Art Witch Journal: Virgo Season Reflections, Eclipse Energy & Creative Renewal

Art Witch’s Studio

Hello creative alchemists,

As Virgo Season unfolds, we are invited to pause, reflect, and step into the quiet, liminal spaces between what has been and what is emerging. This is a time to honour our inner lives, our creative work, and the rhythms of the body and spirit.

In this month’s journal, we’ll explore the reflective energy of Virgo, the potent shifts of eclipse season, and the grounding potential of the equinox. Together, we’ll create space for contemplation, ritual, and creative renewal. Let’s step gently into this threshold and see what wants to emerge.

Cuppa & Catch Up

Leo Season has been a deeply challenging one for me. My health has thrown me curveballs this month, including two emergency room visits, one of which involved waiting five hours for an ambulance. These experiences were distressing and came at a time when submissions were due, making the pressure feel even heavier. I was able to finish two out of four submissions, but the other two had to be set aside for now. I’ll complete the artworks and hopefully find another opportunity to submit them in the future.

I won’t lie; it’s been a blow to my confidence. I found myself questioning if the energy, time, and love I pour into my craft is truly worth it. Another exhibition opportunity passed because I had no way to transport my Element Series, and I struggled to practice the very advice I give others: honour the body you are in and trust that the work itself is important. When I wrote last month’s journal, I genuinely believed it. Then my body reminded me, again, that it sets the pace, not my mind. Half the month was spent in bed, and I was ready to throw it all in.

This month’s journal almost didn’t happen. Then, a couple days ago, I delivered my Wild Empress piece for the upcoming Art X Metro exhibition, and everything shifted. I love this piece. I remembered the joy of creating it, the thrill of bringing it into being, and why I do this work. It’s not for algorithms, likes, or views, it’s because it makes my soul sing. It’s because it brings me joy and gives me purpose. Sharing my journey, no matter how small my audience, is part of that joy.

This winter, I intentionally slowed down and turned inward. The many changes in my life are still settling, and even the positive ones take time to integrate. Life isn’t linear; it’s messy, unpredictable, and full of contrasts. Some days are wonderful, and some weeks feel soul-destroying. I have to remind myself why I create, especially when my body resists.

With the last weeks of winter and eclipse season approaching, I’m giving myself permission to be gentle. There are more changes on the horizon, and that’s okay. Birth, whether of art, life, or self, is both painful and joyful. These truths coexist, and I need to honour both.

For now, I rest. I recover. I nurture myself so I can continue creating my art, my life, and my world, with love, patience, and the fierce joy that brought me here in the first place.

Navigating the ups and downs of Leo Season, moments of frustration, exhaustion, and small triumphs, has reminded me that art is both refuge and revelation. These experiences highlighted the liminal spaces in my practice: the threshold where struggle and creation meet, where joy and doubt coexist. It’s exactly this space that Chapter Five of Art Witch Musings invites us to dwell in a space where creation becomes an invocation, a communion with the unseen, and a doorway into transformation.

Wild Empress - Mixed Media Sculpture

Art Witch Musings — Chapter Five

The act of creation is, at its core, an invocation. Each brushstroke, each word, each fragment of collage is not just an aesthetic choice but a summoning. We call into being something that did not exist before, a spark pulled from the unseen and shaped into matter. For me, this is not separate from my craft, it is the craft. The studio becomes the circle, the table becomes the altar, and the work itself becomes the spell.

Although, spells are not always grand gestures. They are stitched from the quiet repetitions of daily practice, the arranging of objects, the marking of symbols, the patience to return again and again to the work even when it feels tangled or uncertain. This is where art and witchcraft mirror each other most intimately: in their demand for devotion, trust, and surrender to process.

There is a liminality in this space, a threshold where the ordinary world dissolves. I have always felt that to make art is to step sideways, to move through a doorway into that shimmering place where imagination and spirit overlap. It is not escapism; rather, it is a way of seeing more deeply, of reaching into the marrow of things.

In this threshold space, time behaves differently. Hours pass unnoticed, the edges of self blur, and what emerges feels both familiar and strangely other. It is here that I often sense the ancestors at my shoulder, the archetypes whispering, the symbols aligning themselves with uncanny precision. To dismiss this as coincidence is to strip the work of its most vital heartbeat. To honour it, instead, is to recognise that art-making is an act of communion with the unseen, with the collective, with the deep self.

