There are few things more frustrating than being an artist separated from her art for a week. Granted, I was gone for very good reasons–visiting family, and being a guest of honor at Paganicon. Still, there were many moments where my hands itched to be able to pull together wood and paint and bones and other materials into a cohesive arrangement–and where I got to set the pace of my day rather than being on a very busy schedule of travel and engagement.

So when I got back to my studio on Monday, I decided to treat myself to one of the Major Arcana. It’s not that I don’t like the Minor Arcana; quite the contrary, it’s been a fun challenge to make each one have its own personality. But the Majors have extra oomph, and the Magician has been calling out to me ever since I brought home a particularly lovely snake skeleton prepared by Custom Cranium.

This was one of the most intimidating cards for me to create, not because the Magician is inherently scary, but because it has such a deep well of meaning collectively and personally. I have been pagan since 1996, and the image of the magic-worker is deeply woven through pagan and other esoteric communities. So I didn’t want to screw it up. I gotta say, though, this card is giving Justice a run for its money as my favorite card to date.

Also, it’s my sixteenth assemblage piece completed so far. I only need to do another three and a half pieces to be on schedule for completing all the assemblages by the end of the year. The next few months don’t have a lot of out of town time, so I should be able to make pretty good headway on this project–especially important as summer is going to be VERY busy with festivals and whatnot.