Thursday, December 11, 2008

In Support of "Day Without A Gay"

In support of yesterday's "Day Without a Gay," I didn't write. That hurt you, didn't it?

Uh, hello?

Honestly, I have to say I love this idea, but it does have some obvious drawbacks. For one, no one even noticed my feeble attempt to strike a blow for my GLBT brothers and sisters. Secondly, in this economy? Seems a bit risky to "call in gay" to work. The unemployment line looms large for many of us.

In other news, I got an "A" on my tarot test for "Tarot 101" at WitchSchool.com. So that's something positive, at least.

Plus our plumber came right on time day-before-yesterday and the water is back on to our house. I shall now repeat this mantra: "Never try to fix plumbing yourself... always hire a professional. Never try to fix plumbing yourself...."

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Tarot 101 Test Today...

Today, the test for Tarot 101 opened up. I'm going to review my materials and take it. Given that I've started drawing my own Tarot, you'd think I'd get an "A," but that's the biggest draw back of doing all this stuff on-line. It's not terribly easy to contact the instructor and get a sense of what anyone else might be doing. Ah well. I'll let you know how it goes. Personally, I expect it'll be yet another "B."

Also, does anyone out there know if Mercury is retrograde? There've been a number of minor breakages/emergencies in my family as well as with other people I know. Seems like there may be an astrological cause looming out there!

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Spidey-Fool Card

Well, I found some time to draw my vision for the Spider-Man as Fool card last night after all. I apologize that the photograph is a bit dark. My scanner died sometime ago and I've been compensating by taking digital pictures of my artwork. When the light is good, that works. When it's not....

Anyway, here's Spidey as the Fool (please note, any Marvel representatives out there, this is not intended for sale, only for personal pleasure.) I've drawn him leaping off to some new "cosmic fiesta," but with one foot still safely on the window ledge of his Manhattan apartment. On the ledge is a potted plant (the white rose of innocence, which he leaves blithely behind) in Mary Jane's care. She replaces the loyal faithful canine companion (no literary illusion implied.) Her expression is a bit wistful, because she worries that Peter has too much confidence in the face of adversary.

The cityscape is obviously an imaginary New York, with the Hudson River running through it. The river is there to symbolize the unconscious and the city scape itself is dark (though it grows lighter) to represent the subconscious. The sun is shown rising on a new day, a new adventure.

Peter is still unmasked because the Fool is not YET a full hero. He's not gone through his initiation yet, but is ready to. Peter's hand is reaching to pull on his mask (his persona). His other fingers lightly touch the fire escape, which replaces the wand (and because of that I've colored it brown, for wood, and added an ivy vine to show that the wood is living/imbued with magical energy.)

I colored the interior of the apartment black for balance, though I considered leaving it white for innocence and an unpainted canvass, which is left behind in the search for the higher self. The pot the rose grows in is lavender-purple, for psychic energy.

It's been a LONG time since I've done any real drawing, so please excuse my clumsy sense of perspective, etc. But otherwise, what do you think?

Monday, December 08, 2008

Marvel (tm) Tarot

I started thinking about how easily some Marvel (tm) superheroes would work as archtypes for the Major Arcana of the Tarot, and Shawn and I even started assigning roles for each of the 22 cards. I wrote a long, involved post about my picks at my alter-ego's livejournal. I even started drawing THE FOOL card this morning (Spider-Man, of course). When I finish the first image, I'll post it here for your amusement.

Now, after a quick, little lunch, I'm off to go write. I fell behind again because I got stymied by a sex scene in HONEYMOON OF THE DEAD. I had to... ehm, do a little research first. :-)