It rained heavily for two hours yesterday afternoon and again overnight, and shows every sign of doing likewise again today.
There would be some years when we would be tiring of the rain by now, but this is not one of them.
What’s harder to manage is the humidity: On a day such as this, heavy gray clouds lowering even before the dawn, our humidity this morning was a near-unheard-of seventy-two percent, the kind of number that normally only occurs while the rain is falling. Combined with still-high heat, and after an early summer so arid our humidity levels dropped to six percent, and the air feels positively suffocating.
No matter. It’s part of these systems of storms that are very literally breathing life back into the land, and we’ll take it and be grateful for it.
Of course, the humidity brings the mosquitoes out, along with the ants and the flies and other tiny irritants. Oddly, I’ve seen fewer spiders this summer than usual, and i’m not sure whether it’s the early drought conditions or the latter rains that seem to be keeping them at bay. Still, a few of them have shown themselves, and they are permitted their space here, for to Wings they are bringers of prosperity, and to me, that precious medicine of untroubled sleep.
Perhaps we should be crediting those who remain with the gift, the medicine, of a wholly-unexpected and unlikely rainy season. After all, if there is one thing that signifies prosperity in this place, it is water. The bringers of rain are the bringers of medicine.
Bet you never thought of a humble spider that way before.
In truth, though, this is how we think of, how we engage with, our whole world. The Earth and her children and her fellow spirits are our relatives, and just as everyone always that annoying uncle or irritating aunt, so, too, do we find irritating presences among our relatives in the world around us. That doesn’t mean that we should dismiss the value of their existence, merely that we need to look a little deeper to find their purpose and what they bring.
Because everybody brings something. The trick is to cultivate and nurture it into something good for all.
In traditional cultures, small spirits have much to teach us about such obligations. In some, the spider is a symbol of patience; in others, a trickster much like. Coyote. In still others, she is a grandmother herself, one who gave the gift of weaving and the medicine of untroubled sleep to a lost people who put in the work of returning to the path. Whatever role she plays in traditions around the world, in this household she is always welcomed, even honored with work created in her image.
Work, for example, like today’s featured masterwork, one from a while back that has not yet found its home (and I am of two minds about that, because this one was designed for a wrist that just so happens to be the exact width of my own; still, she really is meant to bring her gifts and talents to someone else who needs them). From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Spider Woman Cuff Bracelet
Our dreams are the threshold between our contemporary existence and ways much older than memory. In many traditions, Spider Woman is the gatekeeper of such thresholds, and today, we still use the gift of her web to protect our dreams. Here, her ancient power is embodied in this spectacular cuff, hand-wrought from sterling silver and adorned with stones of protection and power. Her eight legs, texturized by hand-stamping extend from the dazzling oval lapis cabochon that forms her body. Hand-cut, hand-stamped pincers and silver spacer beads accent the protective Skystone of Sleeping Beauty turquoise that forms her head. Another view shown at top and at the link.
Sterling silver, lapis lazuli, and Sleeping Beauty turquoise
$1,200 + shipping, handling, and insurance
As I write a little blue sky is showing through the clouds, a blue the same shade as the Sleeping Beauty cabochon in the cuff. It’s only temporary; the forecast is already warning of potentially heavy rains later this afternoon. Before long, I expect that we shall see skies more the color of the cuff’s lapis cabochon: violet, dark and deep with the power of the storm.
And that, too, will be a gift.
Meanwhile, we’ll welcome all the bringers of rain, all the bringers of medicine. And for today, perhaps, especially Spider Woman’s children.
~ Aji
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