Our world today is a wan pale gray, the sky as white as the ground should be.

But isn’t.

The snow began around three o’clock this morning, just a few flurries. By dawn the forecast had primed us to expect a few inches already covering every surface . . . but there was nothing. At mid-morning, a little graupel fell, then stopped to ceded momentary flashes to the sun before it all turned to rain, then sleet, and now, at last, a few stray snowflakes mixed among all the rest at once [sun included, and howling winds, too].

So much for nine inches of accumulation. We don’t even have a dusting.

Yes, we’re grateful for the freezing rain, for the sleet, for these few scattered flurries. But it’s not even the proverbial drop in the bucket of what this land needs now. The earth is not merely wounded but suffering, and still humanity collectively turns away, preferring the comfort and convenience of its own greed and exploitation and profiteering, and now, too, of course, no small amount of cowardice.

It’s dispiriting, and of course, that is an exercise in understatement if ever there were one.

But in a world so badly damaged by human violence, it’s a wonder that it can survive at all. And every form of precipitation — fog, mist, rain, sleet, ice, graupel, snow — all of it signifies an elemental love of Mother Earth for her children, for all of us who depend upon her for our own survival. And it’s a love we are obligated to reciprocate as best we can, even if no one else around us can be bothered.

Today’s featured work embodies this love in shape and shade and spirit, too — a work perfect for this holiday allegedly created to honor romantic love [albeit with a very bloody history behind it], it’s focal a perfect scarlet-red heart. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:

An Elemental Love Hook Bracelet

An elemental love holds all the power of fire and all the medicine of the rain. Wings summons both forces to the work of romance with this hook bracelet, silvered band saw-cut and scalloped freehand, its two ends wedded with a scarlet Rosarita heart. The band is lightweight, flexible, and a very scant six inches, designed for a smaller wrist; its beautifully sculpted edges embrace matched thunderhead symbols flanked by borders formed of a crescent-moon-and-star motif. Organic tabs extend from either end, formed into loop and toggle-hook closures fed through small round hoops. At the center, bezel-set and edged in twisted silver, sits a spectacular Rosarita heart cabochon, the impossibly glossy, glassy scarlet of gold slag glowing with the animating spirit of love itself. Band is 6″ long by 5/8″ across at the widest point; bezel is 1-1/8″ high by 1-1/8″ across at the widest point; cabochon is 7/8″ high by 7/8″ across at the widest point (all dimensions approximate). Other views shown above, below, and at the link.

Sterling silver; Rosarita (gold slag)
$1,200 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Note:  Unlike a cuff, a 6″ band in this style will fit only a small wrist, 6 inches or less
in diameter. A longer band can be created for an additional  $125 fee.

The silverwork on this one is as romantic as its focal stone. It features a slender, almost delicate band, saw-cut freehand in graceful sweeping arcs that scallop its edges in mirror images of one another.

The stampwork, too, is simple and somewhat spare, yet full of weighty, powerful symbolism: the healing imagery of old-style thunderheads, the clouds that deliver the First Medicine, paired here to evoke the geometry of sacred space; the arcing beauty of skies inhabited by spirits powerful in their own right, some manifest here in the shape of the sacred hoop that we know as existence, life, being.

The sides are scalloped more deeply, their centers punctuated by paired dancing hearts. It makes for a look and feeling of motion and grace, of delicacy and subtlety that nonetheless is imbued with its own power.

And then, of course, there is the focal cabochon, clearly visible in top photo. It’s Rosarita, which is gold slag [a glassine byproduct of the refining process] from a specific source. Most of it is manifest in more fiery shades of red, with undercurrents of orange flame clearly visible. This one is an almost scarlet, virtually no orange but no real purple influences, either, just a true and perfect red. It’s been cut and cabbed into a classically shaped heart, polished to high-gloss finish that looks like the glass it is.

And it’s an equally perfect signifier of the best of what this day, our work, and our world are capable of doing, It’s the elemental medicine of love given tangible form and shape, something to wear, to have always at hand as a reminder of what Mother Earth does for us daily . . . and of what we owe her in return.

The deficit, the chasm, the gulf between those two grows daily now. It won’t  repair itself, and rehabilitation is impossible without us doing the hard work of restoration. It no doubt seems an impossible breach to close, but it can be done. We just have to do the work, and it all begins with the next right thing.

The elemental medicine of love keeps our world, and us with it, despite the great injury it suffers now. But we are capable of such love, as well, and that means that we are capable of healing it.

~ Aji

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.