The first day of the new calendar year, and we are in the center of the storm.
Fortunately, it’s an expression meant literally this time: eight to ten inches of snow already on the ground at midday, and more predicted for the afternoon. But there are other things forecast, as well: extreme winds, and even more extreme temperatures, with the projected low tonight plunging to seven degrees below zero. That’s before the wind chill is factored into the number.
At this moment, though, Father Sun is showing his face intermittently, as are patches of bright blue sky wreathed in iron gray. The sun’s radiant flame is warming the air more than we expected for this day, although blessedly not enough to melt the snow. We begin this 2022 in the embrace of storm and fire, in the elemental spiral of rebirth.
Today’s featured work embodies those same elements in all their glorious brilliance and otherworldly power, linked inextricably with the illuminated path of the hoop. From its description in the Earrings Gallery here on the site:
Storm and Fire Earrings
Summer is the season of storm and fire, of cobalt clouds and molten copper sunsets. Wings summons them all into a vortex of color and spirit with these dangling earrings. Each is built around a composite focal cabochon of brilliant blue lapis lazuli and shimmering strands of copper webbing. Each is set into a scalloped bezel and trimmed with twisted silver, then adorned with a hand-coiled pendant polished copper, glowing like a whirlwind lit from within. Earrings hang 2.5″ long (excluding wires) by 5/8″ across at the widest point; cabochons are 1.5″ long by 1/4″ across at the widest point; coiled copper pendants are 1/4″ long by 1/4″ across at the widest point (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; lapis lazuli and copper composite; copper
$575 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Despite the summery description, a nod to the season in which this work was made, it suits the heavy weather of winter just as well. And this pair has long been a personal favorite, melding together as it does the fire of silver and copper with the stormy cobalt blues of lapis lazuli. But the finishing touch of the hand-made copper spiral pendants are what make them a work not merely of ethereal beauty but of powerful medicine, too.
And it’s medicine we need now, at this time of the earth’s renewal. For us, our world was reborn with the solstice, but renewal is a longer process, and we are in its earliest days still. The earth needs all the help she can get now, from us and from more powerful spirits . . . but we also need such help ourselves. The path is long and winding, a hoop, yes, but one that loops in on itself, concentric rings of work and prayer and hope.
And that is why we should always welcome these days at the very heart of winter. Like the earth, we are now in the elemental spiral of rebirth, and it sets our path — and our feet upon it in a good way — for the year to come.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2022; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
