There is, supposedly, now a zero percent chance of rain for today and tomorrow. In an ordinary year, such a forecast would be laughable, but last year taught us that there is no “ordinary” now.
Still, it’s been a local running joke, and an article of faith, as well: The three big public events of July — Fourth-of-July fireworks, the powwow, and the fiestas — are sure to be rained out, even if only momentarily, during their main events. For the young, such occurrences are grave disappointments, if also lessons about waiting out the worst and then shouldering the burden onward, even in the rain. For certain populations among those of us who are older, it’s generally cause for a sigh of relief followed by a quick prayer, silent or not, of gratitude.
Because the rain is medicine.
For people like us, what accompanies the rain is also medicine: beauty and often breathtaking awe, to reawaken the spirit and to heal it, too. Here, the clouds and the light are as much a part of the whole phenomenon as the water, one that is virtually unique to this place. Here, the notion of “light in the storm” is not merely illumination and salvation, the possibility of shelter for the body; it is survival, also, for the spirit.
This is a place where the light is medicine, too.
Today’s featured work is the embodiment of medicine and light and storm simultaneously, lowering clouds lit from within, buoyed by the graceful slant of the winds. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Light In the Storm Cuff Bracelet
It is in the eye of the storm that we are afforded a glimpse of its passing, when the clouds part momentarily to let the light descend. Wings has captured the glow of those rays in this anticlastic cuff, as big and bold as the storm itself, as bright as the light that transcends it. The band is wrought of sixteen-gauge sterling silver, heavier than usual for the shaping required of an anticlastic band, and sloped gently upward on either side. Its surface is free of adornment save a row of chased traditional symbols that run its entire length: stylized thunderheads paired together at their bases to form a sig of the Four Sacred Directions, each mated pair embracing an Eye of Spirit, that which watches over us even in the fiercest storm. At its center, elevated upon a small sterling silver cylinder, rests another representation of Spirit’s Eye: the light itself, caught and held fast in a massive cabochon of dove-gray labradorite. The stone possesses breathtaking depth and clarity, shot through with angled inclusions like sheets of rain and refracting the light into a gold-tinged rainbow of color. Hand-stamped stars of various shapes and sizes spread stardust along the cuff’s inner band. Band is 1-11/16″ across; cabochon is 1-3/4″ long by 11/16″ high (dimensions approximate). Other views shown below. First in Wings’s new series, The Light Collection.
Sterling silver; labradorite
$1,800 + shipping, handling, and insurance
For the moment, the air is clear, the light as golden as the glow of the Labradorite at this piece’s center. But already, the fluffy white clouds scattered around the horizon have begun to come together, coalescing in ever-growing masses of darkening gray. The forecast may not hold, after all.
If it does, we shall have a day filled with golden light on all sides, clear air and cornflower skies filtering the rays of an open sun. But if not, the day will still be beautiful — in its way, even more so — and we shall be granted the gifts of the first medicines: of the water, and of the light.
~ 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.
