I got up before dawn to let the dogs out, and saw the waxing moon in the western sky, an opalescent white nestled in a halo of pale color, the corona signaling the weather’s switch to snow. Sure enough, from the east, flurries were already driving in fast, not cold enough to collect much, but dusting the world with diamond shimmer all the same.
Now, near midday, we have spent the morning alternating between rain and snow mixed with rain, but the sky is as white as this morning’s moon on the leftover drifts. The only visible blue is the deep slate color of the slopes, their bases just apparent to the south. If the forecast holds, the gray will remain into the evening, perhaps with a bit of new snow to adorn it.
For now, we are weaving weather, or at least our ability to cope with it in a world now fast going slick with ice. We welcome the rain, but we pray for snow. And when we go to sleep this night, beneath snow-laden skies or a corona’d moon, we hope the spirits will be busy braiding dreams and beading light.
This is our world now: in the low short light of winter, the disintegrating dreams of an Earth in crisis. We need to heal her in order to heal ourselves, in a time when the only available repair may be braiding together that which has come undone, and when to relieve the encroaching dark we must relearn to magnify the light.
Today’s featured work does both, bringing together a web of blue skies with luminous moons and traces of those who teach us medicine. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Dream Medicine Cuff Bracelet
Dream medicine heals the spirit, illuminating our worldly path by means of a link to the forces of other worlds. Wings evokes healing powers and visionary experiences with this cuff, wrought of heavy-gauge sterling silver triangle wire. On each angled side of the band’s surface, graceful, flowing lines link bearpaw prints, traditional symbols of protection and medicine. Directly on top of the triangle’s apex, he has stamped scores of tiny crescents in a meticulous, consistent repeating pattern. The stampwork is bold, deep, and clean; the ends of the band are rounded and filed smooth for comfort. At the very center of the band’s surface, in a scalloped bezel trimmed with twisted silver, rests a freeform oval cabochon of ultra-high-grade Black Web Kingman turquoise, an electric sky blue tightly spiderwebbed with an inky black matrix and shimmering flashes of pyrite. The spectacular center cabochon is flanked on either side by richly textured moon-like orbs, a pair of highly domed, faceted cabochons of rainbow moonstone set in plain, low-profile bezels. The stones suggest the luminous web of visions and dreams, holding within it the illuminating powers of Medicine. Cuff is 6″ long by 3/8″ across at the triangle’s “base”; turquoise cabochon is 3/4″ long by 3/8″ across at the widest point; rainbow moonstone cabochons are 3/8″ across (dimensions approximate). Other views shown below.
Sterling silver; ultra-high-grade Black-Web Kingman turquoise; rainbow moonstone
$2,000 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The blue skies will be back in a couple of days, but for now, it’s a time to stay indoors by the fire, a time for the warming scents of hot coffee and piñon smoke, a time for dreams, and medicine, too.
The holidays of the colonial culture are coming, and with them, more traditional celebrations. Days like this are a time for making ready, for braiding hair and beading gifts even as the world and its spirits are at work braiding dreams and beading light. After all, the whole of winter lies ahead.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2019; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
