We began the last week with silver horses, those who ride the soft glow of dawn and those whose hooves beat solely upon the earth. We have finished it with other spirits of earth and sky, the tiny fierce wingéd ones who ride the winds and the flowering sources of nectr on which they feed.
And through it all, a common thread, a filament, has been the light.
The light put on a spectacular display here yesterday: Morning Star giving way to a hazy sun, thence to bright turquoise skies adorned with white thunderheads too bright for human eyes; a midday storm, skies blue-black and riven by a solitary lightning bolt from the center of heaven all the way to earth; hail, wind, all light snuffed out by walls of dirt furiously reaching for the rotation in the clouds; a brief silver shimmer descending as momentary rain; a low-arcing spectrum between and below the peaks, a rainbow painting the slopes in watercolor hues; and finally, clear skies ending in a bright white moon and stars afloat across a darkened sky.
Today, our world here seems much calmer, much quieter, although a storm is not impossible. But the air has the feel of early autumn, when the last storms of the summer rainy season have spent themselves, leaving our small world wrung out and resting, the better to regain its energy for the hardships of winter.
In the absence of ordinary summer, of the flowering gifts to which we are accustomed, in the face of a far-too-early fall, we may still look to the light to find our way.
Today’s featured work captures this phenomenon, this gift of the spirits — a lodestar blossoming into petals of starlight. From its description in the Buckles Gallery here on the site:
Morning Star Blossoms Belt Buckle
At this buckle’s center, a Morning Star is surrounded by images of the setting crescent moon. Edging the buckle are hand-stamped representations of squash blossoms, slowly unfolding with dawn’s arrival. Buckle is 2″ long by 1-5/8″ high (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver
$255 + shipping, handling, and insurance
This is one of Wings’s older works, small, spare, simple, but no less powerful for that. It’s one that he designed specifically to be worn between worlds and across lines. What the outside world has come to regard as “Native” jewelry is so often of a sort that most can wear comfortably only within certain limited contexts. Wings prefers to design for living, for the way people actually go through their day-to-day lives, from work to school to recreation to spiritual pursuits to simple existence — and to infuse his works with the guiding and protective spirits that people actually need in their daily lives.
Guidance is one such spirit; protection, too. So is wisdom, and the illumination that goes with it.
Our world is changing, faster than we can perceive it. It will take a great deal of work on our part to adapt, to evolve, to grow. But as we reach and turn, seeking to blossom and thrive like the hardy wildflowers immune even to our current drought, even in the darkest hours, petals of starlight will help us find our way.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2018; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
