On this day, a marker for me personally, delving deeply into the old ways is one method of processing the events it commemorates, and the year intervening. It so happens that, on this day, Wings’s newest collection has just dropped, the penultimate grouping in this larger series, and it’s one that is remarkably apt: The Respect Collection, a group of seven coils wrought to embody one of those most fundamental of indigenous virtues, one of our most sacred gifts.
Our peoples have always known that the world can be hard, surviving it harder still, especially in this colonial era. We manage it, manage, indeed, to thrive in the face of the longest of odds, in large part by keeping to the old ways — by maintaining the ancient gifts of the virtues as a way of daily living. Among them is the gift that this series embodies, a reminder of its essential importance.
It’s time for a show of respect.
As always with Wings’s coil collections, each of the seven entries embodies a different aspect of the relevant virtue. Some are more difficult than others to capture in a spiral of gems, and so with this collection, he has chosen a variety of items and actions and concepts that, in our way, relate to the act of showing respect. Also as always, they appear in a particular order, the better to tell the story as he envisions it.
We begin with the first, and perhaps the most basic on a daily basis, an item that is a fundamental part of our lives and our spiritual practice. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Eagle Feather Coil Bracelet
The eagle feather carries our prayers to spirit; as a gift, it is an honor conferred, a sign of respect for the person who has earned it. Wings calls its power into the spiraling hoop of this coil bracelet, one strung with gifts of the earth in the mottled earthy tones of Eagle’s own robes. At either end are the feather’s downy fringe, made of Hawai’ian puka shell in hue a shade off snow-white. Just above, the raptor’s characteristic mottling begins, expressed in the form of a length of doughnut-shaped rondels of variegated fossilized dinosaur bone. The bone flows into shades of black with round matte onyx, thence to more round beads of mottled black and white snowflake obsidian, fire and ice that flows into lengths of ovaled barrel beads of basaltic lava rock. At the center rest seven large faceted diamond-shaped barrel beads in smoky quartz, the color of a young eagle’s feathers and the shape of the Eye of Spirit itself. Note: Puka shell fringe beads are fragile; best worn for special occasions, not everyday wear. First in The Respect Collection of The Seventh Fire Series. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; Hawai’ian puka shell; fossilized dinosaur bone; onyx; snowflake obsidian; basaltic lava rock; smoky quartz
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The eagle feather is a tool of sorts, and also an item given to honor one who has earned the status it represents. But sometimes differentials in status require that we humble ourselves — in the face of superior wisdom or the presence of spiritual power. In some cultures, such an act of respect may be effected by wrapping oneself in the kinds of robes that may serve to show modesty, or simply comportment with traditional modes of dress in certain circumstances. For powwow and other dancers, blanket and shawl may be a formal element of their regalia, brightly colored and spangled with beaded and beribboned accents in elaborate designs; in other contexts, such as for more somber events, they may be made of single subdued colors. The second in this series embodies both forms of traditional dress. From its description:
Blanket and Shawl Coil Bracelet
In our cultures, humbling oneself before the elders and the spirits by donning a blanket or a shawl, are signs of respect. Each plays its own role in our traditions and lifeways, whether as elaborately spangled and brilliantly-hued regalia for dancing or in modest and muted tones for solemn occasions and events. Wings captures their spectrum of shades and variation in this coil of color, a tribute to traditional expression and purpose. it begins at either end with big bold anchor nuggets of citrine, as though to capture the sun itself, then moves into the grassy green of peridot chops and the watery aqua of blue aventurine nuggets. Next come the deeper waters and the white-mottled blues of a sodalite sky, followed by a range of stormy sugilite purples, bold shades for men and women alike. The deep purples flow into a length delicate translucent amethyst nuggets, lighter and more subtle, thence to the pale dusky pinks of rhodochrosite, a color well-suited to the young. At the center sits a length of fiery translucent carnelian nuggets, the deep red of the local earth, of the blood that flows through our veins and the color we reclaim for our very selves. Second in The Respect Collection of The Seventh Fire Series. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; citrine; peridot; blue aventurine; sodalite; sugilite; amethyst; rhodochrosite, carnelian
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
