After yesterday’s cold and blustery blast of winter, today could not be more different: a warming trend on the faintest of winds, under a perfectly clear blue sky unmarred by even the faintest trace of cloud. It’s still cold enough for the new snow on the peaks to remain, but that which dusted the slopes yesterday is already almost entirely gone.
The words “warming trend” are relative, of course; it’s still cold, and winter is unquestionably here. Indeed, within the last hour or two, the forecast has changed yet again, this time to predict a dusting of snow by late tomorrow night. As with yesterday’s projections, we know to wait to see what actually materializes.
In the meantime, the season seems to be gaining speed, as it always does at this time of year — and the level of need seems to be outpacing it nonetheless. The Earth is fighting for survival at a basic level now, which means that her children are, too. In this month, in this week, on this day of all days, we are compelled to renew our commitment to the work of her healing . . . and by extension, that of us all.
We know, and better than most, that pretty words are meaningless if not fulfilled with action. At the same time, action without words, without forethought, without the introspective contemplation and analysis, and yes, wisdom, afforded us by ceremony and prayer, may do more damage than what it seeks to fix. As always, balance is required, and as always, wisdom, bravery, and strength of spirit will elude a superficial approach to anything. We accrue those through learning, practice, and no small amount of humility, to say nothing of a necessary generosity of spirit and a love for our peoples, our world, and our ways.
There is a reason for the old teachings; our ancestors were skilled students of human nature, of our foibles and failings and fundamental limitations. It’s why they passed these lessons to us, the old stories, the ways of medicine and such gifts of the spirits as were theirs to bequeath; they knew well that the path of prayer leads to wisdom.
This week’s Friday Feature highlights three related works, all sharing common features that suit the teachings, and the path, especially well. All three are found in the Cuffs and Links and Bangles section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site. We begin with the one shown above, set with the most extraordinary specimen of Bird of Paradise agate I’ve ever seen; from its description:
Feathers of the Spirit Bird Cuff Bracelet
Late at night, in the world of dreams, you can feel the warmth of the Phoenix’s fire and the brush of the feathers of the Spirit Bird. With this cuff, Wings summons this otherworldly spirit and its powers of renewal into wearable form. The wide sterling silver band is hand-milled in a repeating pattern of graceful feathers, each barb and shaft articulated in sharp relief on the surface. At the center, in the embrace of a scalloped bezel trimmed with twisted silver, a spectacular round cabochon of Bird of Paradise agate unfurls feathers of fire amidst mist and smoke, Phoenix, Firebird, and Indigenous Spirit Bird at once, arising from the flames to create a new and visionary world. The cuff is 6″ long by 1.25″ wide; the cabochon is 1-3/16″ across (dimensions approximate). Other views shown above and at the link.
Sterling silver; Bird of Paradise agate
$1,050 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Many Indigenous traditions tell of a powerful Spirit Bird, some born of fire, others of water, others still of both and neither simultaneously. It speaks, perhaps, to our understand of our limitations as human beings, earthbound as we are; what is freedom if not the ability to transcend the earth’s gravitational pull, and what is power if not the freedom to choose such flight? Power is, of course, far more complex than that, and far more complicated, too, but that is the purpose of prayer, of ceremony, of the oldest of teachings and medicine: to teach us humility in the face of it, and the ability and wisdom always to put it to work in a good way.
The second cuff shares a pattern and texture with the first, but this one is bigger, bolder, gracefully shaped but lacking a stone. From its description:
Prayer Plumes Cuff Bracelet
Prayer plumes turn everyday objects into offerings and works of ceremony. With this cuff, Wings turns a wide strand of silver into a bundle of these tiny silken down feathers, signs of honor and tools of medicine. It’s a cuff in the most archetypal sense, wide, simple, spare, substantial: a single sheet of sterling silver cut to size and milled by hand in a flowing, drifting pattern of plumes. Each end is cut freehand on either side into a gentle taper, adding to the graceful lines and ensuring a comfortable fit. Cuff is 6″ long by 1.5″ across at the widest point (dimensions approximate). Other views shown at the link.
Sterling silver
$545 + shipping, handling, and insurance
This is a work for the work: for the actual tools of process, practice, and praxis. It’s one of the simplest cuffs Wings has ever created, stylistically, although to hand-mill a pattern onto such a big, solid piece of silver is heavy labor indeed. But it’s a piece infused with an extraordinary spirit, one that at once reminds us of our own earth-bound obligations even as it seems to beckon our spirits to join it in taking flight.
And that, perhaps, is the point: that both are possible, and simultaneously, too.
The third and final of today’s featured trio of works likewise shares a fully textured solid silver band, but its feathery pattern differs from those of the other two; from its description:
Soaring On the Light Cuff Bracelet
Feather fans send our prayers aloft on tendrils of smoke, soaring on the light. Wings summons feathers and fans, prayers and smoke, into this curving arc of pure silver light. It begins with a medium-wide band of sterling silver, cut freehand and gently tapered at either end for a flowing line and comfortable fit. The band is then hand-milled in a similarly flowing pattern that evokes the traditional old-style fans made of a full wing of feathers, their tips dancing gently in the wind. The band is then forged gently into its anticlastic shape, each edge rising gracefully upward to create a pair of arcs that catch, hold, and refract the same light on which our prayers ascend to the spirits. Light oxidation and medium polish mimic the shades of the smoke and coax the lines into bold three-dimensional relief. Band is 6ths ” long by 1.25″ across at the widest point (dimensions approximate). Other views shown at the link.
Sterling silver
$575 + shipping, handling, and insurance
This one seems to me to be a work for the heart and the spirit: one to remind us, when the work is hard and the road long, the obstacles ever higher and the path ever more dangerous, that there is more even to our own world than what we can see and touch . . . or than what can see and touch us, either. Yes, there are risks, and they grow greater, not weaker, now. But the path provides us with a glimpse into greater powers, greater forces, greater medicine and illumination than we would otherwise ever see, and it allows our spirits some access to the heights . . . and to the light.
We are now officially in the throes of the holiday season, when the pace becomes ever more frenetic. Finding time to think is hard enough; making time for prayer and ceremony is harder, but even more necessary. After all, the path of prayer leads to wisdom, and our whole world needs more of that now.
~ Aji
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