We’ve spent this week looking at seasonal spirits in all their wintry variation: those who assume the form of living beings, hawks and horses and other creatures wild and half-wild; the trees and the rocks and the mountains, the sun and the moon and the stars; and the intangible but no less real spirits who inhabit the very light itself. pair of Wings’s past works, collectible miniatures
On Wednesday, we featured a complementary pair of Wings’s past works, collectible miniatures in the form of traditional pottery, each overlaid with a ledger horse racing across the sky. They seem an apt lead-in to today’s featured work: a miniature flask that carries the spirit of the Dawn Horse, a spirit who in turn carries the Morning Star. From its description in the Collectibles Gallery here on the site:
Dawn Horse Carries the Morning Star Miniature Flask
Spirit animals can carry us places we would never be able to go on our own, and bring to us the spirits that inhabit other realms. When they do, it’s powerful medicine. Native peoples have carried medicine in hand-made flasks since the dawn of time, and this flask, authentic in every detail, invokes the spirits of the dawn itself. A Morning Star, the light that guides our spirits from the dark into the light of the new day, is overlaid on the center of either side, leading a sunburst of sacred hoops opened into sixteen rays. Concentric circles of hand-stamped traditional patterns ring the center; at the edge, the symbols form a kiva steps design evoking the sacred space whence life and spirit emanate. The outermost edge of the flask is overlaid with a slender strand of sterling silver wire. The removable cap is edged in matched thunderhead patterns set at the top with a cobalt-blue cabochon of lapis lazuli, rings with patterned wire in the form and texture of raised sterling silver beads. On the reverse, at the base of the cap, a tiny malachite cabochon the color of the earth’s green is bezel-set; a loop is attached at the cap’s back, with two more loops at either side. The Dawn Horse’s own tail, the color of the night sky, trails behind via a silver squash blossom from one loop; from the other, a solid and silky sterling silver link chain to hold the flask securely. Flask stands 3-1/8″ high by 2.5″ across; horsehair tassel hangs 3″ (including squash blossom); chain length 23.5″ (dimensions approximate). Other views shown at the link.
Sterling silver; lapis lazuli; malachite; horsehair
$2,500 + shipping, handling, and insurance
It is a work of art, yes, very much a “collectible.’ But it is also designed to work: to be used for its intended purpose, for those functions for which the flask is designed. In our world, that usually means tobacco; it most definitely means medicine. Sometimes, it means healing, harmony, ceremony . . . and always, the work of the spirits.
There are many spirits honored in and inhabiting this flask: the spirits of the rains, and of the living plants they sustain, and which in turn sustain us; the guiding spirits of the skies, Father Sun and Morning Star; and that spirit who mediates between their world and ours able to travel the arc of the cosmos to bring a bit of the dust of heaven to those of us whose feet are planted firmly upon the earth — the Dawn Horse.
For the right person, it’s a spectacular gift, one that holds the medicine and mystery of the morning, the promise of a new day.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
