The change in the weather is imminent.
It’s not actually that cold . . . yet. But the ferocity of this day’s trickster winds makes the atmosphere seem something altogether different, a feral, fanged creature, teeth and talons sinking bone-deep. It will usher in a much deeper cold, too: Our overnight low tonight is forecast to reach four degrees below zero.
Actual temperature. The wind chills will make it very much colder still.
Whether we get the predicted snow out of any of it remains an open question. We awakened to heavy cloud cover, blown in during the dark early-morning hours, and much of their mass remains to north and east, even as blue skies dominate elsewhere. That early cloud cover was an extraordinary thing, long trailing bands in every shade of gray limned at their edges with a silvery iridescence, as though the light of the world itself were emerging from behind their veil.
In a way, of course, that’s exactly what it was: a new day, born of light and breath and life.
If we are blessed, we shall be visited by the other First Medicine, as well, water in its winter robes — snow, white, and spangled with crystalline light, enough to keep the land a cold but healthy evergreen. Unlikely, agreed, but still possible, at least at this moment, and hope is nothing if not stubborn.
Today’s featured masterwork is manifest as this light that gives breath and life to the earth. It’s a big, bold, old-style cuff wrought in a very traditional design, animated with a distinctly Indigenous Art Deco spirit and set with an unusual turquoise stone. From its description. in the Cuffs and Links and Bangles section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
The Light of the World Cuff Bracelet
We are held safe within the light of the world, feet firmly grounded beneath the warmth and illumination of sun and moon and stars. With this old-style traditional cuff, Wings honors the earth that uplifts us and the spirits of light that keep our world alive. The band is wrought in vintage style, wide and heavy, with gracefully sculpted ends saw-cut freehand to create a comfortable fit. The stampwork is elegantly spare, the rays of sun by day and moon at night scored freehand, deep and even, on all four sides of the center, emanating from beneath the focal cabochon at center. Single layered directional arrows in an old-style traditional design point outwards in each of the four open spaces between the grouped rays; the rays to either side each terminate in a stunning line of arcs scalloped freehand at the very point where the band begins to taper. Centered on one of the narrower ends is a Morning Star hand-formed of four long, tapering points around a small central hoop, with its Evening Star counterpart centered on its opposite end. At the center of the band, set into a hand-cut bezel, sits a a freeform oval cabochon of natural Damele turquoise, seafoam green in hue with bronze-colored spiderweb matrix, marbled like the shell plates of Grandmother Turtle, she who holds the world on her back. Band is heavy fourteen-gauge sterling silver, 6″ long by 2-5/16″ wide at center and 1-1/2″ wide at sculpted ends; cabochon is 15/16″ high by 3/4″ across at the widest point (all dimensions approximate). Other views shown above, below, and at the link.
Sterling silver; Damele turquoise
$2,000 + shipping, handling, and insurance
This is a truly phenomenal work, one wrought in a classic style that Wings has lent his own contemporary twist. The top of the cuff, over two and a quarter inches wide, tapers gracefully to one and a half inches at either end, the great sweeping arcs that taper all saw-cut freehand and filed silky smooth. The scorework and stampwork, al wrought equally freehand, are radiant and geometric at once — an homage to the Art Deco arcs and angles of a century past, with plenty of negative space to provide elegant contrast.
And the bold Guiding Stars that are the sole adornment of either end? Those are not formed by a single giant stamp, but rather, by two individual ones: a single long radiant point embossed four times, once each at the cardinal points, each placed with precision around a small sacred hoop.
And then there’s the stone, a freeform oval of old Damele turquoise in shades of light seafoam green, with the fine, tight spiderwebbing of an earthy golden-brown matrix. Wings has set it into an appropriately elegant bezel, also wrought entirely by hand, with each segment saw-cut, filed smooth, and individually shaped to the stone by hand. Damele is considered a rare form of turquoise, pulled from the earth of what is now generally known as “Nevada” in unusual shades of green and gold and brown, a product of the zinc that creates faustite and the paler varisicite that co-occurs with the turquoise.
It’s a masterwork that melds ancient traditional motifs with one of the art world’s most distinctive styles, and then adds a dash of contemporary elegance to all of it. It’s perfect for these winter days that hold out the tantalizing promise of snow, dusting fields of sage amid rich brown earth.
As I write, the clouds to north and west are turning into something more promising now: darker grays banding a horizon the shade of iron, distant northerly peaks veiled now in the sheer white of new snow falling. The wind has even slowed a bit momentarily, as though taken aback by the arrival of something more substantial, or at least the possibility of it.
The wind is not a particularly welcome development, but if that’s what’s required now to usher in real winter weather — seasonal cold and actual snow — we’ll take it. We’ll even find a way to summon some gratitude for it.
After all, our world is born of breath and light and life, and of the snow as well.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
