Wings of Fate and Destiny...

When I was younger, I was blissfully unaware of death.  I felt immortal.  I hadn't really lost anyone who was close to me and while I understood the concept of death, it always seemed at a distance.  But as time progressed, my own body betrayed me and my circle of beloved family and friends felt blow after blow of loss.  Death didn't seem so foreign after all.

Instead of dwelling on the hurt and eventual mortality of all living things, I instead wanted to use death as a reminder of the beauty of life.  It's not a new concept.  Memento Mori ("remember that you have to die") goes back centuries.  It is a call to live a good life and focus on the positive.  It was once used as a teaching tool to instruct people to focus on salvation of their immortal soul instead of their earthly body.  To me it is the shadow that makes the light all the more brilliant.  The darkness is a part of the light, and each aspect must be appreciated and acknowledged.

Moths are symbols of intuition, dreams, and visitations.  They are also symbols of faith and determination.  They are also reminders of the shortness of life.  Particularly the death's head hawkmoth.  There are many different species of death's head hawk moths, each with their own scientific name relating in some part to death, but the one I was most drawn to was the Acherontia atropos.  Atropos is one of the three Moirai (or Fates).  She is the goddess responsible for cutting the threads of life.  While some may fear her, and in essence fear death, we all must die – it's how we live that matters.

I wasn't intending on making these in fine silver.  I originally had wanted to add them to my polymer clay and porcelain designs, but I had a few grams leftover in an open package and instead of sealing it up and waiting for another design and another day to use it on (it's never quite the same afterward), I decided to seize the day and press a few out.  I'm happy that I did.  They look like little pools of moonlight and fit the design perfectly.

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