We have spent the week traveling the circular path laid out by the medicine wheel. Now, however, it’s time to set the wheel upright, and see how it transforms the way.
Today’s featured work appeared in Tuesday’s post, an entry in our Indigenous Arts series. That post was an exploration of the medicine wheel as it appears in Native art, as subject and object, model and metaphor, intertribal talisman and symbol of spirit. In that post, this piece occupied a wholly symbolic space, one that drew on the circular imagery of the wheel and its link to the four directions. As I said then:
When I wrote about this ring here back in late 2014, I referred to it as “a little wearable medicine wheel.” As I said then:
It’s solid, substantial, and seamlessly one. It’s impossible to tell that it was once four separate strands of silver, now melded together.
It’s a perfect representation of the wheel, and of the sacred hoop.
This work was, as I also noted then, one of a series of four rings that Wings created as a collection in miniature, all wrought from the same raised and textured wire, but each in differing combinations and with differing detail. This one was the most substantial, consisting as it does of four separate strands of raised sterling silver wire, all brought together into one solid wide band. Of the four, it has always been my favorite — despite its big bold appearance, it is extraordinarily comfortable to wear, its inner band silky-smooth. From its description in the Rings Gallery here on the site:
Four Ring
The cardinal directions. The elements. The seasons of the year. The stages of life. Over and over, the number four appears in indigenous cultures as a marker of the significant and the sacred. Keep its symbolism close to hand with this simple, elegant band hand-wrought in sterling silver. The ring itself is made of four individual pieces, two pairs: one pair of slender strands of triangle wire, peaks ever so slightly elevated, fused in the center; flanked by another pair of strands of half-round wire, one strand melded at either edge. The four pieces are soldered together, fused so completely that they appear to have been milled from a single heavy piece of silver. Unisex; sizeable.
Sterling silver
$195 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Walking the wheel — or, as we Natives ourselves are more likely to put it, the hoop — is a difficult task even at the best of times. For us mere mortals, it’s never a perfect circle; there are diversions and digressions and detours, sometimes lengthy ones, often ones that meander for miles over a winding, twisting path. The challenge is never to lose sight of the the hoop itself, nor to lose its spirit within the soul.
Sometimes, retaining both sight and spirit require looking at the path before us from a new vantage point: setting the wheel upright, allowing it to roll forward and lead the way. Who couldn’t use a little reminder, a little permanent inspiration, to help with what can sometimes be such a heavy task?
~ 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.
