Some spirits demand acknowledgment, even where there is nothing more that you can do for them than that.
It’s the case with the elemental forces and cosmic spirits that keep our world in orbit and on its axis: The gifts flow mostly all one way, from them to us, and honoring them for it is the best we can do. The Earth herself is a bit different in that regard, of course; while the gifts of life flow from her to us, our responsibilities to her flow back.
Except, of course, that colonial humankind has not kept up its part of the bargain.
“In sorrow more than anger” is a nice thought, and it’s even likely true in her case, but she is fighting for her life now. Humanity is fortunate indeed that she has not responded as too much of it deserves.
But still the stars watch over us, whole other worlds whose balance depends, in some small way, upon the existence of our own. Galaxies and solar systems, spirit worlds and the cosmologies that sustain them — all are braided inextricably with our own, with this world that colonialism has abused so badly but our own peoples worldwide still fight to save.
Today’s featured work embodies all of these dynamics, the many worlds of whatever multiverses may exist, and the fact that sometimes, acknowledge is all we have to give. It’s true of this work in another way, as well, because this one is spoken for already, sold even as I write. But it is a work so powerful that it deserves its own entry here before it goes. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Cosmologies Cuff Bracelet
We live by, in, of, and through our cosmologies: our origin stories, the biggest of bangs, where stardust and dreams collide and medicine is born. With this cuff bracelet full of not merely worlds but galaxies, whole and entire, Wings honors the stuff of which the universe is created and the form and shape it all gives to our lives. The cuff itself is a wide expanse of heavy sixteen-gauge sterling silver, a bit longer than the standard size and covered from end to end in finely detailed stampwork set between arcing bands scored freehand with his own hand-made stamps. The hammer that created each impression is impossibly heavy, solid iron and steel, wielded freehand hundreds of times to produce a dazzling array of designs and textures, suns and moons, planets and stars, the icy tails of comets and the storms of deepest space, spiral galaxies and whorls of light all brought together in a universe in miniature, all the explosive dust of creation given form and shape by the Creator spirits. The band is slightly more than 6″ long by 1-5/8″ across at the center, tapering and rounded slightly at the ends. Views of each side’s unique stampwork, the ends of the band, and the front shown below.
Sterling silver
$1,500 + shipping, handling, and insurance
SOLD
These are medicines, of cosmologies and cosmos in one, of the vast spirits worlds of sky and space and of the structures and systems they have granted us to live well here upon our own. They are knowledge and wisdom, illumination and guidance, a collection of lights older than time itself, some of them reaching us only as they themselves are surrendering their own spirits to the dark.
We can no longer depend on seeing these lights above us of any particular night; the changed weather patterns have seen to that. Even last night, the smoke-shrouded crescent moon, reddening with its descent, was eclipsed entirely by the arrival of a new and violent storm, its subtle shine supplanted by the flamboyant fire of lightning from all directions.
And yet, we know that she is there. The sun, too, that strongest and most powerful of father figures in our modest cosmos — we know that he is present, even in the dark. So it is with the deeper, older stars, the comets and nebulae and all the spirits of the farthest reaches of the universe: We need not see them to know their presence, nor to benefit from their gifts, their medicine.
And by the same token, we need not have this work in our presence to know its power, as the first in a line of its kind to come. It’s a work that holds the power of cosmologies and cosmos, and its stories must be told.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2021; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
