The first post-Solstice dawn, and we live in the light of a new day, a new year, a new world for Mother Earth and for us, her children.
In this place, the light this morning was indeed worthy of such an event, on both sides of the sky: Even as an outsized Little Spirit Moon, so close to full as to make no perceptible difference, descended amid bands of radiant dark clouds in the western sky, the sun began its ascent in the east beneath the cloudbank’s opposing edge, violet-black scalloped in pure scarlet. It was a dawn for magic, for mystery, for medicine, for truth, as embodied in the fires of prophecy and the promise of a new year.
And so began a perfect day for Wings’s new collection, completed on day of the Solstice itself, the last entry in a series that was born just oveer two years ago.
I wrote about its genesis here:
In the aftermath of the deadly dangerous bit of criminality that was November 8, 2016, we both cast about for an outlet for our rage, for a means of channeling it into another form of the resistance that has marked our daily lives in an occupied, colonial society. Together, we began collaborating on the design of a collection drawn on my own traditions, one that embodies what are sometimes called the “seven gifts” — the seven virtues given to the First People by the spirits, seven traits of character that, practiced as a way of daily living, form the basis for a life well lived no matter the external circumstance. It would be seven collections of seven coils each, each collection built around a different “gift,” or virtue. After all, such lessons are found across our cultures in varying forms, but virtually always with a similar core of truth.It will be hard for some to understand, seeming as though it’s intended merely to capitalize on tradition, but it’s not; the design, and then his creation, of each coil involved a digging deep into the meaning of each virtue, both in the abstract and in its application, and a constant meditation on how better both to understand what is required of us and how to put it into practice effectively.
It was a means of returning to the deepest, most essential aspects of our traditions, of making our work one with our ways in a manner that might better help us face what was to come — and, perhaps, help others face it, too.
And fight.
Because we were engaged in resistance long before the rest of the world had even heard of the word.
As I said in that post, on that terrible day, we foresaw it all: the rise anew of Klan and Nazism, of white supremacy so codified and unmoored from anything but the evils of greed and the desire to control that nothing, not concentration camps, not starvation and death, not assassination and execution would be out of bounds any longer. But it all came to pass with a rapidity that astonished even us. We expected at least a few token gestures of rejection before spineless capitulation, but it was not to be.
And so, as we went about our own days, themselves a struggle for survival, this project remained ever-present in the backs of our minds. Even when forces greater than ourselves dealt us lesson after lesson in humility for more than a year, the lessons of the virtues, the purpose of the gifts, was never out of our thoughts.
Wings has always, always used his art in the service of spirit, and Spirit: to share such wisdom as process and experience, visions and dreams impart, to use his inspiration and his gift to tell greater stories and share lessons hard-won, to make a living, yes, but to do so in a way that shares with others the beauty and wisdom and harmony that the spirits have shared with him. And so was born this series, from my own tradition but embodying concepts and values that, among our cultures, are if not universal then nearly so.
It has been a long road, these last two years and a bit more, fraught with risks we could foresee and dangers that appeared out of nowhere, risks to life and limb and well-being on deeply personal levels. We begin this new year of our Mother Earth in prayer, and in the hope that we have left some of these dangers behind in the year just ended . . . and we pray that enter this new year’s new world in the prophetic light of truth.
So it is that we present the final collection in The Seventh Fire Series, entitled, aptly and perfectly, The Truth Collection. All are found in the same section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site. We begin with the first, a tribute to ancestry and identity and powers greater than ourselves, sources of guidance and wisdom, all. From its description:
The Ancestors, the Clans, and the Gifts of the Spirits Coil Bracelet
The ancestors, the clans, and the gifts of the spirits are all sources of the truth of our existence. With this coil, Wings pays homage to these building blocks of not only our cultures and lifeways but our very selves, wrought in a continuous circle of ancient materials woven with the reds of identity and blood. At either end are small polished nuggets of rhodochrosite, warm pale rose and pearlescent with matrix. They extend into lengths of fiery chatoyant red tiger’s eye, round orbs seemingly lit with the light of the stars, infused with the deep reds of ancestry and history. The clans are represented by earthy doughnut-shaped rondels of fossilized dinosaur bone, impossibly old and ethereally beautiful. At the center lie fourteen spheres, large mookaite beads in the reds of our blood and the golds of earth and light of the indescribable translucent shades of the spirits and the blessings they bestow daily. Memory wire expands and contracts to fit nearly any wrist. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. First in The Truth Collection, the final entry in The Seventh Fire Series.
