As I write, the light is brilliant but fading fast. Night falls now ever earlier, and the glow at the horizon will not last much longer.
At this season, no storm is required for us to seek the grace of the light.
It’s true in other ways, as well; countdown to the Solstice notwithstanding, the whole world has grown progressively dimmer, colder, as bereft of the illumination of wisdom as it is of tangible light. Without a change, and soon, survival is no sure thing.
We live by the light in a darkening world, and we need it more than ever now.
With today’s all-new work, Wings has summoned into being both the light and its bearer, one who manages his task in ways literal and metaphorical, each as priceless as the other. From its description in the Necklaces Gallery here on the site:
Light In a Darkening World Necklace
We live by the light in a darkening world. Sometimes, it’s illumination of an answer to a prayer; at others, it’s the bolt of lightning that brightens our path in the storm. Wings summons light and bearer alike with this powerful necklace, one in which Eagle, the messenger of the spirits, transcends his usual heights to become Thunderbird, the bearer of lightning who commands the winds and summons the storm. His great bold form is cut freehand of sterling silver, beak firmly hooked, tailfeathers spread and wings arcing wide and strong. Tailfeathers are hand-scored with long, clean lines; symbols of the light in the shape of the sunrise in all its forms articulate their top and bottom and the coverts of his great wings. A single tiny hoop creates his lone fierce eye, accented above and below by tiny scalloped brackets. Over his heart, a highly domed cabochon of brilliant boulder opal in the shape of an inverted teardrop rests in the embrace of a scalloped bezel trimmed with twisted silver, the opal forming a great bolt of visionary blue lightning down the surface of the earthy host rock. To his lower right he carries a single round jewel in the shade of the storm’s own mysterious light, translucent violet iolite that picks up the colors in the bead strand. Eagle hangs by way of a sturdy silver bail hand-milled in the whorled rocky pattern, suspended from a lengthy strand of large round Labradorite beads, uncommonly blue and iridescent, interspersed with lengths of smaller round sterling silver beads. Pendant hangs 3″ long by 2-1/4″ across at the widest point; bail is 9/16″ across; boulder opal cabochon is 1″ long by 1/4″ across at the widest point; iolite cabochon is 3/16″ across; bead strand is 18-3/4″ long (dimensions approximate). Full views of the full bead strand shown at top and below.
Sterling silver; boulder opal; iolite; Labradorite
$2,000 + shipping, handling, and insurance
This is one of Wings’s masterpieces: a return to one of his old designs and established spirits, given new form and shape along the arc of the light itself. It’s Eagle, he who carries our prayers to Spirit — and if we are lucky, returns with the illumination of the answer we seek.
To me, of course, he is also Thunderbird, that great wingéd spirit of storm and sky, the one who send the light to earth in brilliant blue bolts that break the blinding cover of the gale. In this instance, he not only bears the name chosen to lend to me, but my birthstone above his heart.
And now, night is nearly here. Dusk descends with the waning sun; darkfall is only moments away. But for this night, we are reminded that prayer functions much like lightning: generating, perhaps, a bolt from the deepest of blues, but also the illumination that will help us find our way again. We live by the light in a darkening world, and on this day, at least, it is enough.
~ 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.
