This evening, the rest of the country will mark this day, and its purported theme of independence that in actuality depends upon our peoples’ subjugation, with displays of fireworks: sulfurous exhibitions of light and color exploding against the night sky.
We have fireworks, too, but of a more elemental kind.
Wings and I don’t celebrate this day, for what should be, to anyone, painfully obvious reasons. We’ll spend it working, as we always do; we’ll end it with a nice evening meal, with the dogs brought indoors early to protect them from the sounds of firecrackers and errant gunshots. The area’s official fireworks displays may or may not come off with any real substance; as is virtually always the case here on July fourth, the evening forecast predicts thunderstorms. If we’re lucky, we’ll get Nature’s own light show instead, of a kind that brings welcome cooling rains.
The lightning is not the only form of fireworks to which we look forward, however. Our cultures don’t even needs the “works” — we have the fire itself.
Fire has been informing Wings’s work of late, and in light of the scorching summer heat, perhaps that should come as no surprise. But Fire is one of the four elemental forces of Nature — spirit sibling to Earth, Air, and Water — and it plays a fundamental role in our daily lives regardless of the season or weather.
In traditional Native homes, it’s the center, the point around which everyone gathers: to eat, to speak, to tell stories, to resolve conflicts, simply to get warm on a cold evening. It’s the center of song and drum circles, of night dances, of war parties and peace negotiations. It’s a means of survival, a tool of heat and healing, of cleansing and purifying, a means of generating smoke to communicate with distant people and yet more distant spirits alike.
It’s the source of power from which the Firebird emerges, a vortex of flame spiraling upward into the night sky.
It’s the symbol of the fire that still burns in our hearts, that keeps alive the old ways, the traditions and stories and obligations that have enabled our people to survive on this land since time immemorial.
And now, it’s the inspiration for Wings’s latest piece, small, simple, and understated, yet in its own way, the very source of all that has come before during this week 9and remains yet to come tomorrow). From its description in the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Fire purifies and cleanses, warms and heals. It’s the center of the Native home and the means by which we send our prayers to Spirit. It’s also the force that lives within our hearts, warrior spirit and visionary flame alike. Wings captures fire in all its forms and facets in this one simple and simple elegant cuff. The focal point, reflecting fire’s elemental role in daily in daily life and symbolizing the inner fire that animates our spirits, is the central oval cabochon, one of very old branch coral in deepest red. Set into a smooth hand-made bezel, it emerges organically from the solid slender band, a simple length of sterling silver scored into four raised lines: the sacred number, the number of the directions, of the elements, of the seasons, and life’s own stages. Band is 3/8 of an inch wide; cabochon is 3/8 of an inch long by 1/4″ wide (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; old natural branch coral
$775 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Wings often creates pieces that are perfect in their simplicity, where every element comes together in a way that creates a whole much greater than the sum of its parts. This is one: two simple materials, fiery natural coral and cool sterling silver, fused by the flames of spiritual symbolism and the realities of daily life.
It is, in real and spiritual terms, both seed and fruit, source and harvest, that which begins and begets, and that which reaches out to transform all of life itself.
It is the fire — and its works.
~ 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 owners.
