This week, we’ve been looking at some of Wings’s current work through a symbolic lens of various spirits — mostly small, mostly modest, the sort of beings that don’t generally bring to mind, for most people, a sense of great power, but who possess it nonetheless.
Among those have been Spider and Snake, both earth-bound creatures more often scorned and even feared by their human counterparts — a reminder that neither small stature nor physical appearance is a reliable indicator of the value of a being’s presence or contributions. Yesterday’s exploration also served as a reminder of the power of those spirits whose very omnipresence we use an excuse to lull us into complacency and entitlement: No one denies the force of Father Sun, but because he is there even in the cold and dark, we take his gifts for granted.
It’s a set of failings common to humans generally.
And so, as we close out this week’s Wednesday/Weekend series, we of course do so looking at other spirits, some of which we also tend to fear, others we take for granted as part of the way of things. And in light of what this day represents in the dominant culture, a day on which Wings will burn candles in memory of our mothers, there was really only choice for today’s feature.
If you’re an existing client and/or a regular reader, you’re already familiar with the Warrior Woman. It’s one of his signature series, and of the many such series he’s created over the decades, it’s the one closest to his heart— by far. We introduced it to new readers, clients, and friends here last year in a post dedicated expressly to this series, a post that told the story behind its conception and creation:
Wings has always said that woman are much stronger, much tougher warriors than men are. From a traditional man from a culture that is openly patriarchal in structure, that may seem a shocking admission to outsiders. In reality, it’s simply a recognition of what is — and a lesson to the outside world that while traditional cultures may define gender roles (and other aspects of life) differently from the way the dominant culture does, that does not somehow invalidate them or lessen their inherent value.
Wings addressed this disconnect head-on in the interpretive text that accompanied one grouping of silverwork pieces in his recent one-man show:
It is easy to forget that a wall, a home, a structure, a society endures only through the strength of the cornerstone that serves as its foundation. So it is with our people: The public face is male, but the underlying strength and support, the cornerstones, are the women.
For Wings, this has always been a given: that women are the real strength of the people. It’s one reason that his art has always been oriented, in part, toward imagery and signifiers that are linked with women and women’s identity. But a decade and a half ago, that orientation took a much more personal turn. The result was the Warrior Woman, a pin that would become one of his signature series . . . perhaps the signature series, the one closest to his heart. In his own words:
I created the first in my signature series of pins, the Warrior Woman, as a gift for my mother fifteen years ago, to honor her courage, strength, and heart in her battle with diabetes. She is now with Spirit, and in her memory I continue to create others, each unique, and each to honor the strength and bravery of women.
Since that time, he has created hundreds, at a minimum. They’re worn by women all over the country, and on a few other continents. Each is unique, personal to its wearer; I have a collection of photos of perhaps 100 different Warrior Woman pins just from the last three or four years alone. But a few elements remain constant: the crescent moon in her left hand; the tiny cabochon in her right; the serpent over her shoulder.
And her huge heart.
Sometimes the heart is stamped directly onto the pin. Sometimes it’s a separate piece of silver, an overlay onto the surface. Sometimes, as with the one shown above, it’s a gemstone cut and cabbed into a heart, affixed with jeweler’s adhesive.
It’s his most popular series, and each person finds something different in it. They’re difficult to keep in inventory; only one remains at the moment, the one shown above.
That was last August; not much about the last sentence has changed. He’s created several more in the intervening months, and yet, we are down to only one in inventory again, the one pictured at the top of this post. And this one is a bit different from the vast majority of them: Most are created as pins, but every once in a while, he’ll make one in the form of a pendant. My own is one such; I wear it suspended from a deerhide thong around my neck. Like this one, mine has the overlay heart, but the symbolism is specific to me, and the stone is red. No two are ever the same.
The one featured here today is especially well-suited to maternal symbolism, bearing, as it does, motifs of nurturing and healing. From its description in the Pendants Gallery here on the site:
Like the first Warrior Woman, made for Wings’s mother in recognition of her great courage and strength, this one honors women’s power, with one small difference — this one is a pendant, rather than a pin. She bears symbols of healing and harmony: matched thunderhead symbols on her traditional dress, joined together to point toward the Four Sacred Directions; the serpent over her shoulder in the shape of a long silver braid; the Skystone, a protective object, in her right hand; and the tracks of a bear, a traditional medicine symbol, upon the crescent moon captured in her left. Central is her great heart, overlaid on the pendant itself; a hand-stamped stylized heart accents the back of the bail. Reverse shown below.
Sterling silver; Sleeping Beauty turquoise
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Once again, spirits of the animal world appear to lend their power: Serpent over the shoulder; Bear in the form of pawprints, symbols of traditional medicine and healing. So, too, do more elemental spirits: the crescent moon, our Grandmother in the sky turning her face anew to shine her light on our path; the thunderheads that combine the forces of air and water into rain; the Skystone in her right hand, a union of all four elemental powers in the form of sky (air) and rain (water) fallen to the soil (earth) and hardened by its heat (fire) into a tangible gift of great beauty and value.
In every iteration, she brings together spirits of the elements, of the natural world, of those among our animal relations who serve as teachers and guides. And every Warrior Woman, whether pendant or pin, is a reminder of the strength and power and essential grace, the gift and the blessing, that is Woman herself.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
