25 November 2003: Blue Moth and Badger

Over the course of about three hours yesterday afternoon and three hours this afternoon, Syrinx and I did all the graphics for her compilation CD, Dream of the Blue Moth. I've always been in awe of Syrinx as an artist (she's the creator of the Vertical Oracle divination deck), so it was a great pleasure to work with her. I've also been slightly intimidated by her seeming perfectionism, which sometimes seems much like my own, so it was an even greater pleasure to discover that she's really fun and easy to work with. And I love her music.

I may have abandoned digital art as an academic major and as a long-term career ambition, but I still enjoy it and it's something I'm going to keep doing - on my own, as part of collaborations, or in cases like this, where I can help a friend make something beautiful. I've always wanted to do book and album covers, and I hope to do more. If you know anyone who needs either, send them my way.

Yesterday night, Dragon Lady came home soon after Syrinx left, and a little while later, Lexicat came over to hang out with us for a while. While we talked, she and Dragon Lady traded foot-rubs on the couch, while I sat in the dark red swivelly chair in front of my desk, which is in the living room, about three feet from the couch, and which is where I choose to spend much of my life these days. Since I had my computer right in front of me, with Photoshop already open, and since working with Syrinx had got my creativity flowing, I decided to make some art while I basked in the warm and slightly tingly glow of the combined presence of Lexicat and Dragon Lady. Went back to the Nickykaa Tarot project that I hadn't touched since Spring, and made another card, the Three of Swords. It's up in the Tarot section now, with the other six.

Crowley gives the Three of Swords the name Sorrow, and it seemed to me to be the right card to work on at this time, a Winter card for the bereaved and suffering of the world, and for those who are simply coming down with the Winter Blues. Including me - though I no longer get seriously depressed, I do have a strong need to hibernate right now. I'm spending a lot of time reading and as little time as possible doing anything requiring effort. This is the time of year when I want to rest and reflect, and to be among friends, sitting around, talking, eating, and drinking from big ceramic mugs with steam rising from them.

"The Badger went through a bit of hard thinking. 'Now look here!' he said at last, rather severely; 'of course you know I can't do anything now?'

"His two friends assented, quite understanding his point. No animal, according to the rules of animal-etiquette, is ever expected to do anything strenuous, or heroic, or even moderately active during the off-season of  winter."

- Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows