Embracing Imperfection

Art, spirituality and a Tarot Reading

Hello once again from southeast Vancouver. The blooming flowers are beautiful here, and I found my first caterpillar of the season recently!

I’ve had a pleasant and busy week, so let’s get right into it.

Art of the Week

The comic is still very much in progress! Here’s how the first page looks like in full colour:

The other pages were posted in pencilled form last week for paid subscribers. If you’re especially interested in how the story goes, or if you like supporting artists, consider subscribing.

The other big accomplishment of the week is that I finally filmed my latest art tutorial:

I’m proud of this video. The use of basic shapes to describe figures is an important fundamental skill.

Spirituality of the Week

There is a little to report, but this week was not so packed with festivities.

I will say that we did a little spell at a friend’s house to accept our imperfections (which I interpreted as our shadow side, or gremlin).

My shadow side, or gremlin, is a pan-like figure with twisted horns and a lute. He’s the personification of the parts of myself I’ve had to disown over the years, and he also represents the parts of myself I’m not fond of dealing with, such as my paranoia. I got into a trance state and talked with him briefly about the paranoia in particular, he said I’d have to own it and try to control it. So I guess over the coming weeks I’ll be trying to figure out what that looks like.

I also cleaned my altar in anticipation of Hekate’s Deipnon, or Supper, which happens to be later tonight (the dark of the moon). Hekate’s Deipnon is an event where we leave out offerings for Hekate and the lonely ghosts that accompany Her, in the hopes of building up positive relationships (Kharis) with Hekate and the restless dead.

With regard to the altar cleanup, I picked the orange candle in anticipation of May, and Beltaine (which I’ll write about next week), and also because I believe it’s a colour associated with Lord Hermes, who on the Roman calendar was said to be born this month. In my practice, Hermes and Hekate are my patron and my matron respectively, so They’re top of mind when I’m decorating the main altar, particularly on Their special days.

Reading of the Week

Today I’m doing a 3-card spread from the Celestial Tarot, by Kay Steventon and Brian Clark, alongside my labradorite astro dice.

Astro dice. Mars in Leo. The energies of strength and drive are distinctly pointing towards extroversion. Are you holding back in your workouts, or with your loved ones? This might be your cue to go all out.

And now, for the cards.

Cassiopeia reminds us that it’s not always best to keep a beginner’s mindset. Sometimes, you’ve got to take your stride, with confidence and sureness. Release, for now, your relative naïveté when it comes to creative matters. You know what you’re doing, so act accordingly.

Orion invites us to consider embodying stability in this phase of our life. How can you be a rock that others can lean on? Consider your relationship to your possessions-perhaps now is the time to get only what you need, in the interest of better stabilizing your finances or planning ahead.

Lupus suggests a possible dilemma that you may have to think about going forward. How can material stability and embracing your main interest with confidence help in that endeavour? Give the subject some thought.

If you’d like a reading of your own, I have three card readings currently available on my Ko-Fi shop ( ko-fi.com/Metamagickian ). At a mere $5.55, they’re a steal, and booking a reading with me may also give you access to future content that I might put up on there.

Closing Thoughts

For this week, that’ll conclude my works here at the Atelier. Thank you very much for joining me, and I hope that you’ll join me for more art, spirituality, and readings next week.

I leave you with this sunny sleeve I draw every Sunday at my day job.