Memory wire; rhodochrosite; red tiger’s eye; fossilized dinosaur bone; mookaite
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
These sources have given us life, yes, our very existence, but they have given us more: culture and language, lifeways and traditions. They teach us the values by which we live, the way to survive in a world ripped from our Indigenous roots, the path to walk for a life well-lived. These together constitute the way of life itself. It’s a concept that goes by many names in our various nations and traditions, but it is known among some as the sacred hoop, and it finds expression in the second of this series. From its description:
The Sacred Hoop Coil Bracelet
Truth may be found in the sacred hoop, infinite and eternal, journey and existence alike. Wings calls the wisdom of its experience into being with this coil, a winding hoop of symbolic color and traditional beauty. It begins with the darker shades at either end, represented in some traditions as black and in others as blue, here manifest in both colors by way of lengths of jet flowing into cobalt orbs of lapis lazuli. Each is followed by slightly larger beads of chatoyant red tiger’s eye, shimmering in shades of luminescent red, extending inward to brightly translucent freeform nuggets of glowing yellow citrine. At the center sits an expanse of the first shade of the hoop, snowy spheres of white-lip mother-of-pearl shell as luminescent as the North Star itself. Memory wire expands and contracts to fit nearly any wrist. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. Second in The Truth Collection, the final entry in The Seventh Fire Series.
Memory wire; jet; lapis lazuli; red tiger’s eye; garnet; tiger’s eye; citrine; white-lip mother-of-pearl shell
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
But truth resides not only in the past, in thee repositories of the Ancients. It is a living concept, one whose reality and meaning must be sought again and again and again. Among other such means, we seek it, especially collectively, by gathering together in common spiritual purpose — an act embodied by the symbolism of the third entry. From its description:
Ceremony Coil Bracelet
We seek truth through prayer, through petitioning the spirits in the sacred fire of ceremony. Wings honors the fire, its purpose and effects, in this spiraling coil of flame. Manifest in the colors of the fire itself, it begins, small and red, with tiny freeform nuggets of angelskin branch coral that extend into larger freeform nuggets of highly polished carnelian. As the flames coalesce in color and intensity, they become spheres of chatoyant red tiger’s eye growing into the diffuse maroon and gold shades of mookaite. The fire concentrates into golden shades, freeform amber nuggets followed by luminous yellow tiger’s eye spheres, finally crystallizing into the pure gold fire of citrine. Memory wire expands and contracts to fit nearly any wrist. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. Third in The Truth Collection, the final entry in The Seventh Fire Series.
Memory wire; angelskin coral; carnelian; mookaite; amber; tiger’s eye; citrine
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Ceremony can take many forms, and produce many results. Some forms are designed expressly for healing: of body, mind, heart, or spirit. It can be a process, a prayer, a poultice or pill, but the purpose remains the same — the restoration of harmony. It is a concept that spirals through the length of fourth in this series. From its description:
Medicine Coil Bracelet
We find truth in medicine, from the plants and the animals and more ephemeral spirits. Wings pays tribute to the power of traditional medicine to heal the body and restore harmony to the spirit by way of this coiling, curing circle of color. It begins at either end with the first medicine, water, that which gives and restores and is life itself, as embodied in bold bright blue nuggets of the Skystone, in the form of Sleeping Beauty turquoise. The water flows into the world of healing plants, beginning with wild freeform nuggets of malachite that become round polished malachite orbs. Small spheres of beautifully translucent jade stretch toward the large globes at the center, an expanse of small worlds in the form of unakite, gems manifest in the brilliance of new green aswirl with the red clay of the earth. Memory wire expands and contracts to fit nearly any wrist. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. Fourth in The Truth Collection, the final entry in The Seventh Fire Series.
Memory wire; Sleeping Beauty turquoise; malachite; jade; unakite
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
But if truth lives in the past of our ancestors and the present of our own acts of ceremony and healing, it finds its fullest expression in the future our acts today create. It is a hallmark of our ways, this focus on the generations to come; it is an absolute obligation of our existence to lay the foundations for the best possible world for our children’s children, and theirs for generations to come. The fifth piece in this group manifests as just such a world, verdant and green, with clean water and a clear sky, continually renewed in the light, a space to ensure the safety and seecure identity and abundant prosperity for all of our children yet unborn. From its description:
The Seventh Generation Coil Bracelet
We seek wisdom in our daily lives and hope that our acts accord with it, but the truth of our existence will be actualized only in the seventh generation. Wings honors the future of our grandchildren’s grandchildren and the sacredness of their spirits in this coiled hoop of identity and renewal. Each ends is anchored by the young spring green of jade extending into the sunny light of gold-lip mother-of-pearl shell, thence into the more intensely luminescent hues of green garnet, their orbs infused here and there with flashes of red. The garnet flows into the shimmering snowy shades of white-lip mother-of-pearl shell, which in turn reaches for the webbed blue turquoise of water and sky. Beyond the blue lies more powerful illumination by way of round Labradorite spheres, coming together at last in an elemental expanse of identity, of blood and bone and DNA realized in the earth, air, fire, and water of lightly polished nuggets of crimson Mediterranean coral. Memory wire expands and contracts to fit nearly any wrist. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. Fifth in The Truth Collection, the final entry in The Seventh Fire Series.
