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.

Leo Full Moon February 2025: A Time for Boldness and Creativity

Moonlight from the Leo Full Moon streams through an open window, illuminating an art journal, paintbrushes, a quiet moment of magic and creation in the night.

The Leo Full Moon is almost here, bringing its bold, creative energy to illuminate where we shine and where we might be draining ourselves unnecessarily. This lunation is an invitation to step into our authentic selves, embrace joy, and reassess where we are placing our energy. Before we dive into the astrology, let’s catch up on the last couple of weeks.

Personal Update: Navigating Energy and Embracing Rest

The past fortnight has been a bit of a struggle with the extreme heat making everything feel heavier and more exhausting. Alongside my usual physio and hydro sessions, I’ve had several medical appointments, which has left me feeling more depleted than usual. The challenges of chronic illness and disability are always present, and it’s a constant balancing act between fulfilling necessary commitments and honouring my energy limits.

This has meant that I’ve had to lean into rest a bit more than I usually would, adjusting my schedule accordingly to avoid pushing myself too hard. I have also been digging into some old self-care techniques I haven’t used for a while. It’s been a reminder that listening to my body is just as important as the work itself.

Studio Update: Creative Exploration and Progress

Despite the heat and my medical appointments, I managed to carve out some studio time, and I’m happy to say that I had what felt like a successful experiment with texture and layering for my piece in the upcoming Creativa exhibition with Collective 24. I shared a reel over on Instagram showing my process—playing intuitively with different materials and techniques, letting the piece evolve organically. It was a much-needed reminder of how important it is to embrace exploration in art, even when the energy is low.

I’m excited to keep pushing forward with my work, especially as we move into the next phase of my Cycles of Craft campaign.

Layers, textures, and a little bit of alchemy!

Artist of the Season: Vivian Maier – Exploring the Unseen Through Photography

Born on February 1, 1926, Vivian Maier was a self-taught photographer whose work remained hidden until after her death. Working as a nanny for most of her life, she secretly captured thousands of street photographs, documenting everyday life with an incredible eye for composition and human emotion. Her work was only discovered in 2007 when a collection of her negatives was auctioned off, revealing an artist whose talent had been invisible for decades. Find out more about Vivian here.

Maier’s story speaks deeply to the themes I keep returning to in my own work—visibility and invisibility, the tension between being seen and unseen, the narratives that go untold. Her work captures fleeting moments of life, the beauty in the ordinary, and the quiet presence of those often overlooked. As I continue exploring these themes in my own art, I find her story both inspiring and haunting. She was an artist who created for the sake of creation, leaving behind a body of work that speaks even in her absence.

Leo Full Moon Astrology: Balancing Self-Expression and Collective Needs

The Leo Full Moon is a time of illumination, creativity, and personal power. Leo, ruled by the sun, is about self-expression, confidence, and radiance. This lunation asks us to check in with ourselves:

• Where are we wasting energy that isn’t serving us?

• What parts of our lives feel uncomfortable, and what can we do to nurture ease instead of forcing constant self-improvement?

• What is out of our control, and can we release our grip on it?

Leo’s energy reminds us to take up space, to celebrate who we are without apology. But while Leo is about the self, the sun is currently in Aquarius, the sign of the collective. This full moon highlights the balance between personal needs and the greater good. It’s a dance between honouring our individuality and understanding how we exist within a larger ecosystem.

We might feel the tension between wanting to express ourselves boldly and the pressures of societal expectations. This is a good time to reflect on where we are dimming our own light to fit in or where we are overextending ourselves at the expense of our well-being.

Eclipse Season 2025: Preparing for Cosmic Shifts

Lunar Eclipse in Virgo – March 14, 2025

The Lunar Eclipse in Virgo is a full moon that calls for a deep cleansing and recalibration. Virgo energy is all about order, healing, and refinement, so this eclipse will illuminate the areas of your life that need attention, particularly around health, organization, and habits. It’s a time to release old patterns that no longer serve your well-being or your creative process. Whether it’s letting go of toxic work habits or clearing clutter in your physical or mental space, Virgo will guide you towards a more streamlined, balanced life.

