After yesterday’s sunny high of fifty-four, snow is forecast for today. Flurries already mist the peaks, although here at the lower elevations, it will be some time, if at all, before it arrives from the west.
There are clouds to all directions, but there is no water on the land.
In this place, there are many ways to gauge the earth’s well-being. In winter, snow is the primary measure; a heavy snowpack is not only a marker of present health, but of future harmony, since it is the runoff that feeds the local rivers and ditching systems and serves to irrigate the land.
But in these conditions of winter drought, the phrase “water’s edge” summons less the spirit of the rain than a spectre of an entirely different sort: It feels as though we stand at the edge of available water, watching it evaporate in the too-warm, too-dry air, watching the shoreline recede inexorably into the distance as the entire pool shrinks.
It’s a terrifying thought.
From ancient times, our peoples have chosen as talismans the earthly, physical symbols of the spirits whose qualities they wish to invoke: Bear for protection and medicine; the eagle feather for spiritual power; corn for prosperity and abundance.
In this place, this arid high desert land that nonetheless is host to the storm in summer and winter alike, it is turquoise, the Skystone, for rain. And rain, of course, is another symbol of prosperity and abundance, particularly so for the peoples of this place. Pieces of the bright blue sky, fallen as rain to a hot earth that instantly bakes it hard, turquoise is an indigenous jewel of protection and good fortune.
And so it’s natural that, on this day especially, such thoughts should bring to mind of Wings’s newest works, a piece of traditional style and sacred spaces, one that holds fast its own talismanic turquoise stone and places the wearer firmly at the water’s edge. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Water’s Edge Hook Bracelet
The seas stretch in all directions, the tides ebb and flow, and the world arises at the water’s edge. Wings honors world and waters alike in the forging of this hook bracelet, a vintage style finding resurgent expression. The narrow silver band is stamped down the center of its surface in a chased pattern that makes use of a single thunderhead symbol, each one paired to form the rain, the sacred space of the kiva steps, and sacred space of another sort, with spokes stretching to all directions. The inner band is stamped with another singular design, a crescent like the half-moon that regulates tidal patterns, that repeats along either inner edge. The band extends into a tab at either end, each of which is bent into a hook. The center of the band is formed by single square cabochon of beveled turquoise in a beautifully gentle blue-green seafoam shade, spiderwebbed with inky black matrix that resembles the reeds beneath the water’s surface. The cabochon is edged in twisted silver, and the backing extends on either side into a pair of hand-made loops through which the band’s ends hook in a loop-and-toggle closure. This bracelet is designed for smaller wrists. Band is 6″ long and 1/4″ across; cabochon is 1/4″ square (dimensions approximate). Top view shown above.
Sterling silver; blue-green turquoise
$1,025 + shipping, handling, and insurance
As I write, the wind is rising, the clouds closing in on all sides. The sun remains warm and bright, but there is an edge to the air that was not there at dawn, one that betokens a shift in the weather and holds out hope of the storm.
In a few more hours, we may have the promised snow. For now, we wait beneath amassing clouds, our perspective divided between the possibility that moves overhead and the vast expanse of need underfoot. We stand at the edge of the water in the sky, praying that we will soon stand at its edge here upon the land.
~ Aji
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