It’s a beautiful, warm, sunny morning . . . and the forecast is for snow.
Not a little flurry, either; for five hundred feet upslope from us, a prediction of anywhere from six to sixteen inches between this evening and Friday evening. Approaching mid-May, and an official winter weather advisory has already been issued.
This is spring in this place.
In this instance, it’s not so much a winter phenomenon returned late as it is a cold-edged summer monsoonal pattern arrived early: The forecast calls for rain in varying amounts for the next two weeks straight.
Whatever the spirits of creation see fit to deliver to us, we shall give thanks for it. It’s a reversal of our circumstances one year ago, when precipitation of any sort was nonexistent. Here, we welcome the water whenever — and however — it comes, but its appearance holds special depth of meaning this year, a stark contrast from last year’s brutal drought.
We honor the water as the first medicine, as the source of creation.
Today’s featured work embodies water and world, medicine and creation spirit alike. From its description in the Necklaces Gallery here on the site:
Creation Spirit Necklace
The silver-spangled blue of the cosmos and the lush green velvet of a fertile earth are the tools of the Creation Spirit, the One who combines the dust of the universe and the breath of life to create a world living in the light. Wings summons the likeness of its force and being into a powerful necklace that hints at worlds of which we can only dream. The latest in his signature series, The Mona Lisa On the Rio Grande, this entry features the characteristic tablita headdress above a jeweled face that hints at mysteries beyond our comprehension. The tablita, cut freehand of hand-milled sterling silver in a repeating pattern of spangled lines, holds in its embrace a phenomenon of a jewel, a gigantic cabochon of stunning spiderwebbed variscite, most likely from Utah’s Snowville District, manifest in the midnight blues of the cosmos aswirl with brilliant earthy emerald greens to create an impression of hidden depths. The matrix is nearly pure ivory, with tiny points of copper light here and there throughout its bold and complex webbing. A small arcing space in the shape of a crescent moon separates the top of the stone, set into a scalloped bezel and trimmed with twisted silver, from the setting. On the reverse, the back of the bezel opens in the shape of a heart pointed downwards, toward the wearer’s own heart, allowing the blues and greens and matrices to touch the skin and catch the light, while a cluster of tiny butterflies dance around the tablita‘s edge. The pendant hangs from a lightly flared hand-made sterling silver bail, stamped from and back with vintage-style lodge symbols and a Morning Star at its apex; the entire piece is suspended from a brilliantly polished sterling silver chain. The pendant is 3″ long, including the bail, and 2-1/16″ wide; the bail itself is 5/8″ long by 5/8″ across at the widest point; the variscite cabochon is 1-3/4″ long by 1-1/4″ across at the widest point; chain is 20″ long (dimensions approximate). Other views are shown above and below.
Sterling silver; deep midnight blue, emerald green, and ivory variscite (most likely from Utah’s Snowville District)
$1,800 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The gift of the water, and the flowering world it creates, is an expression of the spirits’ love for us, and one of cosmic harmony: of a world in balance, breathing and wholly alive.
For the moment, the world outside the window seems wholly alive, as well — fertile, green, leafing and flowering with seeming abandon and unfettered joy. That will change by tonight, when the gray skies overtake us and the mercury plunges again. But even in the teeth of the cold’s harsh bite, we know that the blessing of the water outweighs the curse of the chill.
And we are grateful to the spirits who make the gift of spring, and eventually, summer, possible: earth and sky, wind and water, the elemental powers and cardinal directions and the spirits who attend them — together, the source of creation.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2019; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
