Cloudy and cold this morning, with a narrow band of silvered light above the ridgeline to the southeast. We have snowclouds on all sides now, and yet we are forecast to receive not so much as a single flake or flurry.
We are forecast for the wind, though: high, howling, and dangerous, the sort of trickster wind that rips through everything in its path, tearing off roofs and branches and overturning that which is not nailed to the ground. Normally, we might be able to expect that such a wind would usher in a storm, but that is not the case. No, this wind is slated to bring a return of warmer weather; apparently unsatisfied with yesterday’s unseasonal high of fifty-three, climate change has plans for a full return of Indian summer, with highs near sixty most of next week.
As convenient as the warmer air may be for our kind, this does not bode well for the land. And yet such events can be instructive, if we choose to learn the lessons they offer: They speak of worlds of prophecy, fulfilled — both the dangerous times in which we find ourselves now, and the better world we can build, if only we commit to the work of it.
Today’s featured work holds all the ephemeral promise of next week’s weather, and all the visionary beauty of that better world we must build now. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Indian Summer Dreams Cuff Bracelet
Before the snow flies, spirits of earth and sky dream Indian Summer dreams. Wings honors these visions and the spirits who dream them with his newest masterwork, a piece conceived in the deep symbolism of tradition and executed with 21st-Century élan. The focal point is a large, beautifully spiderwebbed rectangular cabochon of ultra-high-grade Black-Web Kingman turquoise, a robin’s-egg Skystone tightly matrixed with complex black chert webbing. It rests in a saw-toothed bezel, elevated atop the center of an exceptional hand-made band, flanked on either side by three separate rows of hand-stamped arrowhead symbols pointing down either side of the cuff, each stamped individually via more than one hundred separate strikes of the jeweler’s hammer. This edging is flanked on either side by a pair of lodge symbols, their apices pointed toward paired inverted sunrise symbols motifs that form an embrasure down the remainder of each side of the band. In the center of these rays of silvery light are the dreams and dreamers: a trio of late-summer butterflies alternating with the flowing waters of seasonal rains, all cascading downward to paired blossoms holding a heart at their center. Together, they bring a reminder that summer returns, life renews, and love outlasts all. The band is 1-1/16″ across; the cabochon is 1″ long by 13/16″ of an inch across (dimensions approximate). Other views shown below.
Sterling silver; ultra-high-grade Black Web Kingman turquoise
$1,750 + shipping, handling, and insurance
I know that some academics and activists abjure the phrase “Indian summer.” But Wings and I reclaimed that phrase long ago, in childhood, long before we understood or even knew of such a concept as “reclamation.” In our worlds, it was that rarest of all things: something wonderful, beautiful, something associated with pure joy that seemed to be just for us. We have never regarded the microseason as an act of trickery, but rather as a great and wonderful gift. And it is in this same spirit of wonder and gratitude that Wings has named this work.
It is, like the time of year for which it is named, a phenomenon unto itself: gifts of the earth in silver and stone, brought together to create something far greater than the sum of its parts, a work of powerful elemental spirits, of their messengers and the messages they bring.
Outside the window is perhaps such a messenger now: a leucistic dove, the only one we’ve ever seen here. Whether she is a harbinger of snows or of a more dangerous change remains to be seen. But we need to be vigilant now, for these are dangerous days, indeed.
These are days of worlds of prophecy, fulfilled, and it is our task and obligation to ensure that we bring the better world it promises into being.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