This chapter of my work is about dwelling in that liminal zone. Not rushing to explain, not forcing clarity, but allowing the mystery to breathe. The pages and canvases I create are less about answers than invitations, doorways, sigils, thresholds. They ask the viewer to step through, to linger, to listen. Just as I do.

Art Witch’s Studio

Little Witchy Things

This month’s energy invites us to slow down, ground ourselves, and step into the threshold between what has been and what is emerging. The Virgo Black Moon calls us to reflect on our habits, our spaces, and how we show up for ourselves. Eclipse season is on the horizon, making this a potent time to prepare, release, and realign before the equinox shifts the seasonal energies.

One of the simplest ways to work with this energy is through small, intentional practices woven into your daily life. Start by creating moments of pause and reflection, five slow, mindful breaths before beginning your day or your creative work can anchor you and help you tune into your intuition. Notice what arises in these quiet spaces and let it guide your next steps.

Next, consider the practice of micro-release. Let go of one expectation, habit, or thought pattern that no longer serves you. Write it down, dissolve it safely in water, or burn it as a symbolic act of release. These small gestures accumulate, creating space for new intentions and shifts to take root.

The arrangement of your creative environment is another subtle but powerful form of magic. Virgo energy thrives on order and ritual, but this is not about perfection, it’s about intuitive alignment. Rearrange your studio, your altar, or your workspace in a way that feels nourishing. Notice how small changes in your surroundings can shift your focus, energy, and flow.

Finally, bring your attention to balance as we move toward the equinox. Reflect on what you wish to cultivate in both your inner and outer life, and honour these intentions with a simple ritual, candle, or journal practice. By consciously acknowledging your needs and desires, you create a foundation for the upcoming season and the deeper work eclipse season may reveal.

These little practices, when stitched together, become a quiet form of magic, a gentle weaving of reflection, release, and renewal that nurtures both your creativity and your soul.

Art Witch Altar and Cuppa

Art Journal Prompt

This cycle, the energy invites us to step into the liminal space of creation, the threshold where the ordinary dissolves and the unseen begins to speak. With the Virgo black moon at 0°, eclipse season approaching, and the equinox on the horizon, this is a potent time to reflect, release, and plant seeds of intention.

Take a moment to settle into your studio, your journal, or your creative space. Let yourself feel the quiet tension between what is ending and what is emerging. Ask yourself:

·         What patterns, habits, or identities no longer serve me?

·         Where have I been bending to others’ expectations at the expense of my own happiness and growth?

·         What parts of myself have I been neglecting, and what needs care, attention, and integration?

·         How do I want to show up for myself in the months ahead?

Now, create a small ritual with your materials:

Draw, collage, or paint symbols of what you wish to release.

Next, add symbols, colours, or words representing the intentions you want to summon, how you wish to care for yourself, express your creativity, and live in alignment with your truth.

Allow this to be messy, imperfect, and intuitive. Let the process itself become the spell: a call to your future self, a gentle invocation of change and wholeness. Return to this work throughout the moon cycle, nurturing your intentions and observing how they shift, grow, and take shape.

Art Supplies and Journal

Artist of the Season — Issy Wood

This Virgo Season, I’m shining a light on Issy Wood (b. 1993, Durham, North Carolina), a British-American artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, music, and writing. Wood’s work perfectly embodies Virgoan traits, meticulousness, introspection, and a deep attention to detail, while exploring the complexities of identity, desire, and the unseen threads of modern life.

Her paintings often feature fragmented, close-cropped images of clothing, furniture, and flesh, rendered in muted tones and dark, velvet-like textures. Through these works, she examines aspiration, alienation, glamour, and decay, capturing both the sensuality and sterility of contemporary culture. Early series depicting leather car interiors and high-end consumer goods set the stage for her signature style, precise, intimate, and quietly uncanny.