Memory wire; jade; gold-lip mother-of-pearl shell; green garnet; white-lip mother-of-pearl shell;
blue turquoise; Labradorite; Mediterranean coral
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
But the future is uncertain, especially in times such as these and a larger society such as this. It is not enough simply to do our best as we conceive it at any given moment; in our way, we know that we must seek guidance. That means prayer, of course, and consulting with the elders as we do the spirits. But it also means seeking wisdom in ways less concrete, and recognizing that illumination often comes in forms both ethereal and ephemeral. Such is the nature of the sixth in this series. From its description:
Dreams, Visions, Prophecy Coil Bracelet
Our obligations extend to the seventh generation and beyond, but its is given to us to know the truth of that future only distantly, through the wisdom and illumination of dreams, visions, prophecy. Wings gives form and shape to the symbolism of such transcendent gifts of the spirits in the luminescent spiral of this coil. Either end is anchored with round orbs of pure polished jet, the color of shadow and night and other forms of darkness. Each end moves gently at first, flowing first into the lambent shades of gold-lip mother-of-pearl shell, thence into the brighter, purer light of white-lip mother-of-pearl shell, both symbolic of our small yet powerful dreams. Each end of the spiral then extends into radiant Labradorite, flashing the blue fire of higher atmospheres and representing the greater power of visions each of these converges at the center in a short expanse of transcendent kyanite, translucent blue with the shimmer of a thousand stars and the pure light of prophetic wisdom. Memory wire expands and contracts to fit nearly any wrist. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. Sixth in The Truth Collection, the final entry in The Seventh Fire Series.
Memory wire; jet; gold-lip mother-of-pearl shell; white-lip mother-of-pearl shell; Labradorite; kyanite
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
None of these efforts exist in a vacuum, of course, nor do our lives. One of the purposes of going well through life, in accordance with the ways the spirits have given to us, is to ensure a better world for the generations to come. It is also incidental, in a way; we are meant to learn, to act, to be brave and show honor, to seek wisdom and illumination and truth, all for their own sake. But amid the dangers of a colonial society, they become agents of prophecy, too. We are, if some elders are right, squarely within the Seventh Fire of our existence now, and the risks are as high or higher than ever before. If we (or, perhaps more accurately, our descendants) are to emerge into the new Indigenous world of the Eighth Fire, we must not merely seek the truth but act it. We must be truth itself. And so our final entry in this collection, and in the series, honors the fire — the literal fire of our existence, and the symbolic fire of prophecy, both agents of cleansing, of healing and harmony, of illumination and, yes, truth. From its description:
The Seventh Fire Coil Bracelet
Truth lives in the illuminating fires of prophecy, and prophecy tells us that The People must live, with honor and bravery, wisdom and a good heart, through seven stages of the world. When we inhabit and transcend the Seventh Fire, we shall emerge into the Eighth, a world of whole and harmonious Indigenous sovereignty and spirit. Wings honors the prophecy and the world it promises with this last in collection and series alike, an eponymous coil of fire and light. Small round orbs of tourmaline in shades of red and gold anchor either end of the spiral; matched pairs of deeply-hued amber barrel beads separate them from the next segment, a length of green garnet shot through with rusty red fire. More amber connects the garnet to the somewhat larger round beads of red tiger’s eye, the color of wine and impossibly chatoyant. Another amber pair leads to the dusky atmospheric beauty of ruby, large round orbs of mysterious mulberry-red smoke, followed by more amber and lengths of large Labradorite spheres, the gray of the heavens refracting the purer blue light of the place where the spirits dwell. At the center, representing the world of the Eighth Fire, sit four large faceted barrel beads, Eyes of Spirit rendered in smoky quartz, manifestations of not only the fires of prophecy but those of wisdom, guidance, and pure illumination. Memory wire expands and contracts to fit nearly any wrist. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. Seventh in The Truth Collection, the final entry in The Seventh Fire Series.
Memory wire; tourmaline; amber; green garnet; red tiger’s eye; ruby; Labradorite; smoky quartz
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Of the seven collections in this series, this is, to my mind, perhaps Wings’s best — symbolically, yes, but aesthetically, too. It’s natural, perhaps; in our way, beauty is found in harmony, in wisdom. Beauty lives in bravery, in generosity, in wisdom, in love, in humility, in respect . . . and perhaps most of all, in truth. All of these virtues live in each other; they are as inextricably intertwined as the fragrant strands of a sweetgrass braid.
For now, though, we move forward — emergent, in a small way, into the new year of Mother Earth and the new world born with it. It is a world of opportunity, of the chance to start anew on some fronts, to heal the harms of others.
It is also a world that exists, whether humankind recognizes it or not, in the prophetic light of truth. Let us hope we find ourselves up to the task of meeting it.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2018; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
