Nothing is sure in this world. Our peoples know that better than most.
It’s common for human nature to find comfort in lines, to see life, to some extent, as a natural and linear progression. The degree to which we regard those lines as rigid is a product of culture and identity. For us, rigidity is less a factor, as a product of both essential worldview and worldly experience, than is the case with the dominant culture, but after a half-millennium of the pressure of colonizing forces, we are still susceptible to its influences.
But what happens when the lines break?
As an aside, I suspect that we are about to find out: The country’s current crisis of governance is already busily breaking down much of what the whole world has taken for granted, especially in light of the genuine leadership displayed over the previous eight years. Lines blur, lose focus, then fracture; finally, they disintegrate entirely, perhaps reforming in new and unwelcome ways, perhaps dissolving into entropy deadly chaos.
We invest much in talk of resistance, but our frameworks are hobbled by experience and expectation, neither of which much apply anymore, at least for most. For us, none of this is especially new; by now, ancestral memory has encoded it into our DNA by way of recombinant combinations of oral tradition and what theorists call “generational trauma.” And yet, our peoples also know, at a cellular level, what it means to be warriors: for conflict, for peace, for survival, for creating new worlds.
The weapon most identified with us symbolically is, of course, the arrow. yes, an arrow requires a bow for optimal function, but no one should dismiss the deadly power of the sharpened point in isolation: Much damage can be done with an obsidian blade. So, too, can much defense be accomplished. Our warriors have always known this, and in the old days, they imbued their weapons with medicine: prayers and blessings, yes, but also talismans, bits of turquoise or other gems, paint on the shaft, purification with tobacco and cedar smoke. Such offerings were intended to make them fly straight and true, to keep their lines, both wooden shaft and trajectory alike, unbroken.
Speaking of trajectories . . . sometimes Wings’s work finds its way into the light view its own circuitous or nonlinear route. Such is the case with today’s featured work, one of his older pieces, cast many years ago and kept in his own collection, that he rediscovered only today and decided to send into the world to do its work. It’s simple in the extreme, but powerful: a warrior’s medicine, one that protects in times of war and times of peace and times of great and uncertain change. From its description in the Necklaces Gallery here on the site:
A Warrior’s Medicine Necklace
A broken arrow may signify peace, or merely a change in direction, but it still retains its power to protect. Wings has turned the motif into medicine, a talisman for warriors of all sorts. It begins with a solid vertical medallion of thick sterling silver ingot, cast into a freehand form. Pointing upwards through the pendant is a single ajouré arrow, tipped with paired fletched feathers and a strong bold point, shaft zigzagged like a lightning bolt. The pendant is soldered firmly to a wide bail stamped on either side with a single straight arrow, and hangs from old-fashioned nickel silver “dog-tags” chain. Chain is 18″ long; pendant, including bail, hangs 1-3/16″ long. Another view shown at top.
Sterling silver; nickel silver
$375 + shipping, handling, and insurance
What the photos doesn’t show is the thickness, the solidity of the pendant. The ajouré cutwork was by no means easy to do; it’s not like sawing through sheet silver. But the resulting image is unmistakable in form and shape and power. Its name and its chain materialized independently of each other, and then seemed so perfect that there was no question that they belonged to each other.
Ironically, it’s also a harbinger of sorts: If all goes as planned, Wednesday will see us feature a work that is born, in part, of a very old piece from his personal collection, yet reborn into something entirely new. The imagery of it fits, as well. [And everyone will have to wait until Wednesday to see it, but I can already testify to its stunning beauty and power.]
This piece is much smaller, simpler, more modest. And yet, the power radiates from it, even when held in one’s hand. This is an unsettled season in an increasingly unsettled world, one in which what many took for granted as the rules now obviously no longer apply, when the lines break and the path ahead dissolves into a frightening and featureless void.
But as we have always known, a warrior’s medicine protects — even when the way is unclear.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
