It’s not the time of year when we typically get rain here, although with the inexorable advance of climate change, we get all sorts of oddities all year long now, including rain in the winter and thundersnow. But no matter the time of year, it’s a motif central to Native arts and culture here, in no small part because it is essential to the people’s ability to survive and thrive in this high desert environment.
Nowhere is the the symbolism of rain more central here than in Indian jewelry, where it is built in no small part around one particular gemstone, turquoise — the very Skystone itself, rain hardened as it falls to earth. But in the harsh and wild extremes of northern New Mexico geography and geology, the effect of rain falling to earth can vary widely indeed.
Much of the land here is volcanic: basalt and other “hot rocks.” A little north of here are hot springs that have been co-opted into a spa; further west, toward Dinetah (Navajoland), is El Malpaís, The Badlands, entire swaths of volcanic outcroppings extruded from the very surface of the earth itself, bubbled and hardened into hole-fllled charcoal-colored formations of basalt. In the summer, when the air temperature soars past 100 and the that of the ground goes much higher yet, the drops from passing monsoons create a hissing, spitting, steaming, purifying drumbeat upon the hot rocks below.
The tempering, cleansing properties it evokes are a motif replicated in many indigenous cultures across Indian Country. Up north, among the Oceti Sakowin, the Great Sioux Nation, they call it inipi: the sweat lodge. [To be clear, it’s only inipi if it is one conducted by their people within their culture. Anything else, by anyone else, is something of another culture, or merely a sweat lodge.] It’s probably the most famous sort on this continent, but many of our tribal nations have our own variants. it’s also become something of an inter-tribal practice now, one that our peoples use ceremonially in group gatherings, where appropriate. It’s a ritual of cleansing, of purification, and one of the means used is the pouring of water on hot rocks to create the steam that induces the participants’ sweats.
It’s a practice that makes the imagery especially powerful for our peoples in an artistic context. It invokes the four elemental powers: earth warmed by fire, touched by water to create cleansing air (steam). It pairs the dichotomous forces of earth and sky in a way that evokes the spirit of the rain in ways that simultaneous cleanse and sustain. It becomes, like the Skystone itself, a talisman, a protective symbol, a reminder of the need for harmony.
It’s a union of forces that Wings has infused in these earrings, one part of a three-item collection in miniature that constitutes his most recent work. From their description in the Earrings Gallery:
The earthy fire of hematite warms these large smooth drops of the Skystone, fallen rain solidified into another precious form. The stones are set into sterling silver bezels hand-stamped on the reverse in flowing, feminine designs reminiscent of traditional pottery and basketry patterns, suspended from hand-made sterling silver wires. Earrings hang 1-5/16″ below wires (dimensions approximate). Reverse shown below.
Sterling silver; natural blue turquoise
$425 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Earrings coordinate with A Little Jar of Rain necklace and Cloudburst earrings.
Even on the reverse, the “rain” motif appears — in the individually hand-stamped droplets, each made with a tiny jeweler’s hammer, falling from the top of each bezel. The back of the setting coordinates directly with that of the bezel of the necklace featured yesterday, which bears adjacent stampwork patterning on its own reverse side.
It’s a pairing of two elementally powerful stones, hematite and turquoise, and in harmonious proportions. After all, it takes very little fire to heat a substantial amount of water: Too much, and you’ll get burned. [You can, of course, read more about turquoise’s role as the Skystone here; you can learn about the heat-related properties and transformative symbolism of hematite here.]
As with all of Wings’s work, it gives the wearer the opportunity to carry with them daily a bit of the symbolism and power of ancient teachings, and of still more ancient forces.
It’s a reminder to walk each day in harmony.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