Wood’s work has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions across the globe, including Michael Werner Gallery in New York, Carlos/Ishikawa in London, X Museum in Beijing, and the Schinkel Pavillon in Berlin. Her pieces are held in prominent collections such as the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, and the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Beyond her visual art, Issy Wood is also a musician. Her releases including, Cries Real Tears! (2020), If It's Any Constellation (2021), and My Body Your Choice (2022), explore introspection, identity, and vulnerability, reflecting the same intimate attention to nuance that informs her paintings. Issy is also a writer, with publications such as All The Rage (2019) and the SML PTNGS series (2018–2023), offering further insight into her creative process and perspective.

Wood’s practice resonates with Virgo Season’s energy: reflective, precise, and deeply aligned with self-inquiry. Her work invites us to notice the subtle patterns in our own lives, to examine our desires, and to honour the quiet, detailed work of transformation.

Cycles of Craft — Virgo Season

Virgo Season opens under the reflective, grounding influence of the sign, beginning with a rare Black Moon in Virgo on August 23 at 4:06 PM AEST. This is a seasonal black moon, a new moon occurring at 0°, inviting us to plant clear seeds of intention. Virgo’s energy encourages us to examine what no longer serves us, to call back the parts of ourselves we’ve neglected, and to set new standards for how we want to care for ourselves and show up in the world. This is a liminal moment, a threshold, asking us to slow down, reflect, and align before the energetic intensity of eclipse season fully unfolds.

The first week of Virgo Season continues with Saturn stationing retrograde on September 1. Saturn asks us to reconsider structures, boundaries, and commitments in our lives. Retrograde periods are ideal for reviewing old patterns, releasing rigidity, and discerning what discipline and responsibility truly mean for us now. The shadow of Saturn’s retrograde lingers throughout the season, reminding us to honour our limits while staying grounded in self-respect.

On September 6, Uranus stations retrograde in Gemini, amplifying the call to introspection. This period asks us to slow down in order to integrate unexpected shifts or insights, particularly around communication, curiosity, and mental patterns. Uranus urges innovation, but retrograde energy asks us to first make internal adjustments before leaping into external change.

The season’s first major lunar event, the Full Moon in Pisces and Total Lunar Eclipse, arrives on September 8 at 3:30 AM AEST, fully visible in Australia. Eclipses illuminate what has been hidden, accelerating endings and revelations. Pisces’ compassionate, intuitive energy supports deep emotional reflection, dream work, and creative visioning. This is a moment to honour your emotional truth and release anything that clouds your clarity, preparing the ground for new beginnings.

Later in Virgo Season, the New Moon in Virgo and Partial Solar Eclipse on September 22 at 5:50 AM AEST signals another opportunity to plant seeds, especially around personal routines, self-care, and creative practices. Though not visible in Australia, its energetic influence can be felt globally. This eclipse invites us to integrate lessons from earlier in the season, establishing intentions that align with our evolving sense of self and our creative path.

Finally, Ostara (Spring Equinox) on September 23 at 4:19 AM AEST marks the balance of light and dark. The equinox encourages reflection on harmony within ourselves, the cycles we’ve been working through, and how we want to move forward into the new season. It is the perfect time to align intentions set during Virgo’s black moons with concrete plans for growth, creativity, and personal renewal. Keep an eye out for the Special Sabbath Edition.

Throughout Virgo Season, these planetary stations, eclipses, and seasonal shifts call for careful attention to your inner life. They encourage slow reflection, conscious release, and the planting of intentional seeds in both your creative and personal practice. Virgo’s grounding energy, paired with the liminality of eclipse season and the renewal of the equinox, offers a fertile moment to create, reflect, and align with your deepest desires.

Partial Lunar Eclipse

Almost Spring – Studio Tunes

Step gently into the threshold between winter and spring with Almost Spring, a playlist curated for reflection, restoration, and creative alchemy. Soft, atmospheric tracks invite you to pause, breathe, and connect with your intuition, while the introspective songs of Issy Wood weave through the mix, guiding you into liminal spaces where imagination and spirit overlap. Perfect for journaling, studio work, or quiet contemplation, this playlist is your companion for grounding and inspiration as Virgo Season unfolds.

Wrapping up and looking forward:

As we move through Virgo Season, eclipse season, and toward the Spring Equinox, I encourage you to tend to your inner landscape with care, patience, and curiosity. Use the prompts, rituals, and reflections shared in this journal to anchor yourself in the present while planting seeds for growth, both creatively and personally.

