Stay Informed

Art is often the sacred space we can afford to express our wildest impulses. In art-space, we can cast our widest nets, grow deeper in our roots and broaden our branches to soak up as much Sunlight or Moonlight as our human containers can hold.

Art is the place we can air our dirtiest laundry. It is the place where we befriend the skeletons in our closet. Art is erotic; desire made manifest.

Art-as-magic is a space where we can conjure change by the embodied remembering of what it means to

MAKE A MARK.

We find god(s) themself in our own being, uniting our spirit with the visual or tactile outcome we prefer. Art ritual is the place we alchemize our pain, grief, and all the difficult textures of our blessed lives with something beautiful.

Art is not always pretty; the process, while sacred, can look pretty ugly. Like the archetypal Descent of Inanna. Like a chicken molting its feathers. The numinous goop inside of a cocoon, before a beautiful moth or butterfly emerges. Like a milk-scabby snake amid shedding the old skin.

Art is not always pretty but IT IS ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL.

Under capitalism, healing and wellness are often problematic references to an end-result that emphasizes the human ability to “return to being a good worker." This is simply not of interest. Indeed, strong magick creates more rebellion in the Spirit. We need more fire in the belly to digest and transform the sheer magnitude of alienation that is normalized in our culture right now.

Art witches are conjuring transformation as active agents in our own story.

Witches don’t wait for life to drop in our laps. And as we prioritize consent, and make devotions of respect, Witches otherwise don’t ask for permission. We carve the path that suits our desires for Self, in our own timeline, with the help of our allies and in embodied reciprocity.

As facilitator, I co-create sacred space with intimate groups, usually no more than 12 or 15 participants in a session.

This work is at its most potent (and therefore garners the full attention of my practice) live, in person, and in groups.

The core feature of this type of work is a gathering, usually around a specific theme (i.e. Tending Grief or Igniting Sacred Voice). It is circle work, magickal work, and artwork.

We gather, and I cast a circle (in the Irish witchcraft tradition I have been taught.) Our group builds a collaborative altar in honor of the work we are about to engage with. There is usually an act of divination (a one-card pull and journal, an ogham or rune), some energy-raising with movement and/or chanting, and then

The Making. Or Unmaking. The ouroborous of life-as-art is creativity cycling with destruction; fallow resting, decomposition, and germinating in the dark. Sapling bursting through soil. Spore spawning into fruiting body. And so on. All of it. One symptom of the capitalist disease in our culture is relegating the creative into boxes of productivity- emphasizing the product rather than the process.

Creative practice is a life orientation. It is not a means to an end.

The making or unmaking may include:

Painting, moving, dancing, scribbling, splashing, dripping, scraping. Cutting up and putting back together. Weaving, or stitching. Patching up. Over-dyeing, printing, or distressing. Sometimes a burning or banishing is in order. My personal mediums for making art include water-based media, collage, fiber arts, performance art and installations (especially altars.) Any of these are catalysts for change.

If for example, the reason for gathering is to honor Righteous Rage and to conjure protection for queer people, we might use charcoal: the green steadiness of wood and the transformative power of fire met and created a tool for making bold marks. We may then carry fire further and burn pieces of what needs releasing, and use those ashes to smudge and scrape a new way of being into fruition for all who gathered that day.

Finally, integration. A chance to behold a physical object in symbolic reference of what was made or unmade. Some tangible piece of art- of your own soul- that came through to be transformed, or as proof of that very transformation. A talisman. An object of power. Integration will often look like sharing in circle what came through, sharing your art piece, sharing your process, private journaling, or maybe a final oracle card or moment of divination.

We will make time to process as a group what integration will look like outside our practice circle:

In your personal life, integration might look like finding a place for your piece of artwork to be at home in your daily life. Altar space? The right sunny spot on your wall in your apartment? Yard ornament? Or stitching that patch to your favorite denim overalls. Just for example.

I once painted a piece that was so dripping in rage, it was hefty for anyone to look at. Even folks with no context on what it was had trouble stomaching its gaze. I had to paint over it and donate the canvas for repurposed use. This is also an acceptable integration! Depends on the need at hand.

After integration, the circle will be “opened back up,” as our sacred container has been utilized to its fullest.