In our way, love is a gift.
It’s an expression with not a single meaning, but many: Love is a gift, a blessing, a virtue, an obligation. It is the bond between parent and child, between individual and community, between us and the earth and her spirits.
It is that which links lovers, partners, spouses: attraction, romance, fidelity, things too deep and mysterious to name.
Today’s feature is actually seven features in one. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Wings has released his latest entry in The Seventh Fire Series, one representing an especially timely virtue: The Love Collection.
We have spent the month thus far looking at different manifestations of love. It’s a complex emotion, one that links us to each other as individuals, to our families and clans and cultures and broader communities, to the ancestors and to future generations we can only dimly imagine, to our world and to the world of the spirits. But in light of the holiday that falls two short days hence, Wings has named the pieces in this collection for that other form of love: romantic love, the sort that kindles a fire in one’s heart and binds one’s spirit to that of another. The seven coils this collection comprises are long on reds, the hue most associated with the day, and with its kin along the color spectrum. And they assume a logical order, one that begins with two people apart, and ends without ending, in an eternal love in the world of the spirits.
Love rarely begins in full flower, of course. First come dreams:
Love Dreams Coil Bracelet
We all dream of the gift of love, of loving and being loved in return. Wings captures the wistful, ephemeral nature of such desires, daydream and slumber and vision alike, in this first coil bracelet in The Love Collection. It begins at either end with hematite rondels, wispy bits of mist and smoke, parting to show the clear sky of daydreams manifest in chunky blue turquoise nuggets. The hematite veil separates day from night, then flows into twilight captured in chips of brilliant amethyst. The clouds descend again before dawn breaks: first, as plump rounded nuggets of deep-red garnet, like the clouds that herald Father Sun’s arrival ahead of the soft pink glow at the horizon, thence flowing into large doughnut rondels of strawberry quartz, their color created by the crimson inclusions of earthy iron oxide. The soft rose segment of strawberry quartz is flanked at either end by a single free-form bead of luminous labradorite, like Eyes of Spirit sent to inspire the dreamer to pursue a life of love. Beads are strung on memory wire, which expands and contracts to fit virtually any wrist. Jointly designed by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; garnet; strawberry quartz; amethyst; blue turquoise; labradorite; hematite
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
But sometimes attraction does not produce harmony, at least at first. Sometimes, a little help, a little medicine, is required, even if its only effect is to boost the lovers’ self-confidence:
Love Medicine Coil Bracelet
In some cultures, it’s a charm; in others, more literal medicine; in still others, something more elemental yet. It’s love medicine, an aid in the seeking of love, sought for its talismanic power and ability to inspire love in the object of one’s affections, or at least in one’s confidence to approach him or her. Here, Wings brings together elemental medicine motifs in a charm that assumes a spiraling shape and power. The coil is anchored at either end with earthy round onyx beads that flow into larger round beads of sardonyx, red and orange and brown and black and white marbled together like the elements and the winds all melding in a powerful storm. Bright orange carnelian in polished nuggety chips lead toward a second length of sardonyx, all leading to a center segment of seven large round beads of deep red jasper, each highly polished and aswirl in mysterious wisps of color.Beads are strung on memory wire, which expands and contracts to fit virtually any wrist. Jointly designed by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; red jasper; carnelian; sardonyx; onyx
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
For many of our peoples, courting has historically followed a specific trajectory. One step that announces the courtship to the community is the serenade of the courting flute:
The Courting Flute Coil Bracelet
The courting flute is a traditional Native red cedar flute, carved and painted at the end in the form and shape of a bird’s head. A young man who wishes to court a young woman will announce his attentions publicly by serenading her from outside her lodge, giving her an opportunity to respond, but from a respectful distance. Here, Wings pays homage to the cranes and woodpeckers and other birds whose song the courting flute borrows with a spiraling melody of coppery reds. At the center are faceted round orbs of smoky quartz flanked by fiery amber that flows, lava-like, into segments of round blood-red jasper beads. Each length of jasper ends in more smoky quartz, flanked at either end by amber. Toward either end, tiny nuggets of soft red branch coral terminate in old-style faceted copper barrel beads. Beads are strung on memory wire, which expands and contracts to fit virtually any wrist. Jointly designed by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; red jasper; smoky quartz; amber; branch coral; copper
