Thus far this week, we’ve been looking at directionality and navigation, at the many ways in which we chart a path through our world. Wings’s latest work embodies these concepts in a spectacularly beautiful way, one that especially fits this season between seasons, this threshold period in which the weather steadfastly refuses to settle on either hot or cold, but in which our world is marked by alternating periods of fire and ice. From their description in the Earrings Gallery here on the site:
A World of Fire and Ice Earrings
Grandmother Turtle holds on her back our world in all its elemental glory. The plates of her shell are our earth and waters, mapping the land and the changing of the seasons. Wings captures those transformational moments in these earrings, sterling silver settings embodying the spirit of our Grandmother who gave our ancestors, the First People, the shelter and safety of a home on dry land. Each diminutive turtle is cut freehand with a tiny jeweler’s saw, then hand-stamped in fine and meticulous detail. Dozens of tiny circles form the scales of her textured skin, with hoops for eyes, flowering spirits for legs, and the powerful badger’s paw for a tail. Around the scalloped bezel at the center of each, the rays of the sun stretch outward. The bezels themselves hold our world: Grandmother’s shell, armor-plated and sectioned into fiery earth and icy waters, summer and winter and all seasons in between, manifest here in oval cabochons of snowflake obsidian, a jewel of fire and ice. Turtles hang 1-3/8″ in total length by 13/16 of an inch across at the widest point; cabochons are 9/16″ long by 3/8″ across at widest point (dimensions approximate). Earrings coordinate with Fire and Ice cuff bracelet and Fire and Ice ring.
Sterling silver; snowflake obsidian
$375 + shipping, handling, and insurance
In this place, such a seasonal description is especially apt: Yesterday began with sunny skies against violet clouds and a warm and comfortable air. By early afternoon, the balmy air had transformed into a storm marked by thunder, lightning, wind, rain, hail, sleet, and even a little snow. By nightfall, Father Sun had appeared again, peering around the corners of the clouds.
It is an unsettled season, one hard on joints and moods alike, one that reminds us just how fierce the elemental powers can be. It’s one that likewise reminds us to be grateful for the relative safety of our world, especially now that that safety is becoming directly imperiled in too many places: where the fires consume all in their path; where the ice threatens to dissolve and swamp the lands set in seas rising too far and too fast. Our elemental world sits on an axis that requires a delicate balance, a dedication ot harmony between land and occupants alike. In some of our oldest stories, when we emerged from the void, it was Grandmother Turtle who created our world by giving us the shell upon her back, a place where we could survive amidst the surrounding seas and forces of Nature too powerful for our mortal bodies. We have not treated this world with the honor and respect, the grace and thanks it is due, and if we are not careful, we will soon find ourselves mapping a new world of fire and ice that we will, in the end, find impossible to navigate.
We have, I suspect, long since passed several tipping points. The task now is most likely a combination of amelioration and planning for future reclamation, the latter act one that will necessarily be performed by future generations. Fro now, Wings’s latest work has reminded me to look to my own role in the process. After all, it is our actions, our deliberate steps on the path around the hoop today that will map the world Grandmother Turtle provides a world for our children . . . unto the seventh generation and beyond.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
