We’ve a had a slight break in the heat here. The forecast says we have at least ten days’ worth of rain on the way. This is, as at happens, our customary pattern here for the first and second weekends of July, the fourth and the powwow; virtually every year, the rains appear just in time for both events (and then vanish again until the end of the month).
This year, of course, has not followed the norm.
Still, now that the hay is in, rain would be a welcome respite — both from the heat and from the immediate need to irrigate again. And so for the next several days, at least, we can expect water, in whatever form, to play a significant role in our daily lives here.
This week, we’ve been looking at cooling blues and greens as a distraction from the oppressive heat: blues and greens in two-dimensional form, and in the more fully tangible form of Nature’s own jewels. One of those jewels that best evokes the look and feel of water is lapis lazuli: In cabochon form, it looks like a deep blue pool of literal life.
Water, of course, holds the same sort of power as its fellow elements: power to nurture and sustain; power to erode and destroy. Much depends, of course, on Nature herself — on conditions of weather and season and the interplay between the elements. Much, too, depends on how it is harnessed — on whether we approach it with the proper care and respect. Like all else in life, balance is key: too little, and it fails to sustain; too much, and its power destroys.
And one lesson we seemingly must learn and relearn is that even in situations of extreme elemental power, where danger to mere mortals is always present, conditions can be navigated successfully— when approached with respect.
The pool is a perfect metaphor: still waters, a place to quench one’s thirst and cool one’s skin. Given just the right conditions, a pool can turn suddenly into a whirlpool, a vortex, a place that, in a heartbeat, will pull you under in a watery spiral.
It’s no wonder that the vortex is also a place in the spirit world.
Humans cannot expect to navigate a vortex unprepared; in its tangible watery form or metaphorical spiritual locale, it’s nothing to approach casually, unready, mentally and spiritually unarmed.
These are themes that find their way as a matter of course into Wings’s work: themes of elemental power, of the gifts of Spirit it provides, of the need to treat it with respect and thanks. It’s evident in the recurring presence of water imagery, unsurprising in a place where, in very real, literal terms, water is life. It’s equally evident in the recurring motif of the vortex and the spirits that inhabit it, found in his representations of the water bird, or concentric circles and spiral and sacred spaces.
It’s evident in today’s piece, one he created last year as part of a collection in miniature, expressly for his one-man show. From its description in the Rings Gallery here on the site:
The real sacred space of tradition manifests in multiple identities and ways; one such way is in a spiritual space, where the Water Bird flies. Here, a magical stone, a cobalt-blue cabochon of lapis lazuli, creates its own vortex atop a sterling silver band chased with mystical representations of the Water Bird. The stone is bezel-set and trimmed with twisted silver.
Sterling silver; lapis lazuli
$375 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Sometimes, it’s valuable to have such a reminder always to hand.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
