Creating The Beltane altar for Coalessence

Picture courtesy Joanna Brook

Recently I was given the opportunity to create an altar for the Coalessence Ecstatic dance community which has dances every Sunday and Tuesday. It was the Sunday before Beltaine, and on a spur of the moment I decided to volunteer, feeling moved to create an altar. I decided that the theme/focus of the altar would be around Beltaine, and I would dedicate the altar to my patron goddess Aphrodite and patron god Eros.

My approach to creating this altar was also informed by a desire to consider the aesthetics of the deities I was working with as well as the energy I wanted to call into the dance hall. I wanted to make the altar into an art magic working that would call forth the divine power of Aphrodite and Eros and inspire the dancers to celebrate the energies of Beltaine.

I started my process by choosing the items I would bring from my home to the space I was going to be working in. I brought my statues of Aphrodite and Eros, conch shells I had placed on the altar, a bracelet with the inscription of “Live in the Moment,” some crystals in the shapes of hearts, a Lapis Lazuli necklace, a crystal goblet, and roses I recently bought for my beloved, but also as an offering to Aphrodite, since we both work with her.

How to create and activate collage sigils

For new years I decided to revive an old art magical practice that I haven't done for a few years. I decided to create a collage sigil.

First I needed to decide on the theme. I chose the theme of YES, specifically saying yes to myself.

The theme is what ties a given collage together. It informs what images you use, what words you'll be drawn to, and what it is that you're ultimately calling into your life.

It's not all that different from any other themed work I've done in my life, and what I find with themed magical work in general is that the theme WILL show up in your life, but often in ways you don't expect. This is because when you utilize magic to call a theme into your life, you are calling in that theme but in a way that is needed.

Magical Experiments Podcast: Creating Magical Art with Helena Domenic

In this episode of Magical Experiments Podcast, I interview Helena Domenic about her work as a magical artist. We discuss how she's created books with illuminated art and explore the intersection between creativity, art and magic. Helena Domenic is an accomplished artist, writer, witch, and professor of art history and studio art. Helena maintains a studio in Phoenixville, PA under the name, The Artistic Mystic, where she offers classes, workshops, and readings. Helena spent thirty years as a member of the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel and was also an Elder in that tradition. She left to carve out her own path, both as an artist and a witch. Currently, she leads the Exton Pagan Meetup and the Brandywine Kindred, a newly formed coven in Chester County.

Helena has a forthcoming book called An Illuminated Guide to Wicca, available from Schiffer Publishing (available for pre-order now) in January 2022.

Helena has also created a Tarot deck and book, The Fellowship of the Fool Tarot, as well as a Runic Oracle deck and a Lenormand deck.

Helena’s work may also be seen on her website: http:www.artofhelenadomenic.com

The Magic of Art is now Available

My latest book, The Magic of Art, is now available in print and e-book. In this book I share how to apply the mediums of art to your magical practice to help you achieve consistent results.

Best of all, you don't need to be an artist at a gallery. you just need to be willing to pick up a paint brush, sculpting clay, or scissors and glue (or whatever you want to work with) and start creating art magic workings.

In this book you'll learn my techniques for using art to create evocation portals, practical magic workings, and even magical tools that you can draw upon whenever you need them.

This book also features essays by other art magicians, who share with you their own approach to art magic and how it has helped them with their magical practice.

Artistic Tools and magical transformation

In a recent post I briefly discussed how artistic tools bring a practical element that goes beyond their symbolic representation in magical work. I favor using my paintbrush as a magical tool, or a colored pencil, or anything else along those lines, because there is a level of practical application that goes beyond the symbolic representation that the brush can represent.

In fact what appeals the most to me is that the practical application of a paintbrush involves transformation. A blank canvas is transformed by the very brush stroke that leaves a mark, a manifestation of the concept being painted. The same applies to pens, pencils, clay, and any other artistic tool you can think of. The tool is used to change something. This appeals to me, in terms of using magical tools because its not just a symbolic act, but an actual action you can take.

Of course there is some symbolism associated with the artistic tools. For example, I think of my brush as symbolically representing a wand and all the attributes associated with the wand. But the practical aspect appeals because it moves a tool to a level of expression that exemplifies and carries out the magical act of transformation. You don't get that same experience with more traditional tools, and given that experience is a crucial part of magical work, shouldn't we draw on whatever resources allow us to embody it?

A Vision of Tomorrow

Each year I do a cut-up collage, which essentially serves as a magical enchantment for the next year. This particular magical working is inspired by William S. Burroughs, and I always make a point to listen to Burroughs when doing this working. This year's collage was dedicated to Bune as both an evocation of him for Wealth Magic purposes and also as a way of praising and raising attention about him.

At the same time this collage and the other one are magical workings for my businesses, or vision boards if you like. I'm in the process of rebranding for my main business, as well as working on the social media presence for Immanion Press, and I'm even doing some refining of magical experiments. It's a lot of work, but its also a lot of fun.

How this works is twofold. Your scissors is the tool of cutting. You cut any previosu meanings away when you cut the words and images out. Then when you put the collage together, you glue your meanings into the words and images, imprinting them with your desires. The glue is the imprint of meaning on the blank void of paper, bringing meaning with image and word to create an enchantment (or evocation) of the desired reality. You can fire the enchantment off a variety of ways, whether its via sex magic, or using your creativity as the firing mechanism, or showing it in a public space, with people sharing it as the firing mechanism.