Awaken the sister to Awareness

Awaken

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Open eyes to the light

reality settles on the senses

as Awareness

slips through the slumbering mind

hedging at the edges of reality

Open eyes to the light

and

Awaken 

from the night.

As Awareness only indicates that one needs to be aware of what the reality of the situation is in life.  It is when the soul Awakens to full conciousness of the situation that surrounds which solutions can be made and dealt.

Awaken is a 22 card Arcana series in which each card was monoprinted with watercolor paints on my watercolor mixing tray on Mulberry papaer (Japanese Paper) then using colored pencils and imagination, carefully colored in the images that seemed to jump from the images.  Admittedly, there are more images that others noticed that even I could not see when I presented some of the images via Facebook.  So as you look through the cards, images will more than likely seem to “jump” out.

This is a very limited edition of only 13, please do inquire by writing to catseyegallery@hotmail.com or visit www.catseyeart.com and go to the “Shop Online” category and “Limited Editions” for availability.

Pieces. When the Tower Falls.

Serenity

Today I started the task of going through my boxes of decks to get ready for my next Tarot show when I came across Serenity.

Serenity began as a response I had as a mother many years earlier. 

My son, four, and I were walking back towards our house on a beautiful spring day, when my son noticed a birch tree off to the side, no leaves and a yellow growth on it, standing by itself in a small opening.  He asked why?  I told him it may be due to acid rain. 

“Where does the acid rain come from?” He asked.

“Well, from industries.  When they make stuff, like oil, they emit pollution, like smoke, into the air.  Then it mixes with the rain and falls down on us.  Sometimes plants and animals die.”

“Oh.” He then looked around at a neighbor’s house, saw smoke coming from their chimney and yelled “Pollution!”

He continued to point out every bit of pollution there after.

About the same time, Former President Bush lifted the emission laws over mills and plants which made it so they no longer needed to use filters to take out the Mercury and other toxic elements. 

I was livid.  Wait.  I still am livid.  

The way in which the Gulf Stream works, the air pollution made by factories in the south makes it way up here and comes down with the rain.  Most of our water ways are polluted with these toxins and others from earlier local factories.

Seeing my angered state, my husband suggest I go and make a tree with a skull.  I did.  Lots of them.

The  Tree People were born. 

At first, they were extremely angry about the situation, but as time went on, these trees started taking on a new purpose, to bring about a better understanding of how each organism relates to the other and all depend upon one another for survival.

Why black only?  These were my submission to an open show at a local gallery entitled “Black and White.”  I also feel that with the use of black it sends a very clear message.  It is a “Black and White” situation.  We are what we have made and the world has a way of dealing with things that are not in balance on a more catastrophic level. 

The official name for this deck is called “Serenity Arcana: Ivory, can you hear them call your name?”  There are only 10 copies out in the world, though I do hope that her message continues to resonate with all to work with efforts to conserve, reduce and recycle whenever possible.

If you are interested in this deck of hand painted cards, please do visit my etsy shop for more information  http://www.etsy.com/listing/78353752/serenity-arcana-original-art-22-majors?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_query=serenity+arcana&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

Thanks!

 

Grimmy’s Transitional Arcana: Guide to the Other Side

As promised, additional interpretations and meanings from my latest work “Grimmy’s Transitional Arcana: Guide to the Other Side.“

Emperor Grimmy

Okay, so you went off on your own path, didn’t listen to Grimmy and have now come back , because, honestly you really didn’t have a clue as to where you were going in the first place.  Now you have to face him. 

Don’t let his personality get to you, he’s got a hard life leading souls from this plane to the next.  He has seen lots of souls and there are cases, like yours, where a bit more of a firm hand is needed in order to resolve the situation.  He’s the entity for the job.

Hierophant Grimmy

 Belief.  There are many beliefs all around the world.  What makes belief possible?  How can you be sure what you have been told is really the truth?

Grimmy questions many aspects of beliefs from around the world and how those beliefs contribute to society and traditions within each.  These traditions are what hold a family, a community, a nation together.  It is the binding and right now, it is necessary to ones own survival.  Regardless of what path you follow, find the traditions, the essence of life that bring you back to a sense of connection to the world around.

Grimmy’s job may be for you to clarify what your beliefs are, illustrate and live by your word.

Hermit Grimmy

Lighting the way to guide the souls to the other side.  He stands on watch ready to aid the newly departed soul for the journey though this place and onto the next.  He is the beacon to the souls, his light burns eternally and his wisdom prepares the souls for their next adventure.

More to post soon!  This deck is currently available for pre-sale orders please visit http://www.catseyeart.com/catalog/i78.html .  There are only 20 copies available. 

Grimmy’s Transitional Arcana

Death.

The final frontier.  These are the voyages of my imagination, to boldly go where many have thought about, but oddly, not too many get a chuckle out of it.  I can’t help it.  It’s just how my mind works.

With every chuckle and funny escapade that I illustrate, something more serious has probably occurred within the world.

The more serious attribute today has been in acknowledging cancer’s ultimate goal.  To kill you.  Period.  I find this to be counterproductive in the grand scheme of survival and don’t quiet understand the rational for this.

