When it comes to art, or even just those with a creative nature, there are many ways to incorporate it with your magic. While I won’t be going into any specifics here, I’ll be breaking down the different ways you could try to use your craft in your crafts. This is going to be limited to a bare minimum basics, because I’d like to go deeper into certain aspects in later posts.
Magic
So, there are two ways I like to incorporate art magic into my path. Witchcraft/Magic, or Devotion. These can both look very similar but overall have different end goals and results.
Right away I want to focus the more magic based applications, but I want to be clear this is a more limited view of it. There’s a lot of different ways use art in magic, not all I am versed in. I encourage you to leave a comment talking about how you use art magic, if you feel inclined to share it. I feel art is so personal already, adding another personal aspect like magic it’s bound to have a million different ways to use it that many may never even think of. Especially because at its base art is very vast, and there are more than just visual arts. However, I am simply not a great musician. I am a writer and a painter, but that’s about as far as my skill goes.
Sigils
Sigils are really easy to use in the first few layers of your work; I like to paint them on the canvas before I even do my gesso layer or draw them in the sketch layer of a drawing that will end up erased (or hidden in terms of digital art) later on.
Sigils can also already be very artistic in nature; some people prefer to use symbols for their sigils which makes it easier to incorporate into the finished product instead of living in the background or painted over.
Which leads them to be very easy to use in art magic because they are very flexible and personal and can work in any way you’d like them to.
I like to set my intentions at the start, and the crafting of the artwork is what ‘builds’ the magic into the sigil, firing it off when I finally complete the piece. Or in terms of sketches, once that sketch layer gets erased/hidden it’s set in stone.
Symbolism
This one is a bit more versatile in the execution. Symbolism works great in writing and art, overall, it’s use is foundational already. In both mediums you can use the symbols in different ways, depicting the goal of your end product or using symbols to describe what it is you want in writing. Imagine drawing a wallet full of money or describing a life of luxury and wanting for nothing.
These also work well in a more multi-layered approach depending on the type of magic you’d like to use here. Drawing an empty plate next to a full one to symbolize those who wish to take from yours not succeeding, a happy and warm home in a snowstorm to represent staying safe or protected in turmoil.
Symbols are usually really personal; this is something where you can really create an image that means something to you on a deeper level while others may be completely unaware of that meaning.
Think of the whole ‘ the curtains are just blue’ argument. Sometimes to the reader the blue curtains mean nothing, while to the author, the blue curtains DO mean something. Symbolism doesn’t always have to be understood by the masses for it to mean something to you, and the way the masses take in the symbols may translate differently than they do for you.
Color Magic
This is very common in candle and knot magic, and it translates about the same into art. Something green could be for abundance, something light blue for healing, pink for friendships, red for romance.
Overall, very easy to use and almost untraceable by others if you’re hoping to keep it under wraps. I’ve even painted the rooms in my home using color magic to help the flow of energy and to promote specific energies in certain rooms.
Devotion
Now devotion is still very open ended in art but here are some areas where you might want to perceive a limitation.
I paint for devotion often, usually focusing on ideals that represent the demons I worship. While these feels limited at first, it’s actually very open ended and I have a lot of creative freedom in how I express these concepts and how they relate to me. I am not public about my practice in my personal life due to the way demon worship is often seen, so this creative room is actually very nice to bring it out in the open while never having to address the worship directly to those who may see the art I make.
All of the items I listed above can be used here but would more so be centered around the figure you wish to honor. If they like roses, you’d be much more likely to paint roses than something like dahlias. If they like crows, you’d paint those over a bluejay.
There’s still an amount of freedom, but you’ll find yourself leaning more into their mythos or lore more than anything. How you use these concepts is fully up to you, and there are many ways you can pull it together in a more obvious or more secretive way.
Share your thoughts!