More cold today, but with greater clarity and markedly less wind.
Here, we count that as a plus.
We also count as a plus the fact that there remain several inches of snow cover on the ground. This is what winter should be here, but has not been for too many years now. The cold is a gift so long as it comes with snow; with wind only, it becomes something far more dangerous, both immediately and over the long term.
But this sort of cold requires the counterbalancing warmth of a good fire, and one newly-stoked is blazing behind my chair right now, as well as one in the larger woodstove on the other side of the house. We had two, and we pressed them both into service when we built the house, knowing that they, combined with the insulation of adobe warmed by the sun, would be our only source of heat.
More than three years on, they continue to serve the purpose well.
If only the no less real cold inflicted now by the forces of colonialism and political cowardice and an unchecked viral pandemic were so easily handled.
Our peoples, through hard and brutal experience, know better than to believe in pretty words now. But grasping the reality of it does nothing to change it, and mere acceptance is no option. We need to recommit ourselves to the original teachings now more than ever, to internalize their lessons fully and then act upon them daily, with brave hearts and strong minds and spirits fixed firmly on hope: like the Spirit Bird of so many Indigenous traditions the world over, propelled out of the fire on the flames of the fire within.
Today’s featured work is one of just such feathers and flames, one to inspire hope and inspirit our very selves with all the promise of a better world. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Feathers of the Spirit Bird Cuff Bracelet
Late at night, in the world of dreams, you can feel the warmth of the Phoenix’s fire and the brush of the feathers of the Spirit Bird. With this cuff, Wings summons this otherworldly spirit and its powers of renewal into wearable form. The wide sterling silver band is hand-milled in a repeating pattern of graceful feathers, each barb and shaft articulated in sharp relief on the surface. At the center, in the embrace of a scalloped bezel trimmed with twisted silver, a spectacular round cabochon of Bird of Paradise agate unfurls feathers of fire amidst mist and smoke, Phoenix, Firebird, and Indigenous Spirit Bird at once, arising from the flames to create a new and visionary world. The cuff is 6″ long by 1.25″ wide; the cabochon is 1-3/16″ across (dimensions approximate). Side views shown below.
Sterling silver; Bird of Paradise agate
$1,050 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The feathers that rise from surface of the silver are not the wide fan feathers of wing and tail — and perhaps there is a lesson in that. These are the delicate, curving down feathers that hug close to the body, keeping it warm enough to live, to rise, to fly. At the center of the cuff sits that extraordinary specimen of Bird of Paradise agate, one manifest as the very flames of the spirit itself, red as blood, alive and fully animated. Together, they seem to embody body and heart and spirit, all warmed and lit with hope.
We have a long road ahead of us now; a lot of work, too. Much of it involves the work of pressing politicians to do minimal good, holding their feet to the fire, as the saying goes.
But before that, and after it, too, comes the work on and of ourselves, of stoking the flames of bravery and generosity and wisdom and truth in our spirits, of committing to building a world neither frozen nor in flames. It is these ways that will give us the wings we need to rise: out of the fire, on the flames of the fire within.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