In many contexts, respect is also shown through the making of an offering, or the creation of an offering bundle. In our way, to ask someone for aid, or to incur an obligation, requires an acknowledgment that what is asked is in the nature of a gift or blessing, and so we may bring food, or sweetgrass, or some tobacco; when approaching the spirits for aid or to thank them for what we are granted it is traditional to offer tobacco and perhaps more. And offering bundles in miniature form are commonly seen in the indigenous art of this part of Turtle Island, bound to sculptural works and tiny fetishes alike. The third entry in this series symbolizes the items of value that might make up such a bundle. From its description:
Offering Bundle Coil Bracelet
In our way, to give an offering is to show respect: acknowledgment and gratitude and honor to those from whom we seek assistance, whether people or spirits. In some of our cultures, even the artistic and cultural embodiment of animal and other spirits may hold an offering bundle, a collection of feathers or gemstones or shells intended to show respect for their power and gratitude for the possibility of sharing it. Wings pays tribute to the value of its role with this small spiral of shell and traditional jewels, all in the traditional colors of such gifts. Anchored at either end by dark translucent olivella-shell heishi, it flows into bright pale blue turquoise nuggets, freeform and substantial. The Skystones give way to round, highly-polished orbs of mother-of-pearl shell, centered by a bold expanse of freeform nuggets of natural Mediterranean coral, flame-red and as old as time. Third in The Respect Collection of The Seventh Fire Series. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; olivella-shell heishi; blue turquoise; mother-of-pearl shell; Mediterranean coral
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Not all offering, however, are made with items of intrinsic financial value. One of our most fundamental means of showing respect involves the process of sharing food with the spirits, both those of cosmic power and those of ancestors and loved ones who have walked on. In some cultures, fetishes are given spirit bowls or plates filled with cornmeal or other traditional foodstuffs as an offering to the fetish’s spirit. On a larger scale, on special occasions or feast days, we leave a bit of food and drink out for ancestral and other spirits in a spirit bowl of more ordinary size. The fourth coil in this collection represents the colors of the clayware, the flash of the mica, and the warmth of home and hearth and communal meals that is shared through memory with those no longer present, and through spiritual practice with those responsible for creation and existence. From its description:
Spirit Bowl Coil Bracelet
The spirit bowl is a traditional means of marking special occasions, of acknowledging the lives of those who have walked on and demonstrating respect for more elemental spirits, too. Wings blends the bold tones of traditional black-on-white and micaceous pottery with an earthy mix representing water and light and the warmth of tradition, all coiled in their own round vessel. At either end are strands of translucent dark heishi, earth tones that appear black on white in the light, melding into lengths of iron pyrite with all the flash and fire of local mica. Next come round orbs of fire and ice, black and white snowflake obsidian, separated by more pyrite from round shimmering spheres of mother-of-pearl shell. Another small expanse of iron pyrite leads to the glowing warm center, large orbs of chatoyant tiger’s eye, like the light glimmers in the clay of the bowls and plates that serve the spirits. Fourth in The Respect Collection of The Seventh Fire Series. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; olivella-shell heishi; iron pyrite; snowflake obsidian; mother-of-pearl shell; tiger’s eye
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
But it is our task to honor not only the dead, but the living, at least among those who have earned it. This is not, of course, the case for all cultures; in some traditions, accepting public honors is discouraged, even forbidden from the standpoint of community recognition; modesty and humility are regarded as the virtues worth pursuing. But in other cultures, those who serve the people well and humbly, or those who have recently walked on, may be recognized with the public display of respect accorded by an honor song. Methods of expression vary, too, but some call upon the power of greater forces to protect the person being honored (or his or her spirit), and it is this dynamic that finds expression in the fifth entry. From its description:
Honor Song Coil Bracelet
Some of our cultures show respect, whether for those still living who have accomplished much on behalf of the people or those who have walked on, with an honor song. Traditions vary, but some call upon the powers of elemental and cosmic spirits to protect the well-being of the person or spirit in whose honor the song is sung. With this coil, Wings calls such powers to a spiraling circle, all in the shades of the Sacred Directions and the color and shimmer of the day and night. Each end is anchored by a length of round mother-of-pearl shell beads, polished to a radiant sheen like small orbs of glowing light. Each extends, in order, to the colors of the cardinal directions: first the white of the north, symbolized by polished snow-colored chips of Hawai’ian puka shell, thence to the literal amber glow of the east, each separated by short strands of glimmering mother-of-pearl. The shade of the sun flows into the warm fiery red of the south represented by highly polished freeform nuggets of deep garnet, melding into the gray light of dusk via round spheres of Labradorite, ending in a shimmering expanse of hematite, the glowing light of the west and night. Fifth in The Respect Collection of The Seventh Fire Series. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; mother-of-pearl shell; Hawai’ian puka shell; amber; garnet; Labradorite; hematite
