There is supposed to be no chance of rain today, but the clouds are amassing at this very moment, while on the radar map, long lines of storms arc across central and western Arizona on their way toward us. At the moment, the air is just shy of perfectly still, only the smallest movement of the leaves visible, but if the winds once put themselves in motion, they will carry the storms rapidly to us.
In more ordinary years, the windy season is spring, and a phenomenon of the daylight hours, mostly afternoon.
“Ordinary” no longer means what it used to mean here.
This year, our patterns are actually healthier for the land, but we know better than to regard these changes as beneficent. This year may have granted us evening winds that carry longer, softer, steadier storms, the better neither to evaporate nor to flood and flow off the surface of the land, but it comes on the heels of a year of no summer rains at all. We now have to worry that next year will repeat last year’s patterns, and plan accordingly.
But even as we remain watchful, seeking to adapt where possible and to find alternatives where not, we are grateful for what we are given now. The rain arrives on welcoming winds, and welcomed ones, too, and we do not fail to appreciate their presence or their gifts, however unusual.
Today’s featured work is the embodiment of these winds, embracing our world beneath the cobalt blue of the clouds and hammered silver sheets of the rain. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
The Four Winds Cuff Bracelet
The Four Winds move and shape our world, within the storm and without. In this cuff, Wings honors their elemental power with this return to one of his own informal signature series and an old classic, traditional Native style of silverwork. It begins with a beautifully simple band of heavy, solid nine-gauge sterling silver, hammered by hand on both sides in the old way, with hundreds of strikes of a silversmith’s hammer, to create a spectacularly refractive surface. On the inner band, a long line of directional arrows traces the length of the center, some consecutive, others reversed, still others pointing outside their slender line, representing the wind’s own changes of direction, sometimes capricious, sometimes intentional. On the band’s surface, its sole adornment consists of four square bezel-set lapis lazuli cabochons set next to each other at the center, each stone lightly domed and the brilliant cobalt blue of deep waters and stormy skies, each represent one of the winds of the Four Sacred Directions. Ends and edges are all filed by hand, with each end rounded and smoothed, also by hand, for comfort. The band is 6″ long and 6/16″ across; each lapis cabochon is 6/16″ square (dimensions approximate). Other views shown above and at the link.
Sterling silver; lapis lazuli
$1,675 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Our peoples have always known that the four winds hold our world together. It’s easy to forget the role they play or indeed their very existence, at least until we have such reason to be reminded because they have grown newly fierce. We know that fierceness will continue, and will continue to surprise us, and there will be days, months, even years when it becomes increasingly problematic.
But as we learn to adapt, perhaps even to evolve, we also have an obligation to recognize, to appreciate and honor the gifts they bring. And for us, for this summer, at least, the winds are welcoming indeed.
~ 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.
