Save for two or three stray drops, last night’s rain passed us by entirely. Today, we have plenty of clouds on all sides and overhead, the kind that hold not merely rain but snow . . . and still, only a passing shower of a couple of hundred raindrops.
In theory, it will rain in earnest later today, turning to snow showers tonight and tomorrow and perhaps even Monday.
In practice, we’ll believe it when we see it.
At the moment, it’s all cold wind and low trailing clouds, and here and there, seemingly random manifestations of the light.
The light, of course, is the one constant here (although at this time of year, the wind seems intent on contesting that status). It’s vanishingly rare that our clouds are so dense that no rays get through; usually, that’s only in the middle of heavy snowstorm, when white-out conditions accrue. But the clouds here rarely turn into that pale, wan shade that is so common in my homelands, a flat unbroken gray that may be tinged with a little yellow, but accommodates no radiance or iridescence.
Here, the light is one of the animating spirits of place, with its own identity, its own power, its own medicine.
And it’s one of the animating spirit of today’s featured work, in combination with that great airborne being who lends us his feathers as tools of prayer. That would, of course, be Eagle, an in fact he did put in an appearance here yesterday, if briefly. I have, in the past, caught shots distant and otherwise both here and over area watersheds, of adult bald eagles, and there are goldens, adult and juvenile alike, who periodically visit here to soar overhead. But until yesterday, I had never, to my knowledge, captured one of an immature bald eagle.
As I sat here working yesterday, I saw it shoot up from the peaks to fly directly over the east field outside the window. By the time I had grabbed my camera and made it outside, of course, it had ascended far above, to a height that even a decent zoom lens can’t bring especially close. I did, however, manage to capture a couple of decent shots among a flurry of blurry ones that its soaring speed produced. And then I noticed the smaller bird circling above it.
I thought it was most likely one of the red-tailed hawks that make their home here with us; when the juvenile golden appears, they join it in circling, swooping, playing on the currents and soaring on the light.
When I downloaded the photos, I realized that what I had captured was not the young golden, but a bald eagle of some three and a half, perhaps four years of age, still a year and more away from developing a pure white head, never mind a white tail. And the bird above it was not a hawk at all, but a raven: a giant notch ripped out of its angled tailfeathers, but intent on chasing away the giant predatory raptor that posed a threat to its nest and young (this is a little early for them to be laying eggs here, but the unseasonal warmth has no doubt altered their schedules, as well). The final shot that I as able to take before they disappeared into the higher reaches of the clouds overhead was of the raven, determined and fierce, dive-bombing the young bald so closely that its wings were braided in midair with the eagle’s tailfeathers.
Sometimes the soaring isn’t play; it’s survival.
But today’s featured work implies if not precisely play, at least pleasure in the form of joy and abundance: an abundance, at least, of time sufficient to permit one simply to enjoy what wind and air and light offer us, perhaps relaxation but certainly acknowledgment and appreciation and lived experience, too. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Soaring On the Light Cuff Bracelet
Feather fans send our prayers aloft on tendrils of smoke, soaring on the light. Wings summons feathers and fans, prayers and smoke, into this curving arc of pure silver light. It begins with a medium-wide band of sterling silver, cut freehand and gently tapered at either end for a flowing line and comfortable fit. The band is then hand-milled in a similarly flowing pattern that evokes the traditional old-style fans made of a full wing of feathers, their tips dancing gently in the wind. The band is then forged gently into its anticlastic shape, each edge rising gracefully upward to create a pair of arcs that catch, hold, and refract the same light on which our prayers ascend to the spirits. Light oxidation and medium polish mimic the shades of the smoke and coax the lines into bold three-dimensional relief. Band is 6ths ” long by 1.25″ across at the widest point (dimensions approximate). Other views shown above, below, and at the link.
Sterling silver
$575 + shipping, handling, and insurance
This is one of Wings’s less-costly works, a nod to the lighter weight of the silver and the lack of stones.
And it’s one of my own favorites.
I’m partial to the anticlastic bands anyway; I find their smooth curves spectacularly comfortable, and the raised edges never press into my skin. I have two or three such bracelets, and at least three or four rings wrought in this style, and I wear them regularly.
This one, though, has a richness of pattern, fully three-dimensional and yet subtle, too, that varies substantially from my own hammered and stamped works. The millwork of this piece, rolled against a template in a repeating feathery wing design, lends it an extra grace, the sweep of the raised lines accenting the sweeping arc of the band’s edges, working with rather than against it.
In that, it’s a. bit like the raptor’s wings that the design represents: long, flowing, curving, sweeping, capable of arcing through the air as cleanly as a scalpel’s edge, then settling into a mellow flatness that allows the air to hold them aloft, the winds to carry them onward, and the light to shine through their translucent tips.
It’s a mix of animating spirits that functions equally well for work and for rest, for fierceness and for joy.
And that is the nature of this place and space, this season, too: the fierce joy of wind and light, their beauty and their medicine, too.
Young Bald Eagle knows; so does Raven.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
