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Welcome to Your Art Is A Spell, the podcast that ignites inspiring and transformative conversations about art as a magical practice. I'm your host, Edgar Fabián Frías—a multi-passionate artist, witch, therapist, and proud mutant shape-shifter. My art spells have reached audiences through social media, billboards, and skyscrapers and have even been placed on the surface of the moon! Join us as we explore how reclaiming your unique artistic voice and embracing bold creativity can transform your life and the world around you. Subscribe to the podcast and sign up for our newsletter at www.yourartisaspell.com to stay connected!
Did you know that tarot could be just the tool
you need when you're feeling creatively stuck?
When you have writer's block? When you just don't
know what next steps to take? This could be the
tool you've been looking for. Welcome, or welcome
back to Your Art is a Spell. In the last episode,
we talked a little bit about artist blocks and
the narratives we've been told around the need
to suffer to make good art, how serious art is
only valid. And today I wanted to do something a
little bit more playful, a little bit more fun to
bring in some levity, some joy, some mutability,
fluidity into your creative practice. Now, I have
used tarot in a lot of different ways in my own
artistic journey. From helping decide what to name
an artwork to getting ideas as to next steps to
take, figuring out the structure of an artwork
or coming to understand some of the themes,
some of the elements that are important
to consider when creating something.
You might be well aware of tarot as a divination
device, something to look into the future with,
something to get more information from the other
realms with. Yes, that is one of the ways that we
work with tarot. And it's also useful for those
moments when you might not know what to do next
or you just might not feel inspired. You might
feel like today I have no idea what to write,
what to create, what to make. And tarot could be
there to support you when you're feeling that way.
So there are different reasons why I feel like
tarot is the perfect tool, the perfect technology
to support us in our journey as artists. Tarot
itself is an artwork. It is a story. It's been
created by many times a collective of people
who've imbued the tarot with their intention,
with their energy. So, when you pick up a tarot
deck, you're picking up a project that's taken
time to come together, that's been considered,
that's really opened up possibilities for many,
many people. There's so much potential in a tarot
deck and when you work with one, you are opening
up to all of that potential. So, I want to give
you a couple of examples of how I've used tarot
within my creative practice to support me so that
you have some ideas that you might take and bring
into your own practice. As with everything that I
share in this show, I want to invite you to take
what fits, take what resonates, and leave behind
anything that maybe doesn't connect with you or
doesn't make sense for the way that you work.
So, I'll start by saying that I like to bring
multiple decks when I'm working with them. I have
a lot of decks because as you may or may not have
seen on my channel, I do offer reviews on decks
and I have spoken a lot about divination on this
channel and so I have had so many lovely magical
friends gift me decks and so I've amassed a
pretty wonderful collection and so I'll go in and
I'll pick some that inspire me, some that might
resonate with what I'm doing. Today I've picked
three that I just wanted to bring in. One is the
Liberation deck. This is a deck that I'm actually
in. And I'll show you my card in this deck here in
a second if you're watching on YouTube. And the
second deck is called the Travel Tarot. And this
deck is made by Cosmic Cousins aka Jeff Hinshaw.
Jeff was on Your Art is a Spell at the beginning
of this podcast. I will link his video in the show
notes as well as on YouTube if you want to check
out his video. I also have the missing witches
deck of oracles. I've done a review on this
amazing deck. I've done a fliprough of this deck
as well. And it is a deck that has so many divine
divine creators, activists, earth shakers, and
movers. So, if you're looking for an ancestral,
energetic, personal connection that will support
you in your creative practice, this is a deck
to go to because there are actual people in here
who are alive right now or who have lived on this
planet that can help bring energy towards you and
your creative practice. So, let's just say that
I'm working on an artwork. It's a performance and
I'm feeling really stuck. Not sure what direction
to take. I might have a lot of ideas but none
of them really resonate. And so what I would
do is I would as I said once I'm getting that
energy flowing I might have made myself a tea.
I might have done a little bit of meditation or
prayer. I've opened up a space. I would then grab
a deck and I've grabbed the missing witches deck
of oracles and I would just like feel into them.
