Visionary Night

I know I haven't been around lately.  One reason is because of my health, and the other reason is that the way I attempted to structure this blog isn't working out.  It's not conducive to my lifestyle or the way I practice.  I wanted to be a good little pagan and post along with the solar and lunar cycles.  I should know that doesn't work from past experience, but I was hopeful.  It didn't even come close to working.  It's confession time.  Out of all the sabbats, I only celebrate Samhain.  As for the lunar cycles, I'm lucky if I remember to collect moon water, let alone do anything else.  I do my magickal workings whenever I feel like it and however I want to do it.  If you're looking for someone that does things by the book, that is definitely not me.  Although, I do stay attuned to the energies as the wheel of the year turns.  Every day is magickal to me.  I don't fuss over how things are supposed to be done.  I do what feels right.  I can turn ju

I have another idea for a monthly or even weekly page that you can add to your journal.  It's fairly simple to do, but it can be a bit time consuming depending on how much detail you put into it.  Here's an example of how it can look: This page took me a few hours to do, but most of that was waiting for the background to dry since I went a little bit overboard.  You can use this technique to add quotes or gratitude lists to your journal in a fun and colorful way.  I used these supplies for this page, but you can improvise with whatever you have on hand: Derwent Inktense blocks, Fan brush, Graphite pencil, A good eraser (My favorites are the Tombow mono and the Tombow mono zero erasers.  They erase the cleanest of all the erasers I've tried.), 6 pens with different colored ink (I used Staedtler Triplus Fineliners), and A black brush pen (I used a Prismacolor Premier Illustration pen). I started by using a fan brush that had a lot of water on it and my Derwen

I had some ideas for other types of pages I'd like to include in my book of shadows, so I'll be doing a series of posts about them as I try them out.   The first of my ideas was to create a simple page each month to highlight the moon phases.  It's partly informative and partly a record of my experiences with the cycle of the moon.  Here's an example of what I mean.   May's page is shown in the photo below. You'll probably notice two things right away.  1. As always, there's a bunch of color.  If you haven't figured it out by now, I love color.  2. There are some moon phases missing.  Maybe I'm a bad pagan or something, but I don't pay attention to all the phases of the moon.  I practice according to the dark, new and full phases of the moon.  That's what makes sense for me, so that's what is on my journal page. On this page, I collaged strips of washi tape and scraps of patterned cardstock onto the journal page.  I wrote the moon

Blessed Beltane!  I hope everyone is having an awesome day.  I thought I'd share an idea with you for pages you can create in your journal to celebrate this time of year or any time of year.  It's amazing how we're halfway through the wheel of the year since I started Visionary Night.  I feel like I haven't quite accomplished what I thought I would by now, but I'm happy with how far I've come and with where this blog is going. It may be cliche, but this time of year makes me think of flowers.  In May, the magnolias are blooming.  It's really the best time to see them and most other flowers before the heat of summer causes them to practically rot.  My mom gave me some beautiful stickers by Mrs. Grossman's.  The name of the sticker sheet is "Spring Stems."  The stickers, along with the crazy weather we have in April and May, really inspired the art journal page I painted (see the photo below). The basic idea behind this page is to combine

Depending on what time zone you're in, today may or may not be Ostara (or Mabon in the Southern hemisphere).   Where I am, the spring equinox started at 11:30 pm last night according to  archaeoastronomy , only a few hours after I finished the journal spread in the photo below. Around the equinoxes each year, I feel a strong connection to the plant spirits, since they are either emerging from the earth in a riot of color (spring) or going out in a blaze of glory (autumn) only to repeat the cycle again.   I often feel a strong desire to paint them.  This year, it wasn't a local tree or flower that captured my attention, but bamboo, a tree found on the other side of the world.  I was curious as to why I suddenly felt such a strong connection to bamboo when I hadn't really thought about it before (or realized it's actually a tree).  I did a general internet search to learn more about its symbolism and characteristics.  I was so inspired by what I learned that I wrote

If you've been following the blog posts so far this year, you probably know that I've been sick for the last 2 months or so.  It was very unexpected.  I didn't think it would be so hard to keep up with the blog posts, but I really needed that time to recuperate.  Thank you so much for your understanding. Today, I have three projects to share that you can use in your journal to document your spiritual life.  These aren't tutorials.  Unfortunately, I was still not feeling 100% when I created these pages, but I had to document the moment.  I thought I'd share some suggestions for things you can do in your journal in between the tutorials I post. »»»Page One: Expressive Trees: The page above was actually meant to be a tutorial for Imbolc that never happened.  It was inspired by a  YouTube video about expressive watercolor trees .  I figured that if a water brush can be used for this technique, then the brush tip of a Copic marker would work too.  I seem to as

When I packed for my trip home, I thought that I would have done a lot more journaling.  Maybe it's more likely that the individual pages took longer than expected to finish.  I did paint quite a bit, but I only have four pages to show for it. Page One: I read  this article  right before leaving on vacation and it stuck with me.  I'm not sure if my painting resembles a reindeer, but since I have a huge aversion to graphite, I painted it freeform.  I like the way it turned out. Page Two: I woke up one morning and decided that I wanted to paint a turquoise and pink owl.  I like quirky owls and between a paint malfunction and my unusual aesthetic, the owl below was created. Page Three: It was Yule afternoon and I realized that I hadn't painted a Goddess figure in years.  I usually paint male figures around Yule, because I always think of the story of the Oak King and the Holly King.  I had painted an ethereal background the day before, so I decided it had

I'd like to start off by saying that I don't like taking pictures.  I like to paint.  I like to write occasionally.  I feel like if a moment is meaningful, it will stick with me.  I remember the most random things.  My visit with my family was wonderful.  I got to meet my new furry nephew and my new furry sister.  I got to see some old animal friends, as well as most of my elementary teachers.  I made some new memories of sisterly bonding (with my human sister). The first two photos are of my new little sister, Phoebe.  The vet thinks that she is part Jack Russell terrier and Sheltie, but I think she has some whippet in her.  She certainly has the personality.  She hardly stopped moving for the whole two weeks I was home.  I did get photographic evidence that she does occasionally rest (see below). I also got to see the eldest of my sister's furry children, Oscar.  He was nice enough to appear in a photo with me. I finally got to meet my other fu