Last fall my step-father was diagnosed with colon and liver cancer (see Art in My World, post).  When he was opened up for surgery, they were able to take out most, if not all of the cancer in his colon, but upon looking at his liver, they left it and started him on chemo.

At the beginning he was quite determined that he would indeed beat this cancer, a one in three survival rate.  He was fit, ate healthy and had a great attitude.  Now, however, many have noticed that his eating habits have resorted to fastfood and gas station convience food and have come to my husband and I to let us know.  Meanwhile, my family and others have gotten after me “Oh, let him eat what he wants, what’s the big deal?”  Uh… death?

When will this end?  Who will win?  Ultimately, it is the person who wins.  With a cure there is always the threat of reoccurance;  with death, it brings freedom from the pain.

So, where to go from here?  This is where Grimmy comes in.  The ultimate decider as to when our time is up and how we go.  Granted, I’m hoping for a more comical trip to the other side with an assortment of characters to make the journey that much more interesting.  Though I have no intention of being there anytime soon.

 

 

 

 

Grimmy isn’t always out to create mayhem and distruction, he’s also able to guide the souls away from pain and hurt and onto a better place. So let Grimmy lead the way, trust in him, he knows where to go!

 

 

 

 

On the journey of the soul, we need to face Grimmy. He brings our issues right to the surface and makes one deal with the reality of the situation.

“I’m WHAT??!! Dead??? Are you sure? Is there another Grimmy I can talk to about this? Your manager, perhaps?”

Once we come to terms with everything, then we are allowed to pass on through and follow the golden brick road to where ever it may lead.

Thank you for visiting, I’ll be updating this blog as new cards are made.

 

Tarot of Squee: Coming to Life

Squee: the excited noise made by a fan girl or by a person suddenly overcome by extreme animal cuteness.

A couple of months ago, there was a challenge put out to me by fellow Tarot enthusiasts to see if I could create a Tarot of Sloths, before I could respond there were suddenly a plethora of animals that were added; owls, honey badger, sugar gliders, wombats and lemurs. 

 I’m sure that I have forgotten some of the critters that were also mentioned and with the help of Thalassa of the Daughters of Divination we parried them down to the following:  Sloths, Sugar Gliders, Lemurs,  Honey-Badgers and Wombats.

As a bit of fun and to see if I could capture the Squeeness of these critters, I found inspiration in an image that Thalassa had used as her avatar.  A Sugar Glider, so I sketched it out holding onto a deck entitled “Tarot of Squee” just as a fun thing and posted it to her page. 

I was only intending this to brighten a person’s day when I was asked if it was going to be colored. 

Now this was going to be a challenge.  Fur.  Fur can be just fine and there are a number of artists who can create fur and it looks amazing.  However, for this artist, fur and I have developed a rather neurotic habit of needing to be perfect.  Which means, I could spend hours if not days working to get the exact look of the fur.

I did step over the line and keeping in mind, I was out to have fun.

Once she was colored in and bounced over to Thalassa, who promptly pronouned that she was ‘exploding with Squee!” 

Well, if she is exploding, then she really needs more color, doesn’t she?

And then with final touches, the Tarot of Squee has begun it’s journey!

I can’t wait to see how the rest are going to come out!

To be able to watch as these cards unfold and others, be sure to visit my facebook fanclub page by clicking here.

Tarot Leaves – A Walk Through the Woods

There’s to be dancing in the house tonight! 

This afternoon I received a note from the marketing department from SchifferPublishing to let me know that my advance copy was to be delivered to them today!

So, what’s the timeline that a person goes through to from start to publication of a deck?  I’m sure it is different for everyone, but for me, it was almost as if I was planning and putting away for a new child.  Then from the time it went off to the publishers to mature into a published deck, it has been a total of nine months, almost to the week!

My journey began last May when I decided to start contacting various publishers and just to introduce myself and my website.  To be honest, I completely forgot about who I had emailed, when I saw a notice from Schiffer Publishing asking about the work I had emailed and wanting to see additional images. 

Before a person could figure out how to pronounce “Seilonen,” I had my box of art pieces off and in the mail to them.  While awaiting their response, I had gotten talked into going to BATS (Bay Area Tarot Symposium) and to create the White Bat Tarot at last minute by Marcia McCord and Thalassa, Queen of the Bats.  Then in August, two weeks before the BATS, I officially signed on the dotted line for Tarot Leaves.

The term “working my fingers to the bone’ comes to mind as once I returned from BATS, I went into full artist mode when I wasn’t teaching art classes.  The book and images were finished and in the mail by November 15; which as it turned out was perfect timing, as I was hired to teach at another school making me pretty much fulltime.

My editor forwarned me that at this point, there would be long periods of nothing and then suddenly loads of activity that would need to be done ASAP.  And it was just as she predicted.  First came the proof of the text, then going through the images to ensure that they were indeed matched correctly.  Then came proofing the box and layout of the cards.  I must admit that part was personally really exciting, as I had been (and still do) handdraw each cover to my tarot boxes then to see a colorful design of the High Priestess card adorning the cover was just incredible.