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
If courtship is successful, attraction flowers into passion. And passion stirs the blood and warms the spirit:
Fire In the Blood Coil Bracelet
Love stirs a fire in the blood, a vortex of longing and desire. Wings pays tribute to its power with the fourth coil in The Love Collection, a spiral of doughnut rondel beads in earthy, elemental colors. Each end begins with a length of small hematite beads, earth tempered by fire, flowing thence into slightly larger segments of brightly polished copper. All of the gemstone beads are separated by lengths of copper. The gemstones begin with light red carnelian, flow into dark red carnelian the color of blood, then move into the ethereal rose of strawberry quartz. At the center, fourteen large scarlet rondels of dyed bamboo coral glow brighter than flame. Beads are strung on memory wire, which expands and contracts to fit virtually any wrist. Jointly designed by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; dyed bamboo coral; strawberry quartz; dark and light carnelian; copper; hematite
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Eventually, lovers may decide to join their lives together. In the marriage ceremony, they offer their hearts to each other:
Hearts Coil Bracelet
With the fifth coil in The Love Collection, Wings honors marriage directly, invoking a couple’s act of giving their hearts to each other. A length of fiery amber lives at the center, flanked at either end by a single shell heart fetish, the paired hearts of name and act alike. From the hearts, the coil flows outward into glossy carnelian nuggets the color of blood and fire and light, thence to dark red carnelian and then light red carnelian rondels. Each gemstone segment is separated by brilliant copper beads; the coil terminates at either end in earthy green turquoise chips. Beads are strung on memory wire, which expands and contracts to fit virtually any wrist. Jointly designed by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; dark and light carnelian; shell hearts; copper; green turquoise
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Marriage ceremonies take a variety of forms, but some features appear across cultures. Among these are the wedding vase, which features two spouts joined in a single vase; the wrapping of the couple in a new wedding blanket, to symbolize their union; and the wedding song, which may be written and performed by one or both partners to their new spouses:
Wedding Song Coil Bracelet
For couples who have chosen well in love, the wedding song that celebrates their union will become the harmony of their lives. Wings pays tribute to song and ceremony with a coil bracelet in ethereal tones, color as melody and light as dance. It begins with a length of brilliant amethyst chips at either end; a small segment of abalone shell separates amethyst from misty rose-colored rondels of strawberry quartz. The quartz is bisected and terminated by more abalone, leading to a long line of round, full nuggets of highly polished garnet. At the center, seven garnet nuggets are flanked at either end by a single shell heart fetish, representing the hearts of the wedded lovers. Beads are strung on memory wire, which expands and contracts to fit virtually any wrist. Jointly designed by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; garnet; strawberry quartz; amethyst; shell hearts; abalone shell
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
For lucky couples, their entire life together is a wedding song. This does not mean, of course, that their marriage will be without difficulty ; it only means that their love lasts, throughout their lives together and beyond:
Spirit Lovers Coil Bracelet
With the seventh and final coil in The Love Collection, Wings celebrates a love that transcends space and time, one strong enough to last into the spirit world beyond. At the coil’s heart are fourteen round blood-red jasper beads, each with a mysterious matrix that hints at other worlds, of the heart and other realms. The jasper is flanked at either end by a segment of glossy onyx barrel beads leading to a length of round faceted smoky quartz like small glowing Eyes of Spirit. At their outer reaches, more onyx barrel beads are bisected by a short length of marbled sardonyx. The onyx terminates in a segment in a smaller round shape, the two forms separated by a single clear faceted glass crystal bead: a soul become Eye of Spirit, still joined in more ethereal worlds.Beads are strung on memory wire, which expands and contracts to fit virtually any wrist. Jointly designed by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; red jasper; smoky quartz; glass crystal; sardonyx; onyx
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
In times such as these, it is easy to focus on the need for resistance, for a strong and courageous warrior spirit, to the exclusion of all else. But what makes such acts of bravery possible is love: love of our families, our culture and clan, our communities; love of our ancestors and our traditions and our tongues and our future generations; love of our Mother Earth and all the spirits who inhabit our world and the worlds beyond this one.
And love of a person with whom to share one’s life.
In dark times, love itself is resistance.
Love is enough.
~ 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.
