Journaling prompt:
How can I balance opposites? How can I find the middle way? What can I create that is new and unique from two polarities?
Your Temperance Spark:
The Temperance card is associated with both art and healing, as well as with integration. Today, try this healing art project. Gather some white paper and black paper, crayons or colored pencils in black and white, scissors, and glue sticks. Play some relaxing music.
Set a timer for 10-15 minutes, and begin to create an image using only black and white. Don’t overthink it, just let your hands create. Set your inner critic aside! It doesn’t have to be representational; it could simply be a geometric design. When the timer goes off, give it a title.
Describe the piece in your journal, as if you were explaining it to another person. See what bubbles to the surface. Then comment on what the experience of the process was like for you.
I have to admit: when I first discovered Wicca, I felt like I needed to hide it. I walked on eggshells around my husband, downplaying things out of fear that his inner Methodist would leap forth in rage and attempt to smite me. It took a year for me to tell my mother, out of fear of her comments and her “if it’s different from what I believe, it’s the Devil’s work” mentality I was so used to growing up.
I just needed to give things a chance. I needed to find the middle ground. I knew that by just bursting out of the broom closet and shouting, “I’m a Witch, guys!” would send them running and screaming and I’d probably never hear from them again. But by slowly introducing the Path to them, a little at a time, we found harmony! My mother, while still a little timid, is accepting and tolerant. She asks questions, not out of fear but out of genuine curiosity. We are slowly achieving balance between her world of organized religion and my world of old world spirituality. Jackson has started opening his mind to new ideas and is beginning to participate. He doesn’t give me a hard time when I ask to buy a certain book, or tell him that I need to pick up some crystals or a bag of myrrh. He doesn’t roll his eyes when I talk about patron deities or full moon rites. If he sees something he thinks I need, or an item he thought would look nice in my sacred space, he picks it up for me. He actually bought me my chalice while he was out thrift shopping for himself. Saw it, thought of me and got it. And it’s beautiful. He was an active participant in Jack’s Wiccaning, and was adamant that he had to buy a new dress shirt for it.
My mom actually was a little sad that she didn’t stick around for Jack’s Wiccaning. Told me she felt badly about it. But she 1) had to help my brother and dad prepare for their road trip, and 2) she said she felt like she was intruding. I told that she wouldn’t have been intruding, and that I wasn’t sure she would have been entirely comfortable. But she seems to be becoming more and more open minded every day. It’s kind of unnerving actually lol. The other night, we were sitting together at the theatre and she was texting my Uncle Steve. He had seen the photos of the Wiccaning on Facebook and was curious about it. Definitely assumed there was some Satan-loving going on. So she turns to me and says, “If you’re a Wiccan, do you still believe in God?” I said “Yes, I just worship him differently than you do. I see God in the trees and the sky and the sun and the ocean. I actively participate in my worship and my learning, it’s a lot more hands-on than normal church services. I also follow a lot of the older traditions, when people were more connected to the earth, when that was a natural way of life.” She nodded and began furiously texting. My mom is explaining Wicca to my relatives. Adorable.
So this is my “black and white” image. I know I’m supposed to get all artsy on this, and maybe I will later. But this picture…it is something I made with my own two hands. And my heart and soul. I made it with people I love dearly, and bring balance to my life.
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