I like to use my sensation a lot when I work with
tarot. I am visual when it comes to psychic gifts,
but I do feel that for me, I really feel
into when the right card appears. So,
I'm going to just take a second here feeling into
the cards. I'll place them in my hand or I'll put
them on a table and then I'll just run my fingers
through the cards and whenever I feel ready,
I'll pick a card and pull it out. And the card
that comes up is Mayumi Oda. I'll show it here
for you to see. And the word that's underneath may
Mayumi is nurture. And so that already is giving me
some information on maybe some direction that I
can take, a position internally that I could feel
into during my performance. What does it feel like
to give or receive nurturance? I can also take a
moment to connect with my Mayumi, looking into my
Mayumi's eyes by letting her just maybe share anything
that feels important to share with me. This is a
way if especially if you don't know how to work
with tarot or don't have them all memorized.
There's a way that you can really open up your
own intuition in allowing the messages on the card
to share with you what meanings they might have or
what meanings your intuition is picking up from
them. Message I'm really getting from Mayumi in
this card is like you got this Edgar go do it. You
know what you need to do. It's very comforting.
It's giving me the permission maybe that I'm
seeking, that I'm asking for. And also that
encouragement from an ancestor, from a loved
one that's like just watching you, letting you
know that you can take that next step. You got
this. You're ready. And if you're interested,
you could also read what's on the back. There are
some words here. I'll read a little bit from the
back of this card. Goddess, painter, global
activist and dharma gardener Mayumi Oda asks,
"Why do we think we are different from plants?"
At a time in her life when she felt lost,
she dreamed of a zen farm in California. She left
her husband and dedicated herself to nurturing her
inner world. In Japan, Buddhism for me was like
the dusty sutra on the altar. Here it is alive,
taking new form. The ancient Buddhist teachings
of interconnectedness is enriched by the Native
American tradition of reverence for the earth.
Her paintings of goddesses embody paradoxical
witch energy. They glorify and humanize. Goddesses
ride bicycles and talk on telephones. This card
invites you to nurture your inner world like a
sacred garden. Oo, there is so much here. and
just thinking about dreams and visions and making
big changes in your life. Repprioritizing what
feels right, taking a leap, moving across town
or across the world, deciding to live your life
in a completely different way. Now, if you feel
inspired after like hearing or learning more about
a card, you can take some time to journal or just
go right into your artist practice and see what
it's like to embody or work with some of these
themes that you've noticed in the card. All right,
so I want to show you another practice for
bringing tarot into your creativity, another
way to play with the decks. I'm going to be using
the Liberation Tarot for this example, for this
example. And as I said earlier, the liberation
tarot. This is a collective tarot deck. This is
kind of more akin to a traditional tarot deck. The
other one was more oracular and ancestral that we
worked with. But this one was made with dozens
of people who came together, myself included,
to create this deck. And so when you open up to a
deck like this, you're you're bringing in a whole
room of people to play with you, to connect with
you. And as I promised, I wanted to share my card
that's in this deck. I created the mutant. This is
meant to be the temperance card. As you can see,
I'm on water and on land. I'm playing with the
sacred shapes of the universe. I have the sun
behind me beaming through the top of my head. And
there's a beautiful rainbow that's moving through
me. And I, you know, wanted to really lean into
the alchemical energy of the temperance card. I
also was deeply moved by Octavia Butler's notion
that God is change. And I see the mutant as the
embodiment of change, the embodiment of the
divine, always becoming something different.
And that mutation is that life force that allows
things to be shaped, to respond, to be in dialogue
with the universe. So, let's just say that
you have a project that you know is due that
you have to turn in, but you're just not feeling
it. You have no energy or you're kind of feeling
uninspired. And so, let's say you maybe don't need
help because you know what you need to do. you
know that you need to just finish this project.
