bravery, generosity and love, hope and faith, wisdom and dreams. It’s time to dance a round dance of the heart.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
