It is, according to some traditions that hail from the other side of the world yet belong to the dominant culture here, the holiest night of the year.
It may not be our tradition, our history, but we both grew up immersed in it all the same. We need not mark the day in the formal sense of belief and observance to be able to appreciate that which represents its best contributions to humanity.
And so it is that we listen to music from half a world away, new recordings of very old songs, mostly; we will mark tomorrow with a meal that, while consisting of neither the more popular turkey or ham, will nonetheless be an opportunity to sit down to something savory and warming; we this morning exchanged modest gifts with family; and we have, earlier today, taken a few strands of colored lights and wound them around the giant blue spruce not many yards from the door, the one that serves as a marker of another sort. In the meantime, we wait in the quiet dusk for the snow that has been promised, and tomorrow, we will awaken to the coziness of Christmas past, complete with cloudy skies and a fresh white blanket across the earth.
And we will begin the day as we always do, with prayer and an offering.
We have much for which to pray at this season: for good health, for warmth, for safe travels in the snow; for the well-being of those we love, including those far away who face daunting challenges; for the the greatest blessings, those of love and joy and harmony; for the ability to do well, to do good, to walk the road as we have been given, to be granted the opportunity to give to others along the way.
We do this in part through expressions of gratitude; in part through the making of offerings. Feathers and smoke, whispered words of thanksgiving sent aloft upon the cold light of dawn, these are the artifacts of our ordinary days, and of our holidays too.
I had originally thought to feature Wings’s newest collection this weekend: a few today; the remainder tomorrow. But we have been so blessed in recent days that all but one have sold. It is, perhaps, a bit of cosmic seasonal irony that the sole remaining coil should be the one entitled Tobacco, one manifest in the some of the same stones and colors as the works that I am instead choosing to feature over this holiday period. It was a work created to honor the spirit of the sacred plant that is most popularly what we offer, in thanks and supplication, in respect and appreciation — one comprising the emerald and jade tones of fluorite with the incandescent green of peridot, accented with the fiery amber of the dawn light.
So perhaps it’s only fitting that, as the world turns its attention tonight to a putative practice of giving, to a season supposedly marked by generosity of spirit, that I should have chosen today’s featured work. It, too, is one of Wings’s more recent designs, one that embodies our own spiritual practice of prayer and offering, our own ceremonial accoutrements of feathers and smoke, our own praxis of seeing ourselves as merely one part of the sacred and infinite hoop that we call life. From its description in the Earrings Gallery here on the site:
A Prayer for All Life Earrings
There are times when survival requires resistance, requires a return to the old ways, requires faith and prayer and visions and dreams. With this pair of earrings, Wings has reconceived his eagle-feather series in new ways: a change of color, an addition of precious gems, greater labor in design and execution . . . and a symbolism suited to the whole world, a prayer for all life. Each eagle feather is roughly a mirror image of the other, but cut entirely free-hand, so that like their real-world counterparts, each preserves its own unique identity. Using a delicate jeweler’s chisel, Wings has scored each earring freehand, the lines forming a vaguely herringboned pattern at either side of the center shaft to create the hundreds of tiny barbs that make up each feather. In a first for this series, he has repeated the freehand barb pattern on the reverse of each drop. The shaft itself is an overlay of stamped thin silver wire, running up the length of each feather to wrap around the base of the shaft at the top. Four tiny round bezel-set cabochons of rich green jade in the color of the evergreens are scattered across the front to create the mottled pattern unique to eagle feathers: two on either side of the shaft on each earring, for a total of eight. The feathers themselves are anchored at the base of the shaft by brilliant grass-green ovals, a pair of stunning peridot cabochons lightly webbed with deep delicate lines of clear, glossy matrix. Together, they form a powerful pair of feathers in the color of life itself, powerful enough to send skyward a prayer for all life. Each is suspended from sterling silver wires. Earrings hang 2.5″ long (excluding wires) and are 9/16″ across at the widest point; the peridot cabochons are 3/8″ long by 1/4″ across (dimensions approximate). Reverse shown below.
Sterling silver; peridot; jade
$875 + shipping, handling, and insurance
For us, our spiritual practices are reminders, year-round, not merely of the need to ask for help, but to be thankful for that which is granted to us; not only to make our offerings in honor of the spirits, but to acknowledge and appreciate that which we are given. Life is a gift, and we each have our own role in it, not merely for ourselves, but for all life, and all of life. On this night, a night that memorializes great generosity and even greater sacrifice, we would do well to be mindful ourselves of what we offer, and what we are given.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
