This holiday weekend is now one mostly of commercial motifs: Thanksgiving Day one sold on the strength of selective memory for a past that never was, both ancient and modern; a one-day indulgence granted for the sin of indulgence in gluttony and sloth; what was once a day, then three, now at least five dedicated to the transaction of commerce and the pursuit of profit.
These are not our ways.
Wings and I do indulge in a nice dinner for the day in question, admittedly. That day, though, otherwise differs very little from any other Thursday, filled as it is with ordinary work. So, too, are the days that follow — days like any other filled with tasks and obligations and, in a word, work.
And they are all filled with thanksgiving.
Because for us, thanksgiving is not a single day out of the year, but a way of life. In our way, gratitude and being are inseparable from each other: To live is to be grateful; to pray is to give thanks; to celebrate is to appreciate that which we have been given; to sing, to dance, to feast, to engage in ceremony — all are prayers themselves, of supplication and thanksgiving, for ourselves and for all life.
For this day, when the focus is near-exclusively on retail commerce, there was really only one choice. Yes, it’s art as commerce, too, but it’s also spirit, learning and teaching and gratitude and prayer. From its description in the Earrings Gallery here on the site:
A Prayer for All Life Earrings
There are times when survival requires resistance, requires a return to the old ways, requires faith and prayer and visions and dreams. With this pair of earrings, Wings has reconceived his eagle-feather series in new ways: a change of color, an addition of precious gems, greater labor in design and execution . . . and a symbolism suited to the whole world, a prayer for all life. Each eagle feather is roughly a mirror image of the other, but cut entirely free-hand, so that like their real-world counterparts, each preserves its own unique identity. Using a delicate jeweler’s chisel, Wings has scored each earring freehand, the lines forming a vaguely herringboned pattern at either side of the center shaft to create the hundreds of tiny barbs that make up each feather. In a first for this series, he has repeated the freehand barb pattern on the reverse of each drop. The shaft itself is an overlay of stamped thin silver wire, running up the length of each feather to wrap around the base of the shaft at the top. Four tiny round bezel-set cabochons of rich green jade in the color of the evergreens are scattered across the front to create the mottled pattern unique to eagle feathers: two on either side of the shaft on each earring, for a total of eight. The feathers themselves are anchored at the base of the shaft by brilliant grass-green ovals, a pair of stunning peridot cabochons lightly webbed with deep delicate lines of clear, glossy matrix. Together, they form a powerful pair of feathers in the color of life itself, powerful enough to send skyward a prayer for all life. Each is suspended from sterling silver wires. Earrings hang 2.5″ long (excluding wires) and are 9/16″ across at the widest point; the peridot cabochons are 3/8″ long by 1/4″ across (dimensions approximate). Reverse shown at the link.
Sterling silver; peridot; jade
$875 + shipping, handling, and insurance
It’s hard to overstate the degree to which daily life, for us, involves the giving of thanks. We thank the spirits before approaching them with a request; we thank them even when times are not so good, because our own history teaches us that they could be far worse, and our existence is the ancestors’ dreams fulfilled. We thank them for those ancestors, for the lessons they have taught us, directly and indirectly; we thank them for the rising of the sun, and for drawing breath with the new day.
That last has suddenly become especially relevant to me. Every morning, the moment I awaken to the light outside the window, my spirit utters a prayer, sometimes not even fully conscious yet, of gratitude for this dawn and this day and this moment in which to live in it.
For us, life is gratitude and being, inextricably bound together in a single braid of beauty.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
