Our workday began with a pair of visitors, here to walk the land with Wings. Over the last three or four years of deepened drought, the fields quite literally burned up: Useable forage is nonexistent, and the lack of new growth opened the soil to all manner of turbulent invaders, creating a dangerously uneven surface. We have had just enough precipitation this winter to make reclaiming the soil feasible, and today, they began making plans for renewing this patch of earth.
It will be a process, one that will come only partially to fruition this year. Aeration, tilling, planting, irrigation, cultivation — all are necessary steps to rehabilitating land that only five years ago was still lush and fertile, alive in the summer with the best hay in the whole region.
Such are the wages of climate change that in less than a half-decade, long years of abundance, itself the fruits of hard, steady, committed labor, can be turned to dust near-overnight.
Living with the land teaches us to pick our battles. There is no point in a full-bore attempt at reclamation when there is no water to be had. And so we have had to the land lie for a few seasons, let it rest, while we hope and pray for better circumstances. Now that we have the prospect of at least some run-off, and perhaps a half-decent rainy season, too, it’s time to get to work.
We are under no illusions with regard to the magnitude of the task. Here at Red Willow, planting and irrigation and harvest are still done mostly in the old way, which means that the warm months are devoted to long hours of hard labor. With a land as burned and broken as the old cottonwood above? The degree of difficulty has been magnified by several fold.
And yet, the cottonwood shows us the promise in — and the wisdom of — what the old ways have to each us still.
Like yesterday’s image, the ones featured throughout today’s post were all captured on the same day in April of 2014, in a single small space down the Gorge, alongside the banks of the Great River in early thaw. It was, as indicated, a little later in the season than now, more green clearly visible. Even so, we have far more nascent green than we would ordinarily expect before winter’s end — a season taking its cues from the bare cottonwoods above, exposing new growth to an early light.
Visible in the image above are new greens of many sorts beneath a pale sun, lighting up both a brown earth and a still-gray sky: new cottonwood leaves, a freshening of the mesquite and chamisa, sage coming once again fully into its own, like the wise old ones with whom it shares a name. It shares a name, too, shades and spirit alike, with the first of today’s featured works. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Sage Coil Bracelet
In some cultures, a sage is a seer, a spiritual leader revered for his or her powers of wisdom and foresight. In ours, sage is equally mystical, a medicine given to us in the form of a plant by which, dried and lit with flame, we cleanse our world and ourselves, and seek the wisdom of the spirits through the prayers its smoke sends spiraling skyward. Wings pays tribute to this medicine of wisdom with this coil bracelet, one in the greens and browns of the plant itself. The coil is anchored at either by a short segment of old-style copper barrel beads; another short segment of tiny green turquoise nuggets emerges from it, as though arising from the earth itself. It then flowers slower, first in the soft spring green of peridot, then in the mysterious hues of nuggety green fluorite, from only a silvery sage-like hint of green to deep teal shades like raw emerald. at the center are seven Eyes of Spirit, glowing oval orbs of diamond-faceted smoky quartz, the source of wisdom and power that the sage’s smoke seeks. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; smoky quartz; green fluorite; peridot; green turquoise; copper
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
As happens often with the cottonwoods, the one shown above is actually two, conjoined at the base of the trunk to share a root system along the banks of the river. It’s an indication of their cooperative, collaborative nature, much like the smaller shrubs with whom they tend to share space here: sage, chamisa, red willow. I tend to think it’s what makes them so long-lived, too, lives that extend past their own mortality, forming shelter for birds and small creatures, continuing their role as the rear guard of erosion control even from the afterlife.
And like the coil above, whether fully, verdantly alive or what the colonial world regards as “dead,” they twist and turn and spiral upward toward the light.
Their form and shape, movement and spirit, call to mind the second and third of today’s featured works, a necklace and a pair of earrings that, while not a perfect match, are intentionally complementary. The former, immediately below, evokes the skies of the photo, pale behind a thin veil of clouds that part here and there to admit shafts of light. From its description in the relevant section of the Necklaces Gallery:
Sherds of Sunlight Necklace
At the threshold between the rainy season and the full clarity of autumn, the world is lit by sherds of sunlight. With this necklace, Wings captures their fragments and places them in the glowing embrace of the landscape’s green and gold. The entire strand is strung on sterling silver bead chain and held by sterling silver findings. At the center, seven large rough-polished and highly-textured citrine nuggets from the necklace’s focal point, each freeform sherd interspersed with paired orbs of shimmering green garnet flanking gold-lip mother-of-pearl shell at the center, bright jade with mother-of-pearl beyond it. The jade flows into small round orbs of deep green malachite flanked by faceted citrine barrel beads, which in turn give way to segments of banded malachite cube beads alternating with faceted citrine. Necklace hangs 18″ long, excluding findings (dimensions approximate). Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. Part of The Beaded Hoop Collection. Coordinates with Closer to the Sun earrings. Long view shown at the link.
