These clearing days are giving way to clear nights, cold and bright. It’s been hard to see the stars these last few nights; the light of a near-full moon does that here. But they are still there, adance in the darkened skies, and we know that in this world so badly wounded now, their presence is one of the few things on which we can rely.
A sunrise over the rooflines — or in our case, ridgelines; a moon encircling our darkened world with its glow; the last diamond shimmer of the Morning Star: All of these embrace and punctuate our days; whether we are there to see them or not, we know that they exist. It is a consistent magic, this celestial illumination, and it’s one of the gifts of which we are assured, regardless of time or season.
It’s also one of those gifts that we take far too much for granted. Such is the nature of human existence, apparently, to become so accustomed to that which is present in our daily environment that we fail to notice its gifts, never mind acknowledge or show appreciation for them. But ours is a way of honor and thanksgiving, and it is not an option to fail to notice that which gives our world life, and us with it.
This week’s Friday Feature consists of three works that honor these gifts, these shimmering exemplars of celestial magic, in a timeless traditional form. All three are pairs of earrings, all simple sterling silver drops adorned with Wings’s freehand stampwork; all three are found in the Earrings Gallery here on the site. We begin with the newer of the traditional concha styles, the one shown above — a classic tribute to the magic created by the spirits of the skies in the place. From its description:
Sun and Moon and Morning Star Earrings
We live safe in the embrace of Sun and Moon and Morning Star, celestial spirits to light our way and warm our world. With these traditional concha earrings, Wings honors all three elemental powers of the skies, and the ancient village over which they watch, day and night. Each earring is saw-cut freehand in a classic oval shape and domed from the reverse to turn simple medallions into classic conchas. Each is centered by a Morning Star stamped freehand, its spokes formed of four separate texturized points arrayed around a separate sacred hoop. The stars are ringed by a tightly stamped oval of repeating crescents, lunes to signify the moon that lights our path at hight. The outer ring of stampwork consists of a compound motif repeated in a linked oval: geometric angles symbolizing the parapets of the old village, the rays of the sun rising behind them to warm the ancient homes and the earth of the plaza before them. Sterling silver coil-and-ball-bead French earring wires hold them fast via organic hand-drilled tabs at the top. Domed, each earring hangs 1-5/8″ long, excluding wires, by 1-1/4″ across at the widest point (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver
$350 + shipping, handling, and insurance
This one, as it happens, honors all three of the celestial spirits listed in the second paragraph. It’s a perfect, and classic, tribute to them, wrought in the old way, by way of old forms and shapes and motifs that have long stood the test of time in this place as symbols of the sacred, of medicine and power.
The second pair is nominally a concha style, too, but with only the faintest doming to add dimension; added depth comes from the overlay at the center of each drop. This pair is animated by celestial and sidereal spirits found in far deeper and more distant skies. From its description:
Nebula Earrings
Right at this moment, in a nebula older and more distant than time itself, a new star is being born, ready to add its light to the cosmos. With the latest in Wings’s informal series of classic concha earrings, he evokes the shimmer and honors the ancient stardust of which our celestial lights are born. Each dangling drop is formed of a single sterling silver medallion, hand-punched and perfectly round, lightly domed in the old traditional way. At the center, the four steep spokes of a guiding star backlight the emergence of its newest face, a starburst made by hand of sterling silver ingot, rising in three fully textured dimensions from each earring’s surface. Around the spoked, a ring of radiant stardust, the detritus of the birthing process, limns the core within its own shimmering light. Each concha hangs via sterling silver jump rings from sterling silver ball-bead and coil French wires. Before doming, medallions are 1″ across; domed, 7/8″ across; cabochons are 3/16″ across (all dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver
$350 + shipping, handling, and insurance
We do not see the light of newborn stars; they occur so far away from us that it takes millions of years for that light to reach us. And yet, we know via advances in scientific technologies that they occur, a constant cycle of birth and life and death in the farthest reaches of the universe, a model of sorts for our own terrestrial existences here. It occurs to me, though, that colonialism has robbed much, perhaps most, of the world of the magic of birth, of treating each new child’s arrival as cause for celebration, for fanfare and fireworks, rather than as yet another burden that must be urged on to adulthood as fast as possible, that the world might take as much from them as possible.
In that, humanity has failed miserably. It’s time to regain some of the magic of birth, the mystery of life, the medicine of being. The stars show us how.
We see it in the imagery of the third and final pair featured here today. This pair is the newest of the three, and the smallest, too, yt no less powerful in their imagery for that. They resemble concha earrings, but the depth in each drop comes instead from distinctive repoussé shapes at the center. From its description:
New Worlds In Orbit Earrings
Stars are born within Spirit’s sheltering eye, igniting new worlds in orbit along the spiral path of an infinite universe. With these petite vintage-style earrings, Wings honors the central power of that which watches of us, and the animating stardust of which our lives and beings are formed. Each tiny drop is saw-cut freehand in a hexagonal shape, edges filed smooth, with simple geometric diamond shapes, stamped from the reverse using repoussé techniques, rising in relief from the center. A single five-pointed star emerges from each “eye,” while the whole rotates in the same counterclockwise direction as the Earth itself. Hand-drilled organic tabs extend from the top of each drop; threaded through them are sterling silver coil-and-ball-bead French earring wires.Earrings hang 5/8″ long by 58″ across at the widest point (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver
$175 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Yes, there are new worlds being born, probably daily, at least as our planet reckons time. But what we need is a rebirth of our own world, one newly committed to life, to well-being, to beauty and healing, to the thriving of children and the safety of people of all ages and the continued existence of our nonhuman relatives in our world in balance.
It’s actually something that would be so very, very easy to do. The hard part comes in convincing those in authority and control that they do not need all the things they think they do . . . including that authority and control.
At this point, we cannot even prevent a spiking worldwide pandemic, because they will not; cannot halt genocides all over the planet, because they will not; cannot save the earth and her children from extinction, because they will not.
We need to medicine, healing, but before that, we need to restore a sense of mystery to this world, a consistent magic in which we are all awed by, and grateful for, the gifts of sun and moon and stars.
Because the magic is there. It’s time for us all to honor it.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2024; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