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Very often, those who are the recipients of honor songs and honor dances are, perforce, the elders in a community; they have lived long enough to have attained the experiential and spiritual wisdom, and to have put it into practice, to make such shows of respect appropriate. The sixth entry in this collection is wrought for the elders, in the shapes of the most ancient of spirits and the shades of our very identity. From its description:
For the Elders Coil Bracelet
Indigenous cultures are built upon respect for the elders, for the wisdom and experience acquired over the course of a life well lived. With this coil, Wings pays tribute to the central role they play in our traditions, and to the lifeways that insist upon their honoring, in the materials and shapes and shades of our peoples and our ancient spirits. Each end is anchored by doughnut-shaped rondels of marbled and mottled fossilized dinosaur bone, extending into glossy lengths of fiery deep garnet, the deepest of the reds. Separating dark red from light is a strand of round opaque onyx orbs, followed by the dusky rose hues of rhodochrosite nuggets. The pale reds give way to the black and white of fire and ice, snowflake obsidian spheres, each melding with freeform nuggets of Mediterranean coral in perfect flame-red crimson. The reds of the water spirits in turns flank a center strand of ancient earth, fire from below rising into the air to cool into basaltic lava rock, thence to become ovaled barrel beads formed of that most ancient of elders, Mother Earth. Sixth in The Respect Collection of The Seventh Fire Series. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; fossilized dinosaur bone; garnet; onyx; rhodochrosite; snowflake obsidian; Mediterranean coral; basaltic lava rock
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Thus far, the collection has manifest as examples of respect for others, and for the spirits. But any teaching of virtue, any offering of respect in our way, is incomplete without a recognition of one of our most elemental charges: that of stewardship, of caring for the earth. The seventh and final entry in this group symbolizes the colors and materials of Mother Earth as a reminder to us of this most basic obligation of respect. From its description:
Stewardship Coil Bracelet
In our way, respect is not merely a commandment but a way of daily life, one that extends not merely to people or the spirits but also to our other relatives, the animals and the plants, and to stewardship of Mother Earth herself. Wings summons the spirits of the natural world to assemble in spiral formation in this coil, the better to remind us of our obligations. Each end is anchored by a strand of former water spirits, tiny beads formed of shimmering brown and white olivella-shell heishi; each flows into small polished wooden barrel beads wrought from the trunks of our cousins, the trees. The wood leafs out into brilliant green by way of a pair of strands of old hand-made ceramic watermelon beads, an ancient traditional art form; more warm brown wood then leads to the deeper banded green of malachite chips. Each length of malachite ends in another small group of burnished wood, flanking the center expanse of brilliant sky-blue Sleeping Beauty turquoise nuggets, trees linking earth to sky in a full cosmos to which we are bound in stewardship and interdependence. Seventh in The Respect Collection of The Seventh Fire Series. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; olivella-shell heishi; wood; hand-made ceramic watermelon beads; malachite; Sleeping Beauty turquoise
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
This last coil is unusual in that it includes materials that possess the virtue of being both natural and human-made simultaneously: two lengths of hand-made watermelon beads, an old traditional beadwork style made of natural ceramic material. These are both very old and very valuable, their hand-made nature apparent from the variation in each bead, although in the whole, they manage to remain nonetheless remarkably similar to each other. It is, perhaps, a second layer of spiritual wisdom, a reminder that we can use our own hands to protect the earth, and that that which we produce can be wrought both naturally and in the service of its stewardship.
This is, as noted above, the penultimate collection; Wings chose to create them in a specific order, too. Most of the virtues they represent manifest in multiple ways, with more than one face or identity and more than means to pursue them. It seemed fitting to approach, if not quite reach, the end of the series with one that is grounded in the very virtue that forms the basis of most aspects of our lifeways.
Because given the current state of the world in so many, many ways, we all could benefit from a show of respect as a way of daily living.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2018; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
