As you have probably seen, I started designing and creating my own oracle cards around the idea of NeoPaganism in daily life; here are the black and white versions. I actually finished this a long time ago, I just have been so slack with blogging that I hadn’t uploaded the pictures; here they are, including some close-ups of my favourite cards.
My favourite cards, in no particular order:
Stay tuned for more NeoPagan art, and a tonne of photographs!
Sorry for yet another long hiatus. Life has been both busy and complex, as is generally the way. I am trying!
So I was going through some old computer files and found several of my old altars (2003-2005). Here’s a look at some of my altars over the years, along with my current set-up; from small and hidden in a cupboard to an entire devoted altar room!
2003 Overview
2003 Close Up
2004 Overview
2004 Close Up
2005 Overview
2005 Close Up
And now to the near-present! September 2012 Altar Room
September 2012 Altar
November 2012 Altar
November 2012 Altar Candle-lit
Join me next time for some artsy photographs of snow, and the finished product of my oracle card deck!
As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been designing my own set of divination/oracle cards. They are thematically based on the idea of daily NeoPagan practice, and the “essential” elements of NeoWicca. There are 44 cards altogether, and I’ve now finished the initial inking for all of them;
Cards 1-10
Cards 11-20
Cards 21-30
Cards 31-40
Cards 41-44
Stay tuned; I’m colouring these in now, and pictures of the finished cards will soon follow.
When I say ‘new’ altar setup, I am referring to the actual construction of the altar itself, which is now much larger (and more stable!) than the previous one. Here it is decorated in my room in Sydney;
And a close-up;
It’s actually made from a wooden-slat bathmat, cable-tied to a free-standing shelving unit. Cheap and very effective. Stay tuned for more pictures of the dedicated altar room in my new flat!
Welcome to today’s installment of the Book of Shadows sampler, which looks at the steps taken in creating a full-page knotwork design. In this instance, the main design is a bird-motif knotwork panel (design taken from Complete Celtic Designs) with decorated corners.
1. Pencilling the main design;
2. Pencilling the corner decorations, and inking the main design;
3. Inking, intermediary and final;
4. Colouring with inks;
5. Highlighting using metallic pens;
And with that, we have a beautifully decorated full page design!
While I try and take “in progress” photographs of my work, there are generally about 12 pages of unphotographed material to every detailed post I make here. So, I will intermittently take photographs of the completed pages to present these “overviews” of the whole Book of Shadows.
Tah dah! Stay tuned for more of the Book of Shadows project, coming soon.
As part of my practice, I sometimes make things that I continue to use outside of the context of a spell, ritual, etc. Recently, I encountered an idea in a psychology text (I can’t remember which one off of the top of my head) that suggested an exercise that effectively incorporates visualisation and ritualistic dedication, i.e. some of the cornerstones of NeoPagan practice.
Basically, the idea is to create a box/some kind of receptacle that can absorb and contain negative emotions. For example, if you’re feeling angry at someone, use coloured pens, pencils, whatever to draw/write out your feelings on a piece of paper. Really feel the anger, and pour it out on to the page. Then tear it up into pieces, visualising its hold on you dissipating, and place it inside the box. The box then contains the anger, and you have released it from your mind.
It may sound rather hippy-ish, but it’s a great way to vent, release stress, etc. With that in mind, I created my own “Box of Sorrows” (or, “Rage Cube”);
It’s a box that I painted black on the outside, red on the inside. I then added Celtic knotwork details and a symbolic lock on the front. The picture is taken out of a damaged copy of The Plucker, and I thought it looked appropriate. A better picture of it is this;
Tah dahhhh!
Welcome to another look into my ongoing Book of Shadows project. This post shows the steps taken in creating knotwork designs;
1. Pencilling:
2. (Preliminary) Inking:
3. Colouring in progress:
4. Colouring complete:
Tah dah! Stay tuned for the next post, which will be a visual overview of completed pages. 🙂
I realise that I’ve previously posted photographs of my more recent altar, but this one was beautifully arranged, and deserves to be shared. Once again, it’s largely dedicated to Kuan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion.
To the left of the altar are a set of Kuan Yin divination sticks – they each have a number that corresponds to a poem, a moon phase, etc. To the right is my Tibetan singing bowl, an indispensable meditation tool as I find ‘playing’ it to be immensely relaxing.
Close up:
At the back is my lovely bronze Kuan Yin statue; in front of it is a jade statue of Kuan Yin, and a rose quartz pig and rabbit (two of my favourite animals). The lotus candle holders are something of a permanent altar fixture, and an offering plate containing foreign coins that I’ve collected. Around the offering plate are my amethyst rosary and smokey quartz mala beads.
As part of my attempts to re-establish some kind of meaningful spiritual belief/practice, I have actually been taking care of my altar! Which looks like this (albeit less blurry in real life):
And an equally slightly blurry close-up:
Yes, that is a picture of Aragorn and Arwen from LotR up there. What can I say, the characters epitomise the Goddess/God in their effectively medieval incarnation. Fair, just, strong, capable partners; exactly what the Gods ought to be. The tarot cards are from the Druidcraft Tarot, and the little flourite Kwan Yin and bowl (containing a piece of rose quartz) are my current source of meditative contemplation.
Also, I put fairy lights up around the altar. Must take pictures soon. 😉
A Secret Garden 