It’s chilly again today, but beautiful all the same. A band of storm clouds low over the western horizon early have given way to scattered white piles of fluff across a cornflower sky. The air is finally clear, no haze of pollen or dust to veil the peaks, and the breeze, while brisk, cannot properly be called a wind yet.
Over the last two or three days, the trees have finally begun to leaf in a real way, and with the midday sun overhead now, the upper reaches of the aspen outside the window glitter as though strung with ropes of polished jade. Our entire small world here seems bejeweled now, a product of the clarity of the high-desert air and of the glorious late-spring light.
It feels like magic, or perhaps more accurately, like medicine — an earth in shelter and in ceremony with an illuminating sun.
Today’s featured masterwork, all new and just completed two nights ago, is manifest in the shapes and spirits of this medicine now. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
A Lodge For Every Sun Cuff Bracelet
The cosmos gives us ceremony, and medicine, in a lodge for every sun. Wings honors that sheltering circle of healing and the gifts of warmth and light with this traditional cuff, big, bold, and wide of band, every centimeter of its surface adorned with deep symmetrical stampwork. The cuff is cut out of solid sheet silver, filed smooth and rounded at the ends for comfort. Its top side is scored freehand with seven lines, a sacred number that divides the surface into eight equidimensional rows. Within those eight scored rows are nestled nine separate lines of freehand stampwork, eight of them representing motifs in the form and shape of a traditional tipi, a rising or risen sun, or both, each stamped motif conjoined to the next and chased from one end of the band to the other. The ninth stamped symbol, which traces the full length of the very center of the band, is of a butterfly: a messenger of the spirits, arrived in time for the summer ceremonial season. The band is 6″ long by 1.25″ wide (dimensions approximate). Other views shown above and below.
Sterling silver
$1,125 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Now, the wind is rising; the air feels colder than it did only minutes ago. But the hummingbirds are here, and busy — the occasional bee or wasp as well. A few butterflies have already arrived, including one very young mourning cloak that danced past me a few days ago. There will be more of these tiny messengers soon, and, if we are blessed with even a little water, their dragonfly relatives, too.
Despite the unseasonal cold, even delicate spirits find shelter here now.
And on this day, the brilliant clarity of the light gives me hope: hope for a warming trend in the air; for the chance at a rainy season; for the sanctuary, the shelter and the medicine and the light, of real summer.
For that is what summer is in this place: sanctuary; refuge; respite from the cold and the wind, its heat and calm alleviated by the daily small gifts of the storm. Today holds the promise of flowering lilacs and the swallowtail’s arrival, of a chance to plant and one to grow. The sun’s angle and strength varies with the season, but our need for its warmth is constant; so, too, our need for a place and way to honor its every iteration.
After fifteen months of a brutal pandemic, one not only not over but now exacerbated by a less deadly virus but one still of epidemic proportions, all in the midst of a drought so deadly it has literally burned up the fields in the light and heat of the day, refuge is itself a burning need now. This day delivers a renewed hope for the sanctuary of summer, in shelter and in ceremony with an illuminating sun.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2021; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
