These are the first days of the magic season.
This is autumn at Red Willow: the season of the light. It’s the time when Father Sun performs feat of uncommon magic, when his shine holds the illuminating power of visions and dreams, his glow whole worlds of mystery and medicine.
It shows in the shimmer of the earth itself, all micaceous clay and quartzite slate. It shows in the otherworldly glow of the last wildflower sunflower petals of the summer, impossibly gold and turned always to face their namesake.
And it shows in the fire of the smallest of Indian summer spirits, the hummingbirds, flying on the wings of the sun.
Most of their like have left this place already, fall’s premature arrival having sent them on their annual migration to warmer winds. One or two clans remain, mostly broad-tailed hummingbirds, whose autumnally orange tailfeathers limned in black and white give them the look of a miniature version of that other sunny messenger, the flicker. And at this season, as the hover over the feeders outside the front door, the really do seem to carry the light itself in the shimmering blur of their wings.
Today’s all-new work is a tribute to their beauty and power, to the light they carry, and to the mysterious spirit of this space between seasons. From its description in the Pins Gallery here on the site:
On Sunny Wings Hummingbird Pin
Summer departs and autumn arrives on sunny wings. The small fierce spirits of this threshold season infuse this work by Wings, a tiny silver hummingbird who carries the sun itself. The wingéd one is cut freehand out of sterling silver, with wings outstretched in full hover and dagger-like beak at the ready. A triangular point defines the beak; a single lengthy score line separates the wings. Sunrise symbols in two sizes delineate body and edge of wing feathers; the tailfeathers are formed by a flowing-water motif and edged with arrowhead points. Where wings join body, a single small round cabochon rests in a saw-toothed bezel: fiery orange amber, the color of the autumn sun in a place and space of magic, mystery, and medicine. Pin stands 1.5″ high by 2-1/8″ across at the widest point; amber cabochon is 3/16″ across (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; amber
$625 + shipping, handling, and insurance
These tiny creatures of threshold worlds have already arrived and departed for the day; they prefer the cooler winds of dawn and dusk and will return this evening when twilight encroaches on the remnant light of day. For now, though, they remain present, lending their beauty and magic, strength of wing and bell-like voice to our Indian summer world.
It’s fitting, perhaps, that they should come at beginning and end of day. They are, after all, small spirits flying on the wings of the sun . . . bringing the light to us and carrying it away again, emissaries for break of day and fall of night.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2018; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
