Nicole Piar is an artist and visionary. Many may be familiar with her delightful Spirit Cats Deck, which I carry in my online shop here. I love her Spirit Cat’s Deck as a beautiful addition to my personal working altar. Nicole’s gentle, uplifting visions of cats and magical beings are not only beautiful, they are authentic, and come from a genuine soul. I talked to Nicole about her upcoming Cosmic Allies Altar Deck and Book, her favourite necklace as well as other artists and makers that inspire her. Read on to learn more.
Ally: Can you tell us about your current projects?
Nicole: My Cosmic Allies Altar Art Deck and Book is on its way to me as we speak and I can’t wait for it to finally arrive. It’s been a long, winding and wild multi-year journey to bring the Cosmic Allies into the world. I learned so much about surrendering, pausing, and making space for Spirit to enter. It definitely challenged my ego who was hoping for a more linear, productive creative process. This was sooo far from linear.
I should have known I was diving deep down the rabbit hole when I decided to completely merge ritual magic and art-making for this deck. I had been practicing planetary magic for a while and was craving genderless visual expressions of the 7 planetary energies in astrology ~ Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. I couldn’t find anything like that so I decided to create it myself.
For each Cosmic Ally, I created an altar, made special offerings, did meditations where I invited the planetary energy to merge with me, and channeled guidance. I wove spells and opened to receiving visions in my dreams and in my waking life. I created each painting on the day of the week that is sacred to the corresponding Cosmic Ally. Venus was painted only on Fridays, Mercury on Wednesdays, Jupiter on Thursdays and so on. I did things in ways that sacrificed practicality, efficiency, and logic for the sake of the magic.
Consequently, each card in the deck is not only a work of art, it is also a powerful planetary talisman. The accompanying book share a plethora of ways to work with the Cosmic Allies so that you can really craft an experience that resonates with you specifically.
I can honestly say that this project worked on me more than I worked on it. I have claimed more of the full spectrum of my power and soul expression. I playfully infused my life with ritual and magic. In fact, I feel like I am living inside the ritual all the time now. I feel more expansive, more free. I can see more of the beauty in the world, both cosmic and earthly.
This next big project simmering up to the surface is my Witch Cats Oracle Deck. Many of the cats have already come through but more are on their way. Not sure when this will be finished but I love all the Witch Cats already. I think they will be good friends with my Spirit Cats Oracle Deck.
Ally: Do you have a favourite adornment? Does it have a story?
Nicole: I have a giant, art nouveau, hand-crafted silver butterfly necklace that I LOVE. It’s not subtle at all. It’s overtly magical and wild and I love that. People always notice it and ask me about it. I love telling them that it was a gift from my Mom. My Mom and I are very close. She is very empathic, loving, and open-minded and I admire that in her.
Whenever she visits me in LA from New Hampshire, we go to the Huntington Botanical Gardens. That place is pure magic! I can wander among the blooms and trees all day and they have the best curated gift shop with lots of items from artists. I fell in love with the butterfly necklace there and my Mom bought for my birthday. It reminds me of her and of nature. It warms my heart as I wear it which is almost every day.
Find more at Nicole’s website: http://www.nicolepiar.com/
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