The forecast pledges rain today. The sun is shining, the air is cool and largely clear, save for the smoke from the nearby wildfire — and yet, the wind is hopeful, holding not humidity itself, but the promise of moisture yet to come.
It feels like the dawn of a perfect summer day in the lands of my own people.
But here, at an elevation of 7,500 feet in an environment of extremes, everything is more: brighter sunlight, wilder clouds, a sharper edge to the wind. This is an earthy, elemental place — breath and lifeblood, heart and soul simultaneously — harsh at the surface, deeply nurturing within.
It is summer, and the spirits of the season go about their work.
The dusty red earth and volcanic outcroppings serve to conceal that which flourishes in plain sight: fertile soil and lush green plant life, thriving ecosystems pollinated by the smallest of spirits: hummingbirds and honeybees, dragonflies and butterflies. It’s no accident that such beings should have come to symbolize, in the way of many of the peoples of these larger lands, fertility and romantic love, the love of the spirits and gifts of abundance.
A day like this is a perfect to celebrate the gifts of such beings, their love for the earth they renew and ours for them in turn. Today’s featured work honors both the spirits and the love they create. From its description in the Necklaces Gallery here on the site:
From the Heart of the Earth Necklace
From the heart of the earth our whole world grows. Wings pays tribute to this evolutionary process with this necklace, a cross that is not a cross, but the embodiment of elemental forces and nurturing spirits. The pendant’s form is a very old design, one that circumvented colonial insistence on Christianity by appearing to adopt its four-spoked shape — and then adding an extra bar and a curving end to produce the form of a much older spirit: that of Dragonfly, a pollinator, a messenger, a symbol of romantic love and life’s abundance. Here, Wings has honored another old adaptation of the style, turning the curved tail at the base of the lowest spoke into a stylized heart. Above the heart, the pendant extends upward and outward to the Four Sacred Directions, each of the remaining five spokes stamped with a single thunderhead symbol pointing inward toward the center, a sign of the rain that keeps our Earth herself alive. Above the top spoke, the hand-made bail flowers into a lush green peridot; at the base in the center of the heart, the place of emergence, two tiny hand-stamped flowers are wedded into the form of a butterfly, a small spirit rising from its own place of emergence to continue the processes of pollination and prosperity. The cross is made of solid fourteen-gauge silver, and hangs 2-5/8″, the bail 3/4″ (the pendant is 3-3/8″ in total length; 1-1/8″ across at the widest point); the stone is 3/8″ long; the pendant hangs from an 18″ sterling silver snake chain (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; peridot
$1,150 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The dragonflies are out today, and so are their butterfly cousins, dancing over the silvery waters of the pond, darting from marsh plant to flower and back again, sharing the gifts of rebirth and abundance. From the heart of the earth, love creates.
~ 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.
