Every day now, the Earth’s robes grow a little more faded, a little more threadbare. This is the season when she shows us the most of herself, increasingly unadorned, daring us to find the beauty in bare ground.
And it is there.
There are many parts of this land mass where that truth is not so obvious, but here, it’s undeniable, inescapable. So much of our world here is built upon soil and rock, sand and slate, clay and craggy cliff face, that to deny the beauty of the ground upon which we walk is to reject the beauty and spirit of the land itself. This is a place of a thousand thousand earth tones, bands of browns and shades of gray and shimmering metals precious in ways that far exceed the financial markets. Mica, quartzite, mysterious staurolites — all are not merely indigenous to the earth here but organic, a naturally-occurring aspect of its very substance and spirit.
Today’s featured work captures the truth of this land’s essential, elemental beauty, one with a distinctly feminine aspect. From its description in the Necklaces Gallery here on the site:
Earth Mother/Mother Earth Necklace
Earth Mother/Mother Earth, two spirits in one: The latter births the former, the former emerges from the very being of the latter. Wings summons this most elemental spirit of the Sacred Feminine into being in this necklace, one to hang beneath the throat and over the heart. She is wrought, freehand, out of sterling silver, arms stretched high above her head to embrace the universe, separated from head and body by delicate ajouré cutwork. She dances, swaying gently, as she emerges from the womb of the earth itself, all red canyons and warm rocky soil beneath a gray and stormy sky; her face is pure golden light, the radiance of sun and moon reflected off the surface of the world. Her body, and that of the earth, is formed from a bold oval cabochon of exquisite picture jasper set into a hand-made, hand-scalloped bezel; her face appears in the form of a spectacularly chatoyant golden-brown tiger’s eye, highly domed and radiating out of a saw-toothed bezel. She hangs suspended from a bail fashioned of wide sterling silver pattern wire molded in a fertile and flowering pattern, through which cascades a strand of hand-made African barrel beads of varnished bone strung on a sterling silver snake chain. Pendant, including bail, hangs 3″ long; pendant only is 2.5″ long by 1-3/16″ across at the widest point; bail is 5/8″ long by 5/16″ across; picture jasper cabochon is 1-3/16″ long by 13/16″ across at the widest point; tiger’s eye cabochon is 1/2″ long by 1/4″ across at the widest point; bead strand is 20″ long (dimensions approximate). Side view of hand-scalloped bezel shown below. Jointly designed by Aji and Wings.
Sterling silver; picture jasper; tiger’s eye; varnished African bone beads
$1,275 + shipping, handling, and insurance
As I look outside the window, I see less green than yesterday, grass receding and ceding space to the rich brown soil beneath. It is dry now, ready for the rains forecast for tomorrow and the next day, yet still healthy. As the mountain stands of deciduous trees release their leaves to the cold, we are permitted a plainer view of the alpine tundra and rocky cliff faces now, faces that catch the rays of the dawn light and refract a shimmering glow around the peaks.
Here, at their feet, we make ready for winter. But while we work, we recognize and honor the faces and facets of the Earth at this season, and the beauty in bare ground.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2019; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
