Today was the first day in some time that dawned almost entirely clear, with bright blue skies to follow and only a few faint puffs of white scattered around the horizon. Today felt like genuine early summer here: hot, dry, near perfect clarity of air and sky until midday.
Since then, several monsoonal patterns have assembled and traveled entirely past us, until these last few moments now that early evening is here. We may not get much rain today, but a least we have this one scattered and scattering shower.
Already the days are speeding past, too, never enough hours to do all that needs doing; the rain, always welcome, also often inconvenient with regard to force and timing. Full dark arrives late now and recedes early, seemingly always anxious to cede as much of the world as possible to the light. The spirits who ride the winds of day and night are busy now: dawn and dusk, in flight.
Old stories of these spirits abound in our traditions, but there are always new ones to be told, as well: new dreams to guide us, new artistic visions to give form and shape to our worlds.
Wings’s work is perhaps as often the product of dreams as not, but it is always, always, the result of his artistic vision, whether it arrives in the midnight hours or broad light of day, in the moments before he falls asleep or the indigo hours just before waking. Today’s masterwork is now exception, and the spirits who soar across its twinned surfaces are both free-floating and in flight. From its description in the Necklaces Gallery here on the site:
The Dawn Horse and the Night Bird Medicine Shield Necklace
The Dawn Horse and the Night Bird are spirits of air and sky, medicine beings here to guide us and protect us on the path throughout our days. Wings summons both spirits onto a miniature medicine shield: a big, bold, beautiful necklace that is wearable art and protective amulet simultaneously. The shield is cut freehand from sterling silver of a substantial gauge, arcing to follow the shape of the sky. Across the center between two hand-stamped Morning Stars races the Dawn Horse, an Indian paint pony stretched in full gallop, his spirited tail flying free behind him. The horse is cut freehand of sterling silver, hand-stamped to delineate features and pinto coat, then overlaid securely. Blossoms edge the perimeter like rays of morning light, with a single hand-stamped in each corner. On the reverse, the Night Bird, of the Hummingbird Clan, hovers in mid-air to drink from a night-blooming flower. Hummingbird and flower are both cut freehand from sterling silver; the little bird’s bill, features, and feathers are brought into focus via hand stampwork, the flower’s delicate petals, vine-like stalk, and tiny leaves are cut freehand of a single piece, hand-stamped, and overlaid opposite the hummingbird. The shield’s reverse is edged on all sides with hand-stamped crescent moons, signifying the glow of night. Atop the shield is a hand-wrought bail hand-stamped in a simple directional-arrow design. The pendant hangs suspended from a glowing strand of sterling silver beads burnished to an aged patina. Pendant hangs 2.5″ long from top of bail to center bottom of shield; ends of shield are 1-7/8″ long; pendant is 3.5″ across; beads are 20″ long (dimensions approximate). Full and close-up views of front and reverse shown above and below.
Sterling silver
$2,225 + shipping, handling, and insurance
It’s no accident that this work, so complex and multilayered in the most literal of terms, should be wrought in the form of a medicine shield. It is, after all, what protects us, not just physically but spiritually — armor to guard our dreams and our waking hours, to defend us when we are most vulnerable, and when we are feeling strong, too.
It’s also perhaps no accident, then, that the two spirits who hover and soar across its surfaces should seem such unlikely warriors. It’s horse and hummingbird, yes, but manifest in very specific ways: the Dawn Horse, to carry us into the day, and Night Bird, to sing us to our rest in the dark ours.
We have both here, of course. Our own horses are always up well before the dawn, ready and waiting. But at this season, we have the night bird, too, one whose distinctive song we heard late last night as we called one last time for our missing dogs. They, like certain blossoms at this season, flower and flourish in the dark, untroubled by the shadows or the absence of the moon.
We think of dawn and dusk as spaces, thresholds, moments in time, but in fact they are active, alive, animated by the spirits who inhabit them, from elemental powers to the lesser beings who share space with us on this plane. They are moments of haunting melodies and soaring light, low and subtle but no less powerful or beautiful for that.
Their hours are now not so far off once again, moments of magic and mystery and medicine, too: dawn and dusk, in flight.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
