Casting a Spell

Gouache on mixed media paper. Completed 07/01/2025⁣

Deep in the woods, with nothing but the trees and birds to witness them, a child tentatively draws with her ritual knife in the air, directing the energy flowing through and around her. She looks with wide eyes at her mother, who smiles reassuringly in return. Together they sprinkle their wishes for the future into the cauldron and watch as they disperse as cleansing light into the sky. The child’s hand shakes with nerves and the mother gently guides her hand, but the symbols she draws are always her own, drawn from deep within her soul. Light reflects in her wide eyes as the energy flows to her will, and as it opens up, it reveals power she had in her all along. All she had to do was unlock it.