In theory, we might see some snow today.
In practical terms, if we get anything at all, it’s likely to be nothing more than a few flakes.
There is a reason for me putting this out there so baldly: I’m hoping to be proven wrong, and much like washing one’s car only to have it rain, broad assertions of “fact” quite often seem to do the trick. Of course, now that I’ve admitted to it, the cosmos will probably work its own version of reverse-psychology on me just to teach me yet a different kind of lesson.
Still. We learned long ago that colonial systems of weather forecasting tend to be much less reliable than the old ways our ancestors used to predict conditions to come, and nothing has borne it out more than our current catastrophic drought.
And so we watch the clouds, gauge the feel of the cold air that links earth and sky, monitor how sun and moon dream the world into being anew each day.
Now, at midday, the shirred waves of early white clouds have coalesced; banded together, they have mostly lost their lines, becoming one as they mask the earlier blue. As we watched the skies last night, we had hoped this would come to pass this day, hopes spurred by the corona that held the near-full moon fast in its embrace in those rare moments when it managed to shed the eastern sky’s light cloud cover. It was a reminder that we can still learn from the world around us, even as it perforce shifts beneath the burden of colonialism-driven climate change, and that some patterns still hold the truth, if our senses are acute enough to perceive them accurately and our awareness just as sharp.
Now, the sun is veiled once again behind a wall of dove gray, its glow a wan and pale gold to light the day. But following on the misty robes of last night’s moon, it feels as though the spirits of the skies are conspiring to bring us at least a little medicine in the hours and days to come.
Today’s featured work embodies sun and moon, earth and sky, snow and light in one, and all the medicines each brings to our world. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Sun and Moon Dream the World Cuff Bracelet
Sun and moon dream the world into being, hold it on its axis in an orbit of warm fire and cooling light. Wings dreams their spirits into being, too, with this cuff bracelet, a marvel of freehand stampwork that pays tribute to the motifs and medicine of the celestial spirits and their powers. The band’s pattern is formed largely of a single triangular stamp, a peak of rays above three smaller half orbs. Each open-ended triangle traces either edge of the band; two more rows meet in the middle to form radiant Eyes of Spirit, lit from within by a central sun and a moon on wax and wane, each connected by a plain, smooth “Eye” formed of the negative space between them. At either end is a single lifeline, flowing and bidirectional, representing the infinity of possibility for this visionary world of celestial dreams. The stampwork on the band’s surface is so deep, so consistent and uniform, that its spirit echoes softly on the underside. At either end of the inner band, overlays of a pair of hand-formed coils of shimmering copper replicate Earth’s orbit and the way of the hoop simultaneously. At the center of the outer band, set into a scalloped bezel and trimmed with twisted silver, sits a long, tapered oval cabochon of spiny oyster shell and copper composite, shades of sunfire and moonglow heat-treated to meld in a glorious burst of orange flame and snowy white. The band is 6″ long by 1-1/16″ across; the bezel is 1-9/16″ long by 9/16″ across at the widest point; the cabochon is 1-3/8″ long by 3/8″ across at the widest point (directions approximate). Sides, ends and inner band, and front views shown below.
Sterling silver; copper; spiny oyster shell and copper composite
$1,250 + shipping, handling, and insurance
I love this piece. It’s been a favorite from the moment of its creation. Wings almost never uses composite cabs (this is one of only two such works that I can ever recall), but when he does, he chooses the most extraordinary specimens with which to do it. This one has, from the moment I first saw it, made me think of nothing but snow, crested and limned with the fiery light of sun and moon together, as the winter day first cedes space to night.
But it’s not merely the “stone”; it’s also that incredible, deep, brilliant uniformity of freehand stampwork that traces the length of the band four times over, invoking and evoking old traditional styles and symbols of Indigenous silverwork.
And then there are its secrets, those copper spirals overlaid on the inner band. They are whole small worlds, paths, hoops, a cosmos in microcosm, held safe, secret, sacred between cuff and wearer.
In the short time I’ve been writing, the clouds have continued to gather and grow. The sky is almost entirely gray now, in shades ranging from pewter to dove to iron to slate. The air remains too warm for snow at the moment, but there’s an edge to it now that wasn’t there this morning and it’s perfectly still, as though waiting for a sign to begin its own spiraling motion.
We are, a bit surprisingly, being granted the cold air that links earth and sky, and the clouds that dance with it. This day, we may be granted the medicine of the snow yet.
~ Aji
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