autumn colors on my altar 🎃🌼🌸💜
been awhile since i pulled out the cards. sometimes i feel like i am waiting for the right moment just to ask for help - a problem i have always struggled with - but it’s usually worth it when i finally do.
the stabbed heart of the three of swords in the center just made me sigh when i saw it; it’s exactly how i’ve been feeling this week. betrayed, let down, and letting those feelings really cloud my mind. being let down hurts. and when my heart gets hurt so badly i struggle to complete any work, to feel positively about myself, to believe in the underlying worth of anything i’m trying to do. feeling undervalued starts a spiral of sad, angry feelings that can easily drag me under for weeks.
but the bright warmth of the two of pentacles and the fool remind me to have faith in what i’ve already set in motion. i have a lot of irons in the fire right now, and the figure here balances their two radiant pentacles easily, able to be gracefully handle what they have taken on. the fool gently encourages me to have faith in the journey. this same card came up for me in a reading about my business that was done for me by another reader. together these cards remind me that i am capable, despite my darkest fears, and that my challenge is to embrace the fool's lack of fear.
a corner of my altar in the sunlight 🐚🌊✨
okay, i know i haven’t posted any pictures of my grimoire for awhile (sorry to everyone who followed me hoping to see more). here’s the real reason: i get very anxious sharing my work when i don’t feel like it’s “perfect”, and i haven’t had much energy lately to create my own magical work, much less pretty grimoire pages about it.
so i’m taking a deep breath and posting some spellwork i did, even though it’s not attractive. there was a lot of brainstorming and refining and reiterating and reordering that went into making this spell, which was specifically targeted towards one situation that i couldn’t directly control. it doesn’t look great but it doesn’t matter because -
- it worked!
after months of frustration, i texted the person in question two days after completing the spell, and discovered that all the obstacles in the way were gone! there’s really nothing like seeing your intent manifest to believe in your own power.
so i just wanted to share my success with you guys, even though it’s messy, and encourage you to document your own messy work as well 💕
been a little while since i tended to my altar - in grief and exhaustion i'd let it get dusty. then a surprise gift of money from my partner's dad made me remember that i still need to be present and at least give thanks for what i receive (the rose, for hermes, who always provides me with enough to keep going). just taking a little time to clean and give it attention was helpful to my state of mind. 🌹🕯
original painting, watercolor & acrylic 🎨💎✨
two new things:
constellations and stars and the seasons of the year, printed on a lovely piece of scrapbook paper i found
& a pendant i made with a crystal quartz stone and a white glass bead (which i handmade years ago), netted in blue cotton with a braided cord
labradorite & rainy days go so well together @bekkathyst made this ✨
rain is coming today and i want to capture its energy in this pendant 💦💎✨
a new candle, an offering, & a prayer to hermes. i bought 2lbs of huge juicy strawberries and i’m gonna make ice cream 🍓🍧
finding tiny rainbows in my amethyst 💎
spread from my grimoire on my research into hermes: not a complete source but a personal collection of mythology, devotion, affirmations, etc.
my present to myself finally arrived 💕💎💕 i can't get over the beautiful shape of the big amethyst geode, which just feels like it was meant to come home with me. it's so calming and sparkly and purple! plus now i have an assortment of amethyst and quartz points to use for crystal grids and various spell work. pretty happy with my new shinies 😊
my altar has stayed this way all week and i still feel the effects of its calming, lifting influence. a simple crystal grid and some leaves from my new patio 🌿💎
here are the first of my small tarot cards ✨🖊 i leaped into this without much of a plan, just a desire to make a portable deck (altoids tin-sized) that would make sense to me personally. i get frustrated by the gendered and archaic feudal structure of most tarot decks, and i struggle a lot to recognize some of the supposed symbolism in the traditional rider-waite-smith art, so i'm exploring my own iconic associations for the archetypical card meanings with this project. each card is hand-drawn with pen and i'm not sure if i will ever be able to replicate it! it's just a really personal reflection of my aesthetic and my worldview and i love it so far. a daunting task to do 78 of them, but i'm going to try.
it's almost time for a new yearly journal, which means a new volume of my grimoire. i took the time last night to draw my own sigil/glyph on the back cover in order to prepare for the year to come, and left it under the full moon to charge overnight. my partner and i just put down a deposit on a new apartment and we are getting the keys on new year's day, so i am very excited about kickstarting 2017 with a new place to live (almost twice as big as the studio we're in now)! it's going to be a great change for us - and i'm going to have more than just this teeny kitchen corner to set up my altar! i'll even have wall space above it to hang art!! imagine!! it's good to have something to look forward to again, and i feel the good energy collected here, ready to help me unfold into a new space ✨