Thoughts While Nursing: Sketchwork Spellwork & Monitor Meditations

A couple of moons ago, I was struggling with a stressful period of motherhood.  Caring for a new baby with special needs & an attention-starved preschooler (sans Dad), I was slipping into an angry, resentful, unhappy place. I felt I the need to refocus, to get back to a calmer, more peaceful, more competent embodiment of motherhood. Intuitively, I felt I should sit down to visualize, draw & meditate upon the mother I wanted to be. I spent the evening of the full moon nursing baby & sketching by inspiration. The effect was profound & very positive. Any time I felt myself slipping into anger or frustration, I would pause, breathe, & recall this image in my mind. What a simple, yet perfect tool for realigning my spirit & psyche.

More recently, I began experiencing new frustrations while preparing to move. Babies, children & packing are a messy combination, particularly when Dad is absentee (by necessity) & baby is breastfed. My thoughts returned to the drawing & my hopes of coloring it as a meditative working -- the goal of which was to reaffirm & strengthen the manifestation of its intent in my daily life. My husband brought me a beautiful set of pencils, but the task of coloring with a baby in my arms seemed daunting & prone to errors -- not very meditative. It struck me that I could do the work in Photoshop, but I balked at doing magickal workings on the computer. After awhile, I warmed to the idea as pressures increased & serenity became more elusive. What I found was that the digital method requires more time, more working & reworking. It imposed a longer process. This was good & I am pleased with the results, both aesthetically & magickally. 

These "art-workings" are so pleasurable, so effective, & are great for focusing your will. They also have the added benefit of creating an object of beauty. What a delight it would be to try this same technique with sculpture, paints, or even poetry & music. I look forward to working with this method again in the future, hopefully under less stressful circumstances.