Painting and Peace – February 2019 Domagick Week 1

I’m seven days into February Domagick challenge and enjoying this month’s work far more than I thought I would. I had expected my planned artistic meditations on the Daemonic Divine to supplement my daily morning pages, further loosening me up creatively and energetically before any other work I had scheduled that day. I had anticipated that the art would feel much the same way the pages did–occasionally enjoyable, but just as often like drudgery, a necessary chore meant to organize my mind for the day ahead. They help me purge and order my thoughts, hopefully getting whatever might hold me back from out of my brain.

In theory, anyway. If I have a problem I can solve, I find the morning pages extremely helpful. I’m a proactive person. I can only whine about a situation for so long, even to myself, before I have to take action to change it. Unfortunately, some issues will always remain beyond our control. No matter how long we complain or what solutions we try to put in place, we may not be able to effect change simply because it isn’t our problem to solve. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect us, of course. When I journal about such things in my morning pages, my lack of agency sometimes frustrates me enough that it puts a damper on my mood afterward, and I have to work to pull myself back up. It’s annoying, and often feels counterproductive for a method described by its author as a meditation.

My artistic meditations feel utterly different. There’s little sense of getting the garbage out before I start creating for the day with these. Instead, I get lost in the moment, and in the Daemonic itself, never worrying about the long-term consequences of what color I’m laying down or the lines that I am making. It is as if I am filling myself up rather than purging. My mood feels better—brighter and calmer—after this work. It may not produce as much written material, but in terms of shifting mental states it is quicker, longer lasting, and more effective. That’s something to remember and keep in mind for future use.

I split my artistic meditations this week between three daemons. First, I spent time with Unsere, who I venerated February 1-3 for what many would traditionally consider Imbolc. To me, she represents motherhood and familial happiness, so growth, bounty, and nature figured symbolically in the marker sketches I did for her.

From there, I moved on to three days with Lucifer, who I associate with knowledge and illumination. My love of abstract art began to peek through when I tried to convey what I saw in my meditations with him through the use of shape and color. Somehow the shift in style resulted in a change in mood as well, and this was when I began to honestly look forward to the art sessions each day.

Lastly, I spent a day with Astaroth. This was the lone piece I used the computer to create. I could not get the colors I wanted otherwise, hot and searing to the eye. I saw it my mind before I created it, and it came of the closest to what I wanted of all the pieces this week. Strangely, I enjoyed creating at least. There’s something to be said for the energy of making drawings by hand, I suppose.

I’m already looking forward to the next week’s meditations. Are you participating in this month’s Domagick challenge? How is it treating you?

Here’s to next week being even better!