Some days, it’s just a storm.
Some days, it’s the whirlwind.
Today has been the latter, an example of Murphy’s Law in action, along with a few riders and amendments just to make it really interesting.
Or, more to the immediate point, a literal storm that wasn’t, and a metaphorical storm that not only was, but one that combined the extremes of summer and winter, cloudburst and ice storm, all winding around each other in a powerful vortex.
Sometimes you can stand strong against the winds; for that matter, some days you can even harness them to your own ends and put them to productive use.
Then there are the days when all you can do is hang on and ride it out.
This morning, I had no idea what today’s featured work would be. By mid-morning, this piece had insinuated itself into my consciousness, and by afternoon it wasn’t even a question anymore, just a conviction: This was the work for this day. I’m not sure whether it was the “whirlwind” motif that decided it, or the symbolism of accepting the storm as a gift and turning its power to good purpose that underlay my thought process. From its description in the Necklaces Gallery here on the site:
Dance of the Whirlwind Spirits Necklace
When the winds come from the Four Directions to meet at the center of all that is, they summon the spirit of the whirlwind to dance in the vortex of the storm. Wings summons all of the spirits in this work, a large, heavy talismanic medallion of solid sterling silver, hammered by hand and lightly domed in repoussé fashion. A symbol of the Four Sacred Direction in a flaring stylized cross shape rests atop the medallion as an overlay. Each spoke is marked with a single cabochon of cobalt-blue lapis lazuli, the color of the rain; they spin inward toward the vortex at the center, embodied in a large round onyx cabochon of mysteriously glossy depths. The hand-made bail is accented with tiny hand-stamped hoops, the shape of the spiraling wind itself. The pendant hangs from an alternating strand of round sterling silver and lapis lazuli beads, with small square lapis and round onyx beads stretching toward either end of the strand, each end terminating in two tiny Florentine-finish silver beads. Pendant is 2-1/8 inches long (including bail) by 2-1/4 inches across; beads are 19 inches long (dimensions approximate). Close-up views of the pendant shown at the link.
Sterling silver; onyx; lapis lazuli
$1,500 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The weather people still insist that the storm will arrive yet tonight, that we will be caught in a whirlwind of rain and ice and snow through Monday. If they are right, not much will happen outside of this place over the next few days. Even if they are wrong, our work here will be whirlwind enough.
We could do with a bit of grounding now, the better to stand strong in the storm . . . and perhaps even to grab hold of its power and turn it to productive purpose.
I’m half-tempted to go out to the gallery in the cold and the dark, to retrieve the piece from the case and bring it indoors, just as a reminder that it is, indeed, possible to work with, and within, the whirlwind.
~ Aji
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