Remember: creativity is not linear, and neither is life. Moments of rest, release, and reflection are as essential as bursts of inspiration and action. Honour your body, your rhythms, and the parts of yourself you are reclaiming. Stand gently in the doorway of the new season, and trust that the work you are doing, on your pages, in your studio, and within yourself, is a profound act of magic.

Little Witchy Things over on the socials every Wednesday explore these ideas more deeply. Cycles of Craft deep dives, like the Black New Moon in Virgo, are over on my Facebook page. I also share behind-the-scenes studio updates, when my body allows, on socials.

You can support my art by visiting my Redbubble store

My website shares all my work, which is available for sale. If you’re interested in any of my pieces, reach out via email or DM on socials.

Keep creating, keep reflecting, and above all, keep nurturing your soul.

On Using AI in My Practice

I also want to acknowledge something important about my creative process. Due to my health and disability, there are times when physically producing every piece I imagine isn’t possible. I’ve been exploring AI-assisted images as a tool to expand my practice, helping me visualise ideas, experiment with composition, and bring concepts to life that my body may not always allow me to create by hand.

AI doesn’t replace my craft—it becomes part of my process, a way to honour my creativity while working within my physical limits. It allows me to continue exploring, imagining, and sharing my artistic vision without compromise. Every choice, whether digital, physical, or a combination of both, is intentional and deeply rooted in my artistic voice.

Art Witch Musings: Sigil Magic, Scorpio Full Moon and a Creative Descent

A cream-colored desk with an open art journal featuring a white sigil, surrounded by art tools, crystals, and candlelight, evoking the energy of the Scorpio Full Moon.

Hello creative alchemists, and welcome to my 20th blog post!

The Scorpio Full Moon 2025 is upon us, and as always, my full moon report is up over on Facebook under Cycles of Craft if you're craving a deeper dive into the energies. This post, however, is more personal, part studio letter, part ritual space. As we move through this season of descent, the pull to slow down is strong. Samhain marks the beginning of the dark half of the year, and with Pluto now retrograde and Black Moon Lilith both present in Scorpio, it’s no wonder we’re being asked to pause and reflect.

Cuppa and Catch Up

This fortnight I’ve been busy finishing off my pieces for Creativa, my upcoming exhibition with Collective 24. As predicted in the last blog, there were some late-night painting sessions to get everything finished in time, but I’m happy to report they are now ready to be delivered to the gallery this week!

We’ve started promoting the show too, so keep an eye out for it on platforms like What’s On Melbourne. Collective 24 members have also been dropping flyers off to art stores and cafes around town. If you’re not already, please follow Collective 24 on the socials to stay in the loop.

Now that the work is done, I’m taking a moment to breathe. I have some important medical appointments coming up over the next couple of months, and I know I’ll need to pace myself and rest where I can. My body is asking for stillness, and for once, I’m listening.

This Full Moon blog will be the last of the fortnightly updates for now. I’ll be moving to monthly Studio Letters in alignment with the New Moon. It’s not a step back, it’s a deepening. A chance to go slower, but richer. To honour the rhythm of the darker months. To follow my own energy instead of trying to keep up with the pace of the world. It’s part of evolving my intuitive art practice and making room for more authentic, sustainable creativity.

I’ve pulled out an unfinished canvas that’s been tucked away behind my desk for months. No pressure to do anything with it just yet, but I’m enjoying seeing it again. I’m also feeling the pull to journal more, privately, intuitively. A quieter form of artmaking, and one that feels very needed.

Art Witch Musings: Sigils in Art Practice

I often include sigils in my art.

They’re usually subtle, drawn with white watercolour pencil or layered into the underpainting, but they become part of the energy of the piece. A way of weaving intention into the process. This week I made one for the Full Moon using the phrase:
“I release creative fear and express my truth with power.”

Once the letters were condensed and rearranged into a glyph, I sketched it onto the canvas I’m working on. It’s hidden beneath layers of glaze now, but I know it’s there.

