On Hallows Eve, our family traditionally does an ancestor altar. We set it up after the candy oriented festivities wind down and make it an end to our evening. It includes pictures of our beloved dead, candles, and then a host of treats including tea, liquor, sweets, bread, dog treats, salt, fruits (always including a pomegranate), and so on. I also include a bunch of red roses. The next morning everything is tossed into the compost -- returned to the earth.
But this year I somehow found myself late in the evening with no flowers -- a terrible oversight.
I was fretting about shortchanging our beloved when Sannion's challenge came to mind. I went through my sketch book looking for a piece that would be appropriate and that I really liked. The sketch wasn't necessarily the most perfect thing I've ever done, but the symbolism was right and I knew it would pain me to destroy it. This isn't the best picture, but I wanted to record it for posterity before I burn it. I don't post pictures of altars (particularly not ancestor altars), but snapped this quick before we lit the candles.
So a big thank you to Sannion, who's suggestion helped save my ass on All Hallows Eve.
Glad things worked out!
ReplyDeleteThanks, and thanks for the comment!
DeleteIt's a beautiful sketch, and it's good that the idea helped you come up with an appropriate sacrifice, but... I think it's kind of defeating the point of "destroy your art" to keep a virtual image of it. That's not really letting it go, you know? I think the point of the challenge was to pour yourself into something and then entirely release it. Just something to think about.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good point, but what I think is interesting is that the digital image isn't the sketch in my mind. It doesn't have the energy that the sketch did. Just like I don't think you could print a sigil painting from my blog and expect the sigil magic to work for you. Because the magic is in the painting and not the image of the painting.
DeleteIn fact, the morning after Hallows, the sketch wasn't even the sketch anymore. It had been completely sucked of energy by the dead, just like the other offerings (I'm still amazed at how offerings to the dead are so drained -- completely unlike offerings to deities or land spirits).
So I'd say this didn't end up being a good example of Sannion's challenge at all. I did not create and then destroy a work of art that I'd created with my energy. I offered the energy in the work to the dead, who took it from the image leaving behind just this husk. That said, I see the potential power in what Sannion has suggested, and still want to try it. To create something with your energy and then actively destroy it is an act of self-immolation -- spiritually speaking -- and very appropriately Dionysian.
I appreciate the comment, thank you!