Art and how it links to the practice of Magic is something I’m deeply fascinated by. A a Pagan artist, I’ll be creating a series of blogs I’ll explore the history of Artists as Magical practitioners & discuss how creativity can enhance your Magical practice.
What is magic?
Magic starts from a desire to create change. The definition of Magic I will use here is a simple formula : Intention + Belief + Altered mental state = Magical outcome. You may or may not agree with my definition, but it will form the basis of the scope of these writings.
How do art and magical practice link?
When we look at Magical practice we’ll quickly see that there is a lot of art associated with it. The most obvious things being illustrations on our Tarot & Oracle decks, imagery of Deities for our altars, illustrative images in the books we read and the websites we visit.
Whether we perceive ourselves to be ‘good’ at art or not, the act of creating our own magical imagery, or participating in the act of creation for magical reasons, has a lot to offer our practice and is accessible to most people.
The act of creating art, and works of art themselves can have many roles within magical practice. From creating altar images of deities, poppets and sigils for use in spell-craft, to channeled art and art as meditation & divination.
Exploring the wide possibilities of combining art and Magic, breathes new life into our art practices and spiritual practices.
An overview of what will be discussed.
Art & Divination.
Art as divination – ink reading ‘encromancy’, art for tarot & oracle.
Art & Altered consciousness.
Art creation for altered conscious state – meditation, shamanism.
Channelled art & Automatism – the act of creating & interpreting.
Art creation and mindfulness.
Art as a visual focal point for meditative state.
Art for Altars , Devotional & Reverential Art .
Creating Art as a spiritual & reverential act.
Representative Art as a focal point for magical practice – Altars, Icons, Archetypes, Deities, Affirmation Cards, Stele.
Art & Spellcraft.
Art as ‘aide memoire’ for festivals, spell ingredients etc.
Sigils & Poppets.
Self-created symbolic languages for magical use.
Art materials, colour & pigment as magic. Correspondences, use as magical tools & symbolic devices.
Art for altered atmosphere in a ritual setting.
Art & Magical Community
Art as magical activism.
Art as community builder – harnessing to power of creative group energy.
Imbuing art with power – creative legacy & heirloom.
Magical Artists of note
Art history and information about artists who are known to have practiced magic, or who have used some of the methods discussed, will be woven throughout the the blog posts, with links to find out more about them also included.
Celebrating Pagan festivals through art.
I will also be making a series of blog posts about the Pagan Wheel of the Year and ways to celebrate the changing seasons in a creative way.