So what you would do is you know in a similar way
to get you would start to get that energy flowing,
move around, play with some aura sprays, you know,
make yourself a tea. Then I would grab a tarot
deck, this, you know, liberation deck. And I would
shuffle it around a bit. I'm going to be here
cutting it up on my table. And then whenever I
feel ready, I would pull a card. we get the healer
of vessels. And if you could see here, if you're
watching this on YouTube, in this version, the
healer of vessels is adrienne maree brown in all
their respplendant glory in a field surrounded by
butterflies. And with a vessel, a bowl, a ceramic
bowl that's been broken and brought back together
above them. There's so much already into seeing
this card. There's also some beautiful drawings in
here as well. I don't know if you could see them,
but there's some shapes that are made painted into
this image. And so, in this way of working, you're
maybe not looking for themes or ideas, but what
you're looking for is for support. You're asking,
"Hey, I'm not feeling inspired or I'm feeling
tired or I feel like I can't finish this project.
Can you help me?" And so you literally ask, hey
dear adrienne maree Brown, you ask the healer of vessels
for that support and healer of vessels. You know,
knowing that you are a vessel when you're creating
it does mean that we are using our bodies to
transmit, to contain, to hold something, an
essence, an energy. And so the healer of vessels
is here to heal you, to support you, your body,
your vessel, the most important part of you
that is needed to make art. And so just trust
that you'll get the right vibration of energy,
the right energy that you need to support you
in finishing the project. And what I like to
do whenever I work with a card like this where
it's really more of asking for help, asking for
support, I'll just put this card up on my desk.
Let's say if I'm working on my computer, I'll put
it on my desk near me or I'll put it on my altar
space and it's something that I'll return to when
I feel like I just can't continue, you know, or I
need a little bit of help. It's like you're really
working with the card as a beacon of energy,
as a beacon of hope, as a beacon of support. And
I cannot imagine someone more magical to work with
than Adrienne Maree Brown who has brought so much
change and magic and hope into people's lives.
This feels like the perfect card for this example
of working with the tarot in this way. And last,
I just want to share a few words here from
the booklet about the healer of vessels. Uh in
case this might be supportive for you if you are
wanting to work with a card in this way. Emblem
of creativity. The Queen of Cups is reimagined
here as the healer of vessels. The healer is
devoted to the work of increasing awareness,
moving with flow and precision. The figure in
this card is writer and activist Adrienne Maree
Brown, who has helped to shape and direct the
work of emergent strategy. The healer of vessels
intertwines consciousness with emotion. She guides
imagination, with patience, care, and love. We
can learn to move with precision between inner and
outer responsibility, continually reassessing
where we place our attention. The healer of
vessels arrives with a clear message to turn up
the volume on your intuition. You are trusted. You
are deeply and profoundly accompanied. You can
work with what you know. Trust the vessel even
when it is cracked. Wow. So just imagine receiving
this message when you are at your wit's end. When
you're feeling tired when you feel like I cannot
finish this project and then you realize that
you have support and you're invited to really
lean into your intuition. And not only that,
but Adrienee Maree Brown to me represents radical
joy, radical pleasure, radical rest. And so if a
part of you needs to be still, to take a nap, to
work on your art while you're eating some yummy
chocolate or listening to your favorite album of
music, do it. Lean into that pleasure. Lean into
what allows you to feel accompanied and supported.
Okay. So, the last example I wanted to give you
as a way to integrate tarot into your creative
practice is with the travel tarot. As I shared,
this one is made by Jeff Henshaw of Cosmic Cousins
in collaboration with Lonely Planet. And so a big
thing that I've noticed some artists have is
that sometimes we are asked to make big changes
or transitions in our creative practices. Whether
that's trying out a new medium, taking a leap and
doing something larger than life. For example,
I created my first ever public art installation
in Los Angeles a couple of years ago, and it was
my first time ever working with a fabricator. my
first time ever creating something that was going
to be shown publicly um in a way where people
could interact with it where it was in front of
city hall and that felt like a big leap, right?
And so you might have these moments where you're
like, "Hey, I'm either pivoting or I'm feeling
like I want to move in a different direction or
I, you know, maybe want to get to that next level
or that next step and I need some help." And so
I'm just thinking of that for this next example
of how to work with tarot. I'm going to pull these
cards here out of the deck. And I know that in the
last two examples, I've just been using one card.