This is a great time to reflect on how you’ve been nurturing your body and mind. Have you been paying attention to your self-care, or is it time to let go of habits that are depleting you? Virgo asks us to take practical steps toward self-improvement, so any work done during this eclipse will have long-lasting benefits.

Solar Eclipse in Aries – March 29, 2025

The Solar Eclipse in Aries brings a surge of fiery, bold energy that could inspire sudden changes or new beginnings. Aries, the first sign of the zodiac, is about taking action, being courageous, and embracing the thrill of the unknown. With this solar eclipse, the universe is asking us to look at where we need to be more assertive, take risks, and stand up for ourselves.

This is a potent moment for setting new intentions and creating a fresh start, especially in areas where you’ve been holding back. If you’ve been feeling like something in your life is stagnant or you’re ready to leap into a new direction, the Aries solar eclipse provides the perfect energy to break free of any lingering hesitations. It's a time to step into leadership, take charge of your creative vision, and assert your power in a way that feels authentic and aligned with your true desires.

Eclipses & Your Creative Practice

Even though the Lunar Eclipse in Virgo and the Solar Eclipse in Aries are still a month away, now is a good time to start preparing. The energy of eclipses tends to build up over time, so it’s worth starting to reflect on what you might need to release or what new intentions you’d like to set. This period offers us a chance to get clear on what we want to move away from and what we’re ready to move toward.

In the coming weeks, we’ll dive deeper into the themes of both eclipses and how they can influence your creative practice. We’ll talk about how to align with these energies in more practical ways and share some rituals and ideas to guide you through this transformative time.

For now, start considering what feels out of balance or stagnant in your life and creative process, and begin to gently let go of anything that no longer serves you. The time for big shifts is coming, and it’s a great opportunity to begin building the foundation for change.

 Art Journal Prompt:

Under the glow of the Leo Full Moon, reflect on where you are ready to shine. What part of yourself have you been dimming? Use bold colors, expressive marks, or even collage elements to celebrate your authentic self. How can you take up space in your creativity and life without apology?

#CyclesofCraft Update: Lammas to Autumn Equinox

Last week, we celebrated Lammas, the first harvest festival, marking the shift towards autumn. If you missed it, I shared a special edition blog reflecting on this seasonal transition. Now, we begin our slow movement toward the autumn equinox, though Melbourne’s late summer heatwaves are making that feel distant. The land is shifting, even if it’s subtle, and soon we’ll start to see the first hints of seasonal change.

Lammas is a time of gratitude, of acknowledging what we have cultivated, both physically and creatively. As we move toward the equinox, it’s a reminder that balance is an ongoing process, not a fixed state.

Witchy Rituals for Creative Flow: Tea Magic and Intentional Art

I introduced a new series over on Instagram last week, starting with a simple tea ritual: taking a moment before beginning an art session to prepare a cup of tea (or any drink), stirring with intention, clockwise to invite something in, counterclockwise to release. It’s a grounding practice, a way to shift into creative space with mindfulness.

The idea behind these little rituals is to weave magic into the everyday, to make space for intention and presence in our creative practice. Whether it’s lighting a candle before beginning a painting or using a specific scent to mark the start of a work session, small moments of ritual can help us transition into a more focused, inspired state.

There will be more of these small rituals and creative prompts coming soon, so keep an eye out for #LittleWitchyThings and #ArtWitchTips on Wednesday’s. I’d love to hear any little rituals you have.

 Redbubble Store Update: Shop My Art & Upcoming Sale

A quick reminder that my Crow Series and other designs are available in my Redbubble store. There’s another sale coming up—25% off from February 17-23—so if you’ve had your eye on something, it’s a great time to grab it!

I haven’t added new pieces yet, but I’m looking forward to bringing some fresh designs into the store in the coming months.

Final Thoughts: Embrace Your Power and Shine Unapologetically

As this full moon peaks, give yourself permission to rest in who you are, rather than constantly striving to be more. Take stock of where you’re directing your energy and whether it’s truly serving you. And, most importantly, be kind to yourself.

Leo teaches us to shine, to embrace joy, and to take up space. But it also reminds us that confidence comes from within—not from external validation. Take this full moon as an opportunity to step into your light, unapologetically.

Wishing you all a luminous and reflective Leo Full Moon.