We have awakened, these last two morning, to Nature’s own cosmic joke: several inches of heavy wet snow falling hard on the heels of seventy-degree days. This is spring in this place, where the only reliable indicator of weather is the assurance of uncertainty.
Amidst other events of recent days, we are feeling not merely buffeted but battered by spring winds and capricious circumstance alike. At tunes like this, it takes a concerted, conscious effort to remind myself that that which brings the storm also brings the rain (or, today, snow) that sustains us, that keeps our world here, and us in it, alive.
Perhaps it’s fitting, then, that Wings should have just completed these earrings on Thursday evening. I watched them take shape, and knew that they would be something very special, but I was unprepared for the way the symbolism with which they are so thoroughly imbued would speak to me. From their description in the Earrings Gallery here on the site:
From All Directions Earrings
Sometimes we need protection from the winds that seem to buffet us from all directions. Sometimes, great gifts and blessings arrive on those same winds. Wings captures the dichotomous nature of our journey around the hoop with these earrings, jet-black onyx and silver polished so highly it’s nearly white, that embody the power of the winds and the sacred directions: gifts simultaneously of wild unharnessed power and of shelter from the storm. The settings are representations of the Sacred Directions, those reaches of our world guarded by the winds, that here encompass both cardinal and ordinal points. Each is cut freehand from sterling silver, with the spoke at each cardinal point gently curved on the end to imply the arcing shape of the hoop and impart a sense of motion around it. At the center of each, the vortex: a large round onyx cabochon, like a pool of liquid jet, resting gently in a scalloped bezel and trimmed with twisted silver. Settings are 1.75″ high by 1.75″ across; cabochons are .75″ across (dimensions approximate). Earrings are a companion work to Dance of the Whirlwind Spirits, in the Necklaces Gallery.
Sterling silver; onyx
$725 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The photo is deceptive: It does not begin to give the viewer a true sense of proportion, of the size and substance of these earrings. They are big, bold, solid, and wholly indigenous Southwestern in style, classic in shape and iconic in symbolism. The pattern is one that evokes multiple motifs, from the invocation of the Sacred Directions described above to the spirit of sun and life and sacred hoop to the pairing of thunderhead symbols that, once joined, create their own iteration of the sacred space.
When paired with the necklace as noted in the description above, these take on a whole new sense of meaning. They’ve already become one of my favorites, inspired, inspirited, and infused with power.
At times like this, such imagery sustains the spirit, my own included.
~ 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.