And again, you could adapt this to whatever feels
right for you. Again, this is like you playing.
This is you getting information. If the first
card doesn't really give you what you need or
you're feeling confused, pull another card,
right? Or find another deck, right? Like I really
want you to feel emboldened and empowered in this
practice because this is meant to support you. And
so just listen to your intuition as you're working
with the tarot deck. And so again, with this idea
in mind, I'm going to grab this deck and I'm going
to just shuffle it a little bit here. And I'm
going to be pulling two cards just because I want
a little bit of a before and after energy since we
are talking about movement and change and leveling
up going from one place to another. And so I do
want that A and B energy, right? And so that's why
I'm going to be pulling two cards. And again, as a
witch, I really sense with my hands. I sense into
when it's the right time. I really let myself feel
into it. I also sometimes notice if cards jump
out of the deck that might happen. And I know some
witches really listen to those cards. I definitely
like to do that, too. But again, I feel into when
the moment feels right, like I've done enough
movement with the cards and I'm ready to pick the
two. Okay. So, well, I'll show you the cards that
I've gotten. So, I get the Ace of Cups, and it is
a gorgeous image of a sunset in Botswana. There's
an elephant in a lake or a marshland. You can see
the sun setting in the distance. To me, aces are
blessing cards. That's how I like to look at them.
You're being given something. You're being offered
a gift. And then the other card that I get is the
eight of swords which is Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela.
And in this card there is a huge huge lightning
bolt right in the center of the card and it is
crashing down onto the lake and there's a building
like a house in the back. It's like purple hued.
We're in the middle of a storm. And so, you know,
I would like hold these two cards, looking at both
of them, you know, thinking about their energies,
like they hold very different energies. And so,
maybe without even knowing what these cards
are about, you can feel a story here or you can
sense a shift here. There's moving from maybe
calm, tranquility, peace of the Ace of Cups,
that blessing, that gift, and then moving into
the eight of swords, which is a lot more dynamic,
dangerous, potent, directed, electrifying. It's
also a moment of chaos, change, transition. And
so, you know, one of the narratives here that
you might feel into is that as you maybe take
the steps to dream into another medium or go
into that next phase of your creative practice,
you might have to deal with some storms or you
might feel the electric power that comes with
being a lightning bolt. that you might have that
impact on the community and that yes, it feels
lovely to be in a place of rest and tranquility
to watch the sunset, but that it's needed for
us to move in another direction to really move
with the elements into the chaotic unknown. So
trusting that that might be the path you might be
going on and that that might be what's required to
move into that next direction. Some other things
that I noticed in these cards is that they both
have water at the center of the card. And so
to me, this also means that water is profoundly
important for this next step. Water is alive. It
is conscious. We are made of water. We are mostly
water. And water is what allows us to have life
on Earth. allows things to evolve and change and
mutate. And so really inviting you to work with
water, knowing that water is at the center. And
there are many ways to work with water. You can
bring water into your art practice. You could,
as I've shared many times, you can make yourself
a drink. You could look for bodies of water to
help inspire you or replenish you. You could take
a shower before you work on your art practice. Or
you could think about how water has the ability
to be programmed uh to have our prayers go into
water. So you might want to work with water that's
been prayed into or sung into. You might want to
put crystals in your water or put water out under
the full moon and drink that water to get that
energy of the full moon which is about being fully
embodied and stepping into that next phase of your
life. So there are many ways to allow these cards
to really guide you and give you some information
about what's next or what's coming. I'm going to
just share a little bit here from the travel tarot
deck just so that we can see how these cards are
spoken about. Starting with the eight of swords,
which is the lightning bolt energy. Traditionally,
the eight of swords symbolizes powerlessness and
restriction. However, its invitation also heralds
the potential for radical new perspectives and
breakthroughs. One of the oldest lakes on Earth,
Lake Maracaibo is home to the Catatumbo lightning
phenomena where powerful storms bring hundreds
of lightning strikes per hour, making it the most
lightning prone place on the planet. While the
other worldly flashes attract seekers of natural