Now comes to the most exciting part, seeing my deck for purchase on Amazon.com and Schiffer Books.  The realization that a goal to be a published illustrator has come to life. 

I hope that you’ll take time a visit the following links and celebrate with me!

 Schiffler Books

or

on Amazon when I just looked they were for sale at $15.58

Thanks!

Raven’s Window

Raven’s Window

What happens when you pull from your dreams?  Amazing things!

This series of art pieces began as fragments of a dream which ended up waking me out of a dead sleep with an image that I couldn’t shake from my mind.

It all began simple enough, I was standing along the Chesapeak River watching over these four little children who desparately wanted to go swimming in the water.  As I was explaining, in best child terms, to them about the current in the water, I heard a voice come across the waterway muttering “G**Dam*t!”  I then witnessed a rather large black bird floating on the water, with her beak desparately trying to itch her leg as it was stuck out in front of her.   

Shocked by the odd appearence of this bird and behavior, I shouted out “Crow?” to which I was ignored completely.  However when I called “RAVEN!” she quickly brought her head up immediately and as she did, she was positioned between a fork in a tree and her face changed to that of a pale doll’s face with glossy black eyes and feather braids down on either side.

Of course, I woke at this point.

Upon speaking to a Native American friend of mine, he informed me that what I may had dreamed of was a Celtic Raven Goddess (of sorts) known as “Krahe.”

Krahe did not leave my mind.  When I was all packed and ready to leave to attend the Reader’s Studio in New York City, I took a moment to cut some cards, pack some drawing supplies and a metal container to keep them in.  

As I sat on the plane, gazing out the window, sitting through some of the class sessions and during quiet lunches, Krahe and her images flooded through my mind and ended on the paper.  Each taking on a new symbolism and interpretation of an old meaning. 

The Tower card is a prime example.  In a standard Tower, the main idea that old ideas are broken down to enable a new foundation or growth to occur to help us have a better life.   The Tower card in this series is entitled “Release” as we can see that Krahe has dropped the locket which has now broken open to all the soul freedom from it former bondage.

 

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This series will be available for order effective May 15 with a limited edition of 50, $40.00 per deck, 22 cards, 5 by 2.75 approximately or a smaller sized varient measuring 4 by 2 5/8 inches for $30.00 per deck. This is an introductory price for a limited time.  If you are interested, please either email catseyegallery@hotmail.com or just visit www.catseyeart.com.

Thanks!

Beth Seilonen

Awareness

Awareness.  Being in a state of awareness requires that one keeps one’s eyes and mind open that that which is going on around them.  However, there are times when that awareness becomes clouded and fogged over by the haze of daily life or that of anothers. 

It is during these times of just striving to make it through the week, day, hour that we often loose sight of the long term goals.  We continue to wake into each day just to make it to the end, hence stagnation and stalemate occur and leave us right where we began. 

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When we stay in this state, opportunities may come up, but if our eyes and mind is only focused upon the task at hand, racing for the phantom finish line, how can one truly even be aware that an opportunity has availed itself?  How does this effect our passions?  Our connections to the higher self and sense within our world?

Awareness.  Take a deep breath, if you could do anything, what would it be?  Granted, above the law and all, what activity would you find happiness in doing, how could you incorporate it now into your life.  

To wait only delays you from your passion and happiness.

Winter and the Crow

In my most recent Arcana deck (Majors Only), I decided to have a play on Winter.  This year in particular has been one of peculiar circumstance and living in the Northeast, we have certainly felt Winter’s cold blanket of snow week after week.  Needless to say, most of us are pretty much ready for the season to end.

Winter is accompanied by the Crow, who is just as playful and mischievous.  Mimicing Winter’s snobbish behavior,  they go about their way teaching all of those who is boss of the season.  With the aid of Runes, Winter does her predicting of what is to come during her reign.

In the Moon card, I’ve drawn two faces each looking in two different directions.  Often the feeling of being drawn into two different directions is overpowering, especially when it comes to finding a way to end inner conflict and the choices that must be made.  Taking a moment to weigh out the pros and cons of any situation leads often times to the best solution.

Another card that I found myself pulling in true life experience was the Wheel of Fortune card.  When it came around to deciding my own goals and what I wanted to do, from all around came the goodwill voices of friends and family, giving advice from their perspective. 

This none came out more prominate than when I had secretly transferred from one college to another, 100 miles away, and changed my degree from Business to Fine Art.   Unknowingly, my best friend walked into where my mother worked and proceeded to say wasn’t wonderful that I had gotten accepted for the Art program at University of Maine at Orono.  “She what?” Came the response, at which time my friend concluded that my mother had not been told.

When she finally had a chance to talk to me, we had a wonderful 45 minute car ride in which she tried every angle possible to talk me out of getting an Art degree and becoming an art teacher.   Little did I know that this one moment of stubborness would define my ability to set my eyes on a goal and stay with it. 

As one can see in this card, the goal in the center, with faces radiating outward are those folks with the best of advice, but ultimately, only the individual knows in their heart the goals and life that is best for them. 

So, even as Winter does attempt to dominate this season, Spring is on it’s way and there is no convincing Spring of stepping back for Winter. 

~Beth Seilonen