Today our world feels caught in a holding patter, limbo, a void space between expressions of elemental fury. Last night, it was a trickster wind that gibbered and howled around the cracks between door and sill. I had occasion to step outside for a moment not long before midnight, and its force battered my body from east and west simultaneously: rotation, beneath a clear and starlit sky.
Tomorrow, the rain is forecast to arrive, or perhaps tonight, or perhaps it will turn to snow. No one seems to know for sure the form the precipitation will take, only that it will come.
For today, there is still a haze of smoke hanging in the air, softening edges and giving the sunlight a subtle shimmer — and again, no one seems to know the source, only that it is sufficiently distant to hold no risk of fire.
Yet.
These are red-flag days here, forecast notwithstanding; the winds see to that. No one should be burning now anyway, of course, not in a world mostly under quarantine. But a couple of days ago, we saw smoke rising from the land just up the highway — quickly doused, but not before the plume filled the air. There are always those who insist on treating these days as “normal,” even though for purposes of weather and climate, “normal” was already in the rear-view mirror a generation ago.
Meanwhile, current days are dark indeed, for too many reasons to count. What should be warm days are near as cold as the nights thanks to the incessant wind; colder still for all the grief and loss that fill the air with it. Most days, we keep one fire burning throughout the day now, just to keep the house warm for the night, but it’s harder to sustain a fire of the spirit.
For that, prayer and dreams and help from other worlds are required. And we honor the spirits who inhabit these visionary realms, the ones who light up our nights, from darkness to flame, and carry us safely through to the dawn.
On this day, we feature two works that honor the powers of these forces and spirits. The first is a necklace in the form and shape of fire; the second, a bracelet that embodies those who soar night-darkened worlds and skies. We begin with the first, wrought as teardrops of fire set with the jewels of the night. From its description in the Necklaces Gallery here on the site:
The Flames of Night Necklace
The flames of night illuminate the dream world. With this necklace, Wings summons layers of flames from silver and stone, the dark of the night and its moonlight, too. the pendant is formed of four separate layers: two settings, one set of bezels, and one set of cabochons in graduated sizes. The setting layers are cut freehand of sterling silver, each a tripartite tendril of shimmering flame pointing downward, the base layer rounded on all edges save the point, the upper layer more geometric, linking two diamonds and a teardrop in descending sizes. Three plain, low-profile bezels sit at the center of each layered shape, and each is set with a highly domed square cabochon turned at an angle to form an Eye of Spirit: at the top, the wide deep onyx of night; at the bottom, the tiny lunar glow of a rainbow moonstone; and linking the two, a blood-red carnelian as the illuminating fire of visions and dreams. An organic sub-bail extends from the top of the pendant; the bail itself is formed of rolled and gently flared sterling silver pattern wire imprinted with a lyrical Art Nouveau floral pattern; the entire piece is gently buffed to an antique polish, a near-white just a shade off Florentine. The pendant hangs suspended from a brilliant, tightly linked sterling silver snake chain. Pendant is 2.5″ long (excluding bail) by 1-1/16″ across at the widest point; onyx cabochon is 3/8″ across; carnelian cabochon in 5/16″ across; rainbow moonstone cabochon is 1/4″ across; bail hangs 3/8″ long; snake chain is 19″ in total length (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; onyx; carnelian; rainbow moonstone
$975 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The flame-shaped teardrop form of this piece finds echoes of itself in the strands of the feathers that rise from the surface of the next. Its shades are manifest here, too: black of night and red of flame, white or moon and star and the silver of the light. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery:
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). Side views shown below.
Sterling silver; Bird of Paradise agate
$1,050 + shipping, handling, and insurance
I love both of these works, but the cuff is a special favorite. Our traditional stories are filled with Spirit Birds, from Thunderbird of my own to the Water Bird of the Tipi Way, to countless manifestations of wingéd beings that emerge, Phoenix-like, from earth and cloud, wind and flame. And, of course, there is the quintessential Firebird, the archetype: danced by an Indigenous ballerina named Maria Tallchief, my childhood idol.
Thunderbird or Firebird, these are visionary creatures capable of transcending cosmic lines. Small wonder that we should look to them now, when our cold world so desperately needs to be carried from darkness to flame, and thence to the light.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