wonder, the lake also faces severe environmental
degradation. When receiving the eight of swords,
you are being encouraged to acknowledge
simultaneous realities empowering you to transform
devastation through creative empowerment. And
this book also includes astrology and it says
connected to black moon Lilith in Aquarius, which
actually my Lilith is an Aquarius. This card
tells you to embrace disruption as a catalyst for
awakening. And one of the affirmations it shares
is my clarity strikes with power illuminating
new paths forward. So you know just in reading
this I'm thinking a lot about how whenever we do
step into these next phases of our lives um we
are met sometimes with new problems problems we've
never dealt with. And you know I like to think of
those problems as a gift as a blessing because it
means that we have made it to that next level. And
this card really reminds us that with our dreams
and our visions and our hopes for change in our
lives will come other things and just to be ready
not to be scared of them but to know that they're
all a part of the process. And so let me read the
Ace of Cups here. The Okawango Delta and Botswana
representing heartfelt new beginnings. The Ace of
Cups speaks to divine love. When receiving this
card, your potential for soulful connections and
emotional fulfillment is heightened. The Okavango
Delta in Botswana is transformed by seasonal
flooding. Barren plains become lush wetlands.
These tranquil waterways and robust ecosystems
represent spiritual and emotional renewal. Fresh
starts and interconnectedness. Now is a time to
open your heart to the beauty and abundance of
life as you refill your cup with inspiration
and hope. And so the astrology says connected
to the water element. This card resonates with
cancer, scorpio, and pisces encouraging you to
embrace your capacity for emotional healing.
And the affirmation is I hold a deep love for
all beings. May my heart remain open as a vessel
of compassion. So, you know, I I had never read
these two cards before and I just, you know, in a
way want to just highlight how just in looking at
the cards, how much you receive from them that
does end up showing up in the actual writing or
the information about the cards. And also knowing
that what'sever written in a book is just the top
layer of a card. You can literally spend hours
talking about one card because cards are really
complex and they do involve in them numbers and
stories and myths and histories that are deep and
ancient. And so that's why they work so well
when we use them in our creative practice is
that we're tapping in to something that opens
up a deep lineage and history. I hope that
this has been supportive for you and if you're
ever feeling stuck, need a little bit of help,
or feeling like you just need a little bit
of time to play in your artistic practice,
that you feel the freedom to pull a tarot deck out
of your collection and to bring it in in whatever
way resonates with you. At the moment, I showed
three different ways of working with the tarot
today. And I want to invite you to share if there
are any ways that you connect with tarot in your
practice. Would you have done things differently?
Did you get any different messages than I did? I'd
love to hear. So, share your thoughts. I've been
really appreciating all the comments I've been
receiving on YouTube and as well as via email to
the folks who have been writing me and sharing
their reflections about the podcast. Now, one
of the last things I want to share is that we
do have a Patreon for Your Art is a Spell. This is
brand new and you can sign up for free by going to
patreon.com/yourartisaspell. I do have a couple
of membership tiers there for folks who would like
to support me, my artist practice, as well as
support this podcast. And I want to thank the
brand new members that we have in the Patreon.
Colin Frangicetto and Mary Pomonis, welcome.
Thank you so much for becoming paid members of
the Patreon. And I want to invite you if you're
listening to become a paid member of the Patreon.
you not only are supporting me in doing this work,
but I also will be asking for reflections. I'll
be reading your comments. Um, if you have any
questions or anything that you'd like for me to
speak on in future episodes, you can go there to
Patreon and leave your requests there. Leave your
questions or comments there and I will be there. I
read every single comment that comes through.
And so, just want to thank you all so much.
And if you're interested in my newsletter, uh you
can go to mutant-magic.com to sign up for free
to my newsletter. I have some big announcements
coming about a couple of big projects that I've
been involved in that I'm going to be sharing
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I want to thank you so much for listening to this
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Leave a comment. Leave a review. All of those
things help us in expanding our webs, expanding
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forget that your art is a spell and it will
change your life and the world around us. Bye.