Art and Spirituality have always been linked to one another.
If you were to wander through any famous gallery and gaze upon the artworks gracing its walls, you will find art that reflects this relationship.
Some of our earliest artworks found on the walls of caves reveal humanities connection to the natural world and reveal how they worshipped nature as a giver of life and expressed personal animal totems. These ideologies would later inform many of our pagan and shamanic practices and traditions.
Moving through time from cave art to 20th-century art we continue to see many artists exploring mythology, the afterlife, esoteric concepts, ritual, the sacred & the profane and all things magical.
As an artist, I endeavor to express my personal connection to shamanic and pagan practices, in this way I consider it sacred art as it is informed by something other than my own egoic experience.
I use a variety of spiritual practices in my daily life for both personal and spiritual development.
Some of these practices include using tarot cards, a pendulum, scrying techniques, shamanic journeying, trance work, meditation, dream interpretation, ritual and shadow work however it is also what informs my art practice.
These practices assist me in altering my own consciousness to access mystical, visionary, occult and transpersonal experiences.
They create a bridge between my conscious and subconscious mind and allow me to dive deeper into untapped creativity within.
Not only can spirituality inform our art practice, but art in itself can be a spiritual act. In this way, art has an alchemical quality to it and the ability to change reality by what we call into being with our paintbrush or pencil.
It is a powerful tool and creativity can be used to:
*Manifest your intentions
* Heal emotional and psychological wounds
* Discover hidden meaning within a dream or vision
* Reveal hidden aspects of our subconscious mind (something Jung called our “shadows”)
* Create magical and spiritual tools for your next ritual
* Make a vision board and watch your intentions become reality
* Create a protection sigil or symbol
So let your own art lead you to places unknown where your spirit resides and let others art speak to you, as it is a language of the spirit.