The faintest of rain showers yesterday, no more than a hundred drops or so, and then a light show in the eastern sky last night as moon made its transit beneath Mars, visible just above the angled ridgeline of the peak: Fall is here early, and the heavens are unusually alive.
If the forecast — and the new special weather statement just posted this morning, red exclamation point and all — prove accurate, we may have snow on Tuesday . . . and our first sub-freezing low, no mere thirty-two, but all the way down to a scant twenty degrees above zero.
In the post-dawn light of day, the skies have seemed an impossible blue, only the faintest traces of white clouds to the east. It was a delicate webwork that seemed designed less to veil the sun than to heighten its effects, turning the whole eastern expanse into the illuminating skies of origin stories and prophecy, too.
Now, though, the clouds are beginning to grow, to reach and stretch, touch their tips together as they pursue the early negotiations of coalition. The heat today and tomorrow have become a matter of “enjoy it while we may,” because the highs now of eighty-five are expected to be forty degrees lower by Wednesday. It appears that our first taste of winter is only a couple of days in the offing, and that bodes ill for an easy cold season. These will not be the last days of summer heat and sun, but we now know to be ready. There is wisdom in awareness, acknowledgment, appreciation too.
And the path is illuminated by the spirits of the skies, if only we remember to look.
Today’s featured work, unquestionably a masterwork itself, embodies the illumination, the skies, and the spirits who animate and inhabit them. From its description in the Belts Gallery here on the site:
Illuminating Skies Butterfly Concha Belt
Butterflies are small but powerful spirits, visionary and prophetic, who wing their way to our world across illuminating skies. Wings summons the spirit of Butterfly and of the skies it inhabits, across this silver and turquoise cascade of this traditional concha belt. Wrought in an old and archetypal style, it features twelve separate classic conchas separated by thirteen old-style “butterfly” conchas, with a pair of the latter flanking the buckle at either end. Each classic concha is cut and scalloped around the edges, entirely freehand; lightly domed, repoussé-fashion; and meticulously hand-stamped in a highly detailed traditional design of concentric ovals that repeats across each piece. The stampwork begins with hand-scored lines radiating outward into small sunrise symbols, all chased in a clockwise fashion around the inner oval. The next oval is formed of a flowering pattern separated by tiny hoops — three upward-reaching petals of light flanking small perfect orbs on either side, forming the last line of stampwork on the gently sloping domed portion of the concha. Where the doming ends to flare into the scalloped edge, Wings has detailed it with labor-intensive chasing, tiny accent marks creating perfect definition along the flowing line of the oval. Outward from the chased line, a larger sunrise symbol rises toward the edge of each petal-like scallop. At the center of each oval concha rests a small round cabochon of spiderweb turquoise, set in a plain low-profile bezel, each stone a shade of robin’s-egg blue matrixed with tiny coppery and inky blue-black lines, some with translucent wisps of spring green floating over the surface. The butterfly conchas are hand-stamped in a traditional flaring design, wings at top and bottom, their entire pleated surfaces domed, repoussé-fashion, to give them a three-dimensional appearance. The buckle is hand-scored inward from the edge to create a narrow border; inside the border, the center is hand-hammered with scores, perhaps hundreds, of tiny separate strikes of the jeweler’s hammer, then hand-scored outward from the center in a radiant motif. Along the outer border, tiny lodge symbols against a radiant sun repeat along all four sides, with slightly larger lodge symbols sitting solitary at each corner. At the buckle’s center rests an oval cabochon of beautiful robin’s-egg blue turquoise, probably from the Montezuma District, with a beautifully abstract matrix in bold coppery-red spiderwebbing. The belt itself is heavy brown-black leather, hand-cut, hand-split, hand-beveled along the edges, and hand-stamped down its entire length in a radiant sun motif. The belt is finished off with brown-black braided leather figure-eight ties that terminate in sterling silver tips with tiny globe-like ends. The belt is 52″ long and the leather strip is 11/16″ wide; the oval conchas are 2-1/16″ long by 1-7/8 inches high; the round center cabochons are 7/16″ across; the butterfly conchas are 1.5″ long by 1-1/8″ across at the widest point; the buckle is 2-5/16″ long by 1-3/4″ high; the oval center cabochon is 1″ long by 5/8″ high; the silver tips on the ties are 1-7/8″ long; the ties themselves are 7″ long (all dimensions approximate). Close-up views shown below.
Sterling silver; spiderwebbed blue turquoise (most likely from the Royston and Montezuma Districts)
$7,500 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Notes: Requires special handling; extra shipping charges apply.
The leather belt is a standard length; a hand-made belt in a specialty size may be ordered
(either shorter or longer) for an additional $325 charge.
The skies in this work are positively radiant, webbed by the copper of sunset, set into the hammered silver light of dawn opening like butterfly wings across the endless expanse of turquoise. For the moment, at least, we have them all now — yes, butterflies too, a young mourning cloak having found safe space, temporarily, in the red willows outside the kitchen door.
But they are migratory creatures, the butterflies, and like their tiny warbler counterparts, here in such numbers for the first time in living memory, they will not long survive lows that descend to twenty degrees. The skies are illuminating their path now, too, calling them to the safety and shelter of their warmer winter homes, that the cycle may begin anew in spring.
And this image reminds me that is all, indeed, a cycle. Even these conditions of drastic climate change and deadly drought are not without precedent. It’s true that no human can recall them, but the earth remembers: the mountains, the waters, and, yes, the sky. They have seen this before in other forms, and will no doubt see new versions again long after this era has passed into that distant time that becomes a cautionary tool and tale of prophecy for future generations.
But for now, we have our own path to walk, and it requires courage of heart and strength of spirit. It requires no small amount of humility, too, a willingness to learn from and be guided by powers and spirits more powerful than we will ever be.
The world would do well to begin by looking to the skies.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
