SageWoman reviews the Lover’s Path Tarot

I guess the title of this post says it all.

 Many thanks to Diane Saarinen for passing this on to me.

Usually Fridays I try to feature a goddess painting here. But I’m so very tired — there’s so much going on, though it’s all good. And I’m still recovering from my cold. To make amends, I’m going to aim to do my Friday goddess post on Saturday. (Does that make sense? Hope so!)

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list, updated

Remember this list? (I’ve edited it, to avoid boring redundancy.)

1. Prepare for the publication of the Goddess Inspiration Oracle.

2. Finish drawings for Goddess Alive — contact models, get reference, and draw!

3. Finish first draft of book proposal to run by literary agent.

4. Follow up on publisher submissions.

5. Update gallery website.

6. Prepare for upcoming art exhibition.

7. Mull over what I’m doing with my career.

I can cross one of those items off this list. And three other items are well underway. (See if you can guess which ones in the coming weeks.)

One thing I can definitely announce. Last week I finished the new book proposal after several months of intermittent labor. This week I sent the new book proposal to my literary agent. And, to quote Sally Field, my agent liked it, she really liked it.

I’m relieved and surprised, since Theresa’s my toughest-yet-most-supportive critic. All authors should have such wonderful agents — I know how lucky I am. I can’t tell you how many drafts of The Lover’s Path she red-inked. Or how many bad press releases she’s reworked on my behalf, editors she’s lunched, et cetra. Plus the subject matter is considerably darker and funnier than what I usually produce. I was nervous about how it would be received, if she would think I was coming from left field.

But that didn’t happen.

The bottom line: the new book proposal will be going out on submission probably by May 1st. In other words, soon. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Yes, I know I’m still being secretive about this new book’s title and subject matter. But I’m superstitious. I don’t like to announce books or titles until the deal is hopefully done. That written, I promise to post updates about this submission, probably in an equally cryptic fashion.

Just so you know, book submissions can be excitingly fast or excruciatingly slow. There seems to rarely be a middle ground, at least in my experience. The fastest I’ve ever sold a project has been within a week of sending it; the slowest, a year after sending it. So I’m prepared for anything!

• Filed under art and words, new projects, publishing | One Response

Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt

I’m pleased to announce that Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt, the latest book I’ve illustrated, has been published by Inner Traditions/Bear & Company.

Shamanic Mysteries was co-authored by Nicki Scully and Linda Star Wolf. I created eight large watercolor paintings for the book, one of which you can see on the book cover. This piece presents Nut, the goddess of the night, and Geb, the god of the earth; on the side is Thoth, the Architect of Higher Learning; the central figure is Anubis, the Opener of the Way.

Though I immersed myself in Egyptian art to work on this book, Nicki and Star Wolf’s descriptions for the art were so precise that all I had to do was hew to their words as closely as possible. In a sense, what you’re seeing are their visions brought to life by my paintbrush — I’m only the hired hand, so to speak! This is an unusual situation because these days I seem to spend more time illustrating my projects than I do for other authors. (It’s not that I don’t like illustrating for authors. I think it’s more that I have so many book ideas that it’s rare for me to come up for air.)

On Nicki Scully’s website, signed copies are also available. She’s also posted several excerpts from the book for your reading pleasure.

Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt is a powerful book bearing an inspiring message of hope — one much needed these days. I’m pleased to be a small part of it.

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heartbreakingly tragic

How else can you describe what happened at Virginia Tech?

My mind keeps going back to Columbine, to those Amish girls being led like sheeps to slaughter. I know there will be a lot of “It’s not guns that kill people, it’s people that kill people” from the media, the gun lobby, the White House. I know that many will try to blame it on video games, on violence in movies and on television.

Nonetheless, the reality is that those students would still be alive if not for guns.

BTW, if you haven’t seen the film Bowling for Columbine, now would be a good time to aquaint yourself with it. I know Michael Moore stacks the deck for the sake of his argument (but it’s an argument I agree with). One example: Moore’s supposition that Canadians don’t lock their doors because they have such little crime — it’s hilarious in the film, but clearly exaggerated for artistic effect.

Nonetheless, Bowling for Columbine is well worth seeing. It shows the absurdity of our hyper-armed society and how it leads to tragedies — such as what happened in Virginia.

Click here to read an editorial in the NY Times regarding this story. It reiterates the point that the lessons of Columbine have not been learned.

ETA: Here’s a short excerpt from the latest update from the NY Times, which details Virginia’s lax gun control measures:

Virginia imposes few restrictions on the purchase of handguns and no requirement for any kind of licensing or training. The state does limit handgun purchases to one per month to discourage bulk buying and resale, state officials said.

Once a person had passed the required background check, state law requires that law enforcement officers issue a concealed carry permit to anyone who applies. However, no regulations and no background checks are required for purchase of weapons at a Virginia gun show.

“Virginia’s gun laws are some of the weakest state laws in the country,” said Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. “And where there have been attempts to make some changes, a backdoor always opens to get around the changes, like the easy access at gun shows.”

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The Dinner Party

Have you ever played the dinner party game? You know, where you’re allowed to invite anyone — from history or the present — to an imaginary dinner you’re hosting? It’s a favorite of ours to play during long car trips, along with a game we made up called “Casting Couch.”

(It’s not as salacious as it sounds. Basically “Casting Couch” consists of casting the movie of your life, as if you were a casting director. Usually my sister would be played by a Disney princess, I would be played by Mira Sorvino or Uma Thurman on a very, very, very bad day, and Tom would be a young Dustin Hoffman, for lack of imagination.)

My dinner party list varied depending on my mood. I usually included Colette, Oscar Wilde, Katherine Hepburn, George Bernard Shaw for conversation and a soupçon of wit. I’d also want to invite those I’d admired, such as William Morris, Ghandi or Joan of Arc — though if Joan attended, I worried she’d take offense if I served anything too luxurious. Or if I burnt the meal. (Bad joke, I know, but couldn’t resist.)

Anyway, this is a long preamble to my writing that a much better dinner party is going down at the Brooklyn Museum — one that puts all of my imaginary dinner parties to shame.

Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party is now on permanent display at the Brooklyn Museum’s new Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. If you’ve never viewed this massive installation, The Dinner Party is just transcendental. It must be seen to be experienced — I saw it several years ago when it last visited Brooklyn, and was overwhelmed by it.

The Brooklyn Museum website describes The Dinner Party as comprising “a massive banquet, arranged on a triangular table with a total of thirty-nine place settings, each commemorating an important woman from history. . . The names of another 999 women are inscribed in gold on the white tile floor below the triangular table.” But it’s much more than that. Each of the place settings are designed in a style that reflects the life and times of the woman being honored — from the Primordial Goddess to Georgia O’Keefe. Hundreds of women participated in bringing Judy Chicago’s vision to fruition, from the embroidery on the table runners, to the sculptures that adorn each plate and gold chalice. The cumulative effect is incredibly moving and empowering. It feels holy.

The Dinner Party is truly a must see. And I’m proud that my home town is hosting it.

Oh, and I’m hoping my next post will be an ‘art and words’ post, with an update on what’s going on. For real. This past week, I’ve suffered yet another late winter/early spring malaise cold. All my energy has gone to keeping on top of deadlines and blowing my nose. Right now, it feels easier to write about other artists’ work than to write about my own.

 

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