Do you ever wonder how the world holds together?
Have you ever risen at dawn to see light of fading stars bedazzle Grandmother Spider’s web?
Have you ever watched the setting sun turn winter aspens into an outstretched embrace of silvered bones?
This is how the world holds as one: its many constituent organs, its offspring, braiding themselves together to keep her spinning on her axis just one more day.
It’s easy to recognize the role of the earth — land, soil, rock. They are solid, foundational, the substance upon which all else rests . . . and, indeed, from which all else emerges, at least in some cosmologies. The sky is noticeable, too, for its ability to provide a roof, to hold in the atmosphere and send the rains to renew life.
Less obvious is the role of the light.
Oh, we know, as surely as we know our grade-school science, that the sun is the center of our solar system, the great burning star around which our lives revolve, and upon which they all depend. No sun, no warmth, no life — and certainly no light. The moon the world regards as lesser, though in our way, that would be a mistake; smaller does not mean lesser, nor does difference, in terms of the value of a spirit’s power.
But the stars are too-oft ignored.
They are much further distant, true; we do not feel (at least not in a way that it is given to us to notice) the warmth provided by their far-off light. Indeed, we don’t really even regard them as bearers, much, of light; more pinpricks in the black velvet blanket of night.
But they are essential to us, too, and in our way, they have their own stories and roles and fully realized identities, both individually and as members of their clans, the constellations. And in the darkest hours of the night, they, too, weave a web to embrace the cosmos, one dimly lit yet spangled with beads seemingly wrought of diamond and light.
On their own, they are powerful spirits, too, some tricksters, others guardians and guides. The Dawn Star counts herself most often among the latter, a being of light whose reach embraces all directions, and among whose functions is to herald the rising of the sun. And it is she whose spirit Wings caught and wove into today’s featured work. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Daybreak Cuff Bracelet
It is the Dawn Star who brings the day. Wings pays tribute to her power and gift with this slender cuff bracelet. the focal point is a sizeable hand-made bead of sterling silver ingot, a three-dimensional spheroid that evokes the shape of the sky and is centered by a rising Morning Star created by separate hand-stamped patterns. The star is flanked by two round cabochons of delicately spiderwebbed turquoise in robin’s-egg blue, the color of the dawn. The band is edged on either side by a descending chased pattern of crescent moons, reflecting her withdrawal to make way for the bright blue light of daybreak. Down the center of the band on either side, a repeating motif of Eyes of Spirit reminds us that, day, night, or the threshold spaces between, guidance and wisdom are always there. Another view shown below.
Sterling silver; turquoise
$425 + shipping, handling, and insurance
I arose this morning as the stars were fading, fast replaced by the brighter glow of the sun, to a world awakening in the embrace of the day’s illumination. Now, as Father Sun descends and the stars make ready to rise, the skeletal branches of the trees are silhouetted against the amber of the western sky, the earth too descends to its rest, cradled safely in the web of a softer light.
~ 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.
