The day has dawned mostly sunny, although the clouds still loom, close and low. Yesterday’s snows have departed, but they have left their chill behind, and the wind holds a sharp edge more suited to early winter than to a summer ostensibly just around the corner.
It’s a day for keeping the fire going. It’s also a day for fanning the flames of the spirit, for nurturing the fire within, for seeking the purifying power of visions and dreams and renewal carried on the flame-feathered wings of the Spirit Bird.
In our cultures, there are numerous iterations of beings that might be called “Spirit Birds.” Some are well-known, such as Thunderbird; others less so, like the Water Bird of the Peyote Way. Some are imbued qualities or characteristics similar to those of the Firebird, or Phoenix, a story that the dominant culture knows from other lands, but, as with so much of human endeavor, shares aspects in common across cultures the world over. And some are rooted in more tangible identities, from our own Eagle and Hawk, Raven and Hummingbird, to other cultures’ Bird of Paradise, Nightingale, Nightbird, and everything in between. For some of our peoples, spirit birds identify clans; for others, they are spirit beings given worldly form and shape, for still others, they are the embodiment of guardians and guides, part of a deeply personal spiritual relationship.
And sometimes, as happened to us yesterday, they are bearers of a message of love, and of a small spirit safely in flight.
Today’s featured work distills the salient characteristics of one form of Spirit Bird, that linked with the properties of fire, the blood red shades of cleansing and purification, of healing and renewal — a powerful message and motif for our broken and reeling world today. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Feathers of the Spirit Bird Cuff Bracelet
Late at night, in the world of dreams, you can feel the warmth of the Phoenix’s fire and the brush of the feathers of the Spirit Bird. With this cuff, Wings summons this otherworldly spirit and its powers of renewal into wearable form. The wide sterling silver band is hand-milled in a repeating pattern of graceful feathers, each barb and shaft articulated in sharp relief on the surface. At the center, in the embrace of a scalloped bezel trimmed with twisted silver, a spectacular round cabochon of Bird of Paradise agate unfurls feathers of fire amidst mist and smoke, Phoenix, Firebird, and Indigenous Spirit Bird at once, arising from the flames to create a new and visionary world. The cuff is 6″ long by 1.25″ wide; the cabochon is 1-3/16″ across (dimensions approximate). Side views shown above and below.
Sterling silver; Bird of Paradise agate
$1,050 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Today marks the first day of renewal for one of our own small spirits here, one who departed yesterday for the Spirit World, bidding us farewell on the feathered wings of the raven whose name he bore in life. Meanwhile, despite yesterday’s snow and sleet, the wildflowers strand tall and strong against the wind. The shrouded sun is not quite up to the task of warming the earth sufficiently yet, but the fire within has stepped into the breach for now.
She may be invisible to us outside the world of dreams, but the Spirit Bird has already brought renewal to us here. Human error mistakes for an event that which is actually a process, and this process began months ago. We are an impatient species, homo sapiens, expecting rebirth to be instantaneous, but the birds and other wild creatures, and their spiritual counterparts, know better.
But as the flame-red feathers of dreams fade into the middle distance of memory in the chill light of day, the medicine remains: in the light, in the warmth, in the flowering petals and songs of the summer birds, and in the legacy of a small strong spirit who shared his life with us.
~ Aji
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