This week, we are exploring the stars — both the actual stars that dwell in the skies above us, and the art that personifies their spirits in ways we may more immediately understand.
And understanding can be difficult. High-powered telescopes and planetary robots and space station satellites notwithstanding, it’s still impossible for us to touch the stars in a literal way. And that’s for the best, of course: any attempt to do so would burn us as badly as the sun burned Hawk’s feathers when he tried to bring its light across the sky. It’s not wholly metaphor, but it works in that way, too. We humans are prone to rushing headlong into the unknown, to and to taking foolish risks with regard even to known dangers. We are often fearful creatures, but we too often have no clear calculus of our own mortality, physical and spiritual alike. We wish to touch the stars, without remembering that their fire burns.
At times such as this, we mere mortals need a scout: a shrewd spirit able to reconnoiter risky places and navigate dangerous spaces, one with the recall to be able to bring back a clear-eyes assessment of the lay of land, one with the strength and courage to be able to guide us safely there.
At one time or another, we all need a star scout.
Wings has caught the spirit of such a guide with today’s featured work: a miniature medicine shield that holds the spirit of the Dawn Horse as he races agilely between the stars. From its description in the Necklaces Gallery here on the site:
The Star Scout Necklace
Sometimes we all need a spirit scout to help find us find our way in healing and harmony. An Indian paint horse races across the vaulted night sky, scouting a path among the stars. Horse and stars alike are sterling silver overlays within a constellation of cabochons the color of the night sky, one placed at the each of the cardinal directions. On the reverse, a healing hand rests at the center, flanked by directional arrows aimed at the ordinal points. The shimmery textured effect of the pony’s paint coat, like the edge of the galaxy through which he runs, is created through thousands of individually-hammered strikes of a tiny round stamp. Two tassels of genuine horsehair trail downward from sterling silver squash blossoms. The entire pendant hangs suspended from a strand of antique sterling silver “doughnut” beads polished to a mirror sheen’ at each end of the strand are eight square lapis lazuli beads, finished off with eight smaller round sterling silver beads in a Florentine finish. Beads hang just over 19″; pendant is 3.5″ wide and 4″ high from bail to end of tassels; tassels hang 1-5/8″ from rings to tips. Close-up and reverse views shown at the link.
Sterling silver; lapis lazuli; horsehair
$2,000 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Our own horses are terrestrial guides, teaching us daily. They are spiritual guides, too, and scouts of our hearts: Two found their way to us half-dead; the other two have developed their own health problems that have proven to be a test of our dedication and devotion. All four see into our souls, even as they see the world around us through eyes more penetrating than our own.
When it comes to understanding our cosmos, we could do far worse than to follow their lead. The same is true when it comes to understanding the depth of feeling and commitment that lives in our spirits.
~ 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 owners.