Sterling silver; citrine; green garnet; gold-lip mother-of-pearl shell; jade; malachite
$375 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The earrings, on the other hand, invoke the action of the old warrior itself, twisting, turning, reaching always heavenward, like the earth now moving closer to the sun with every passing day. From their description in the relevant section of the Earrings Gallery:
Closer To the Sun Earrings
Summer brings us closer to the sun. Wings honors the Earth’s annual migration with these gemstone bead earrings, small vibrant worlds orbiting a golden center stone spreading warmth and light. Each set of beads is strung on sterling silver wire, top and bottom mirrored solar systems around a large freeform bead of polished citrine. Extending outward at either side, the colors change from a golden glow to verdant greens, with perfectly round beads that move from golden mother-of-pearl shell to the swirling golden hues of green garnet, thence to leafy jade and at last to the summer-grass shade of malachite. Each dangling drop is suspended from sterling silver wires via a delicate silver jump ring. Earrings hang 2.25″ long, excluding wires (dimensions approximate). Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. First in The Standing Stones Collection. Coordinates with Sherds of Sunlight necklace.
Sterling silver; malachite; jade; green garnet; gold mother-of-pearl shell; citrine
$155 + shipping, handling, and insurance
And sometimes, through a break in the branches and the clouds, the sun chooses to share its light directly.
These old warriors are not dead yet, by any measure (or, at least, they were not when Wings captured their images six years ago). The tiny bright green leaves were proof of that. The old trunks resemble another trunked creature, though, they heavy, leathery hide of an elephant: old, thick, scarred by life experience, and fiercely protective, too. It reminds me of the beauty our cultures find in age, a quality associated with a lifetime of accumulated wisdom and the ability to share it in ways that protect not only the present but the future. It reminds me of elders, of ancestors, of spirits, of prayer.
The fourth and final of today’s featured works reminds me of the same powerful forces of nature. It, too, is a spiral of new green and old earth and fiery light; it, too, seeks the wisdom and guidance of the ancestors and more powerful beings yet. It’s wrought in the shape of the hoop and the ways of ceremony, a piece named for an offering and a tool of prayer. From its description in the same section of the Bracelets Gallery as its counterpart above:
Tobacco Coil Bracelet
The spirit of generosity compels us to offer a gift when we seek a favor; it shows respect. It’s customary, when seeking the blessing of the spirits or the assistance of our fellow man or woman, especially an elder, to offer a small gift in the form of tobacco. It shows respect and gratitude, and assures the recipient that his or her assistance is not taken for granted. in our cultures, indigenous tobacco is its own plant, or mix of plants, and Wings summons their spirits with this coil bracelet in the colors of the plants themselves. Dark green fluorite nuggets, as deep in hue as raw emeralds, trace the center of the spiral; to either side, crystalline nuggets of bright lime green peridot, the color of the new plant, stretch outward; and at either end, the strand terminates in tiny green turquoise chips. Each segment of gems is separated by a short length of brilliant amber that glows like the lit bowl of a ceremonial pipe. Beads are strung on memory wire, which expands and contracts to fit nearly and size wrist. Jointly designed by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; green fluorite; peridot; green turquoise; amber
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
In our way, gifts are freely given, but also reciprocated. We were reminded of that today when a friend called in need of help. When he arrived, he had a couple of items for us, too — not a trade, in the sense that capitalism defines that word, but more in the way of a simple acknowledgment.
That is what we do when we offer tobacco: to a friend, to an elder, to the ancestors, to the spirits, to the land itself. It’s an acknowledgment that we come seeking help, answers, a good life, and that we recognize that our relationship is reciprocal. When we harvest sage, or when we plant, does the land need tobacco for anything to grow? Of course not. But the gesture of the offering acknowledges that we are seeking, and most likely will be taking, something of value, and so we are showing respect by offering something back.
In these unsettled and unsettling days, when spring can revert to deep winter at any moment, respect is necessary to survival.
The images above show snapshots of this small space of land along the Río Grande, snapshots of a moment in time and place when the earth had not yet fully found its footing n the new season. The old warriors were there, standing tall, still at work despite weather and time. The sun was there, too, a bit paler than usual, perhaps, but on task all the same. And what in the previous images seemed still a rather bleak landscape?
Step back. Look again. It’s anything but.
Yes, the light is wan and the skies are gray. Yes, the green is light, the leaves still small and sparse.
But in this place, spring was in that moment solidly present, nurturing, exposing new growth to an early light.
It was a place for an offering — one that gave us in return a view of incalculable value and incredible beauty. It gave us, too, a reminder that, like these old warriors who still put in the work, the old ways of the elders, the ancestors, and the spirits show us how to live a good life, one of growth and renewal and abundance.
~ 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.
