With the dawn, we bade farewell to what here has been a very difficult week. Although the sun shone brightly for most of it, anniversaries and events cast their own long shadow, one that eclipsed the light that normally shines upon our spirits and our path.
It’s a fitting metaphor for such times, the eclipse: The word comes from the ancient Greek, ékleipsis, a concept that translates roughly to failing to appear, to forsaking someone or something. It’s easy to understand how solar and lunar eclipses could evoke such feelings of being forsaken by the light itself.
As the description accompanying today’s featured work notes, in traditional indigenous cultures, eclipses have always been seen as signs of great import. For some, they are simply expressions of the great power of certain spiritual phenomena, neutral in force, but to be respected all the same. For others, they are closely associated with particular beings, often Sun and Moon themselves, and gender and particular powers may be ascribed accordingly. And for some, the appearance of an eclipse may foretell great blessings or serve as an omen of great evil. In some of our cultures, eclipses mark times that call for calm and quietude, for introspection and a willingness to retreat into prayer, for walking a humble path until full light returns.
Wings completed these earrings in the middle of last week, well before the events of the last couple of days. Now, they seem a bit like an omen themselves, a sign of the days to come and a reminder that while sun and moon are obscured, we must focus on the light that escapes the shadow. From their description in the Earrings Gallery here on the site:
Eclipse Earrings
In traditional cultures, an eclipse — whether of the sun or of the moon — is an event of great symbolism and power. In some, they are omens of great and beneficial change; in others, warnings of dark days ahead. In all cultures, their practical effect is the same: to veil the light that shines upon our path. With these earrings, Wings honors the imagery of the eclipse, a shadowy black image that passes in front of the face of sun or moon, while still reminding us that the light is not gone: Its rays still shine from behind the shadow. Here, glossy black onyx cabochons form the shadow, perfect dark orbs like pools of liquid jet. Each is set in a scalloped bezel at the center of a round sterling silver concha, the radiating corona of light. The conchas are meticulously cut freehand with a tiny jeweler’s saw to create the blossom-like “rays” that edge each earring. Each is then hand-stamped in a chased pattern, concentric circles of traditional symbols that evoke the image of the moon and the rays of the sun. Finally, the conchas are domed by hand in the traditional manner, repoussé-fashion, to create depth and refract the light. Settings are 1.5″ across; cabochons are .75″ across (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; onyx
$825 + shipping, handling, and insurance
On this morning, the dawn not merely a new day but a new week, the sunrise is cause for hope: hope that the shadow of the metaphorical eclipse that has dimmed our world the last few days is now passing onward; hope that the light we see radiating around the edges shines fully on our path in the week to come.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