Historically, sigils were used in ceremonial magic by mystics and magicians who would encode spiritual or magical intentions into a single visual symbol. These weren't meant to be read literally, but felt or intuited symbols of desire, transformation, or divine protection. Today, they’re often used in chaos magic and intuitive witchcraft as a way of personalising your spellwork. I love that they’re both ancient and adaptable, there's something powerful about crafting a symbol that feels uniquely yours.

If you’ve never worked with sigil magic in art, they’re a beautiful way to combine ritual and creativity. You can write your intention, reduce it down by removing the vowels and repeated letters, and shape what’s left into a symbol. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to feel right.

You can add it to your sketchbook, your canvas, your journal, wherever you create. Let it be a quiet spell, working behind the scenes.

A gold sigil drawn from the intention 'I release creative fear and express my truth with power,' set against a textured, moody background.

Art Journal Prompt

What creative fear are you ready to release this Scorpio Full Moon?

And what truth are you ready to speak with power?

If it resonates, try creating a sigil from your answers and including it somewhere in your art or journal this week. It can be hidden, abstract, messy, or precise. There’s no wrong way to do it, only what feels honest.

This is a deep and personal one. There’s no pressure to share it. Let it be something just for you, if that’s what feels right. This type of art journaling for healing is something I return to again and again.

An open art journal surrounded by paints, tea, and candlelight—capturing a quiet moment of creative magic.

Artist of the Season: Suzy Frelinghuysen

Born May 7, 1911, Suzy Frelinghuysen was one of the first American women to work in the abstract cubist style and one of the few to be taken seriously by the movement during her time.

Suzy studied art in New York and later joined the American Abstract Artists group, working alongside artists like Josef Albers and Piet Mondrian. She brought a distinctly lyrical edge to geometric abstraction, her compositions are bold and architectural, yet there’s a kind of flow to them that draws you in.

She was also an opera singer, performing with the New York City Opera in the 1940s and 50s. For long stretches, she stepped away from painting completely to focus on music. That rhythm feels real to me, the way we move in and out of creative phases. Suzy reminds me that it’s okay to take breaks, to return, to reinvent. That your artistry is never limited to just one form.

I love discovering women artists like Suzy who shaped art history in quiet, powerful ways. They’re part of the lineage I work within as a mixed media artist in Melbourne, exploring themes of identity, voice, and reclamation.

Cycles of Craft Update

Since the last blog, I’ve shared updates on Facebook about Samhain ritual ideas, Pluto retrograde in Aquarius, and Dark Moon Lilith in Scorpio. There’s also a Scorpio Full Moon report going live the same day as this blog.

With so much intense astrology happening in the fixed signs, I’ve been feeling it in my bones. The Scorpio-Aquarius tension is strong in my chart, and it’s asking me to dig deep, to slow down, reflect, and be honest about what needs to be composted in order for new growth to take root.

Even though the blog will shift to a monthly rhythm, there will still be plenty of updates on Instagram and Facebook, especially around moon phases, seasonal changes, and behind-the-scenes moments from the studio. Think of the monthly blog as a deeper exhale. A gathering of threads. A letter from the heart. A continuation of the Cycles of Craft journey we’ve been on for the last 6 months.

Soundtrack for the Descent

If you're like me, certain songs just belong to this time of year.

Soundtrack your descent into winter with these witchy studio tunes. A mix of moody instrumentals, dreamy folk, and atmospheric soundscapes to hold you through the quiet season. Perfect for painting, journaling, or simply brewing a strong cup of tea and sinking into the stillness.

🎧 Listen to the playlist on Spotify

Where to Find Me

I’ll be back with the new Studio Letter for the Gemini New Moon at the end of May. These monthly letters will continue to blend studio updates, seasonal energy, and a little bit of magic, just at a more sustainable rhythm for the dark half of the year.

Until then, you can:

• Catch the full Scorpio Full Moon astrology update on Facebook

• Follow Collective 24 on instagram and facebook for exhibition updates

• And don’t miss: 25% off everything in my Redbubble store from May 15–19

May this Full Moon help you release what’s no longer serving you and remind you of your power to begin again.

A quick note: Some of the images in this post were created using AI tools. As a disabled artist, managing my energy and chronic pain means I sometimes need to find alternative ways to bring my vision to life. These tools support me in staying connected to my creative practice, even when my body needs to rest.