Today dawned cold and perfectly clear, but the chill soon dissipated, leaving us for the second or third day in a row with unseasonally high temperatures. There is precious little chance of any snow even in the extended forecast, and it appears that the drought has settled back in, clutching the land in a death grip still.
But we hope.
And we pray.
We pray for many things these days, for a healing of the earth and for world healing, whether the topic is climate change or the pandemic that rages unchecked and more deadly than ever or the viral spread of colonial white supremacy and genocide on political and social fronts now. We seek strength and courage and wisdom to manage them all. And we dream of a winter that perhaps now exists only in memory.
But the flames of hope remain stubbornly alive: snow on embers, an evergreen fire.
In our small world here, we are surrounded by the spirits of a more literal evergreen fire, that of the junipers, what my own people call red cedars, that blanket the slopes and dot our own surroundings here at their feet. They are beautiful, graceful trees, subtle and delicate and yet impossibly strong. Their berries are beauty and food and medicine at once, and the wood of their trunks burns hot and fragrant on these cold nights.
Wings has been hard at work building inventory for the winter holiday season, and among the many pieces in the works are new additions to his three gemstone-bead collections — necklaces, earrings, and coil bracelets alike. As has been his wont most recently, he is creating trios of such works, one of each that shares a spirit and more than a passing family resemblance with the other two, but is equally capable of standing entirely on its own. And while the larger work that I had intended to post here today will instead be Wednesday’s feature, tonight we have a full trio, the latest group in these three collections.
We begin with the necklace, one wrought in the fiery shades of the wood itself, in the cooler greens and blues of needle and berry, and in the icy frost of the first snow of the season. From its description in The Beaded Hoop Collection, found in the Necklaces Gallery here on the site:
Snow On Red Cedar Necklace
Early winter delivers a dusting of pure evergreen beauty, snow on red cedar: alive with blue berries; fragrant as firewood. Wings summons this indigenous juniper’s bark, wood, fruit, and frosty adornment into a graceful hoop with this necklace manifest in all tis medicine tree’s shapes and shades. At the venter, a graduated trio of hand-carved mahogany, imported from Africa, alternate with red-willow wood rounds, which in turn alternate with large and luminous ocean jasper orbs in shades of evergreen and gold and white. Longer segments of red willow are accented with snowy freeform moonstone nuggets and more carved mahogany, then extend upward into lengths of smaller ocean jasper orbs in the colors of needles and bark, ending in chunky freeform dumortierite nuggets in the frosted blue-violet hues of juniper berries. Necklace hangs 23″ long, excluding findings (dimensions approximate). Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. Long view shown at the link. Necklace coordinates with Juniper Berries earrings and Evergreen Whirlwind coil bracelet.
Beads: Ocean jasper; mahogany; red willow wood; moonstone; dumortierite
Findings and strand: Sterling silver findings; tri-ply silver-plated foxtail
$375 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The necklace is, perhaps, the tree in toto, inner wood, bark, branches, needles, the rich blues of the juniper berries that adorn its branches like tiny ornaments. But there is less room in the earrings, and so they are manifest in the colors of the outer robes of these deceptively fragile-looking spirits. From their description in The Standing Stones Collection, found in the Earrings Gallery:
Juniper Berries Earrings
Winter evergreens are ornamented by juniper berries, bright blue jewels of beauty and medicine. Wings honors them and the trees that bear their powerful fruits with these earrings, dangling strands of beads strung on sterling silver wire. Each drop is centered by a large round ocean jasper focal bead in glossy marbled shades of dark forest green, each flanked by the chunky berries and textured branches, evoked by way of freeform nuggets of frosted violet dumortierite separated by delicately hand-carved orbs of mahogany imported from Africa. Each earring hangs 2.25″ long, excluding sterling silver earring wires (dimensions approximate). Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. Earrings coordinate with Snow On Red Cedar necklace and Evergreen Whirlwind coil bracelet.
Sterling silver; ocean jasper; mahogany; dumortierite
$155 + shipping, handling, and insurance
And while each red cedar tree stands strong on its own, up on the mountain slopes they can be found grouped together in some places — triangular and upright, their boughs creating a funnel-like effect in the fierce winter storms that sweep down through the peaks. In such places, the storm becomes a vortex of blue-green branches and flying snow, and the third of today’s featured works honors their animating force. From its description in The Coiled Power Collections, found in the Bracelets Gallery:
Evergreen Whirlwind Coil Bracelet
In this mountainous land, winter storms produce an evergreen whirlwind, boughs circling and dancing as their tops whisper and sing. Wings summons them to the storm and the dance with this coil bracelet manifest in the colors of the wooded slopes in winter. At the center sits a segment of large, luminous orbs of ocean jasper in the rich greens of juniper needles and the gold and red shades of their red cedar wood and bark. Hand-carved spheres of imported African mahogany alternate with chunky berry-like nuggets of dumortierite in rich frosted blues, glossy red willow wood rounds, and smaller ocean jasper orbs, while tiny bloodstone rounds in the greens and reds of needle and wood set off each segment and anchor the ends. Beads are strung on memory wire, which expands and contracts to fit nearly any wrist. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. Other views shown at the link. Bracelet coordinates with Snow on Red Cedar necklace and Juniper Berries earrings.
Memory wire; ocean jasper; dumortierite; mahogany; red willow wood; bloodstone
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Taken together, this informal series is a stunning collection of oppositional forces, of the elemental powers of fire and water in its frozen form, both mediated by the strong trunks and the rich greens of needles thoroughly alive.
They shall need the snow to survive this dry season.
So shall we.
But forecast notwithstanding, hope remains: snow on embers, an evergreen fire.
~ 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.
