The Magickal Mail on Patreon for April was #thriftwitch remix - Blessing Xenia. This pop up mini zine is filled with springtime art and blessings for gatherings big or small.
Since Yule of December 2019, I have created a witchy mini zine almost every eight weeks. The first sixteen issues were simple 8-page book folds. The first series explored the Wheel of Year, with art and rituals inspired by the seasons. The second series featured the elements; the five obvious ones of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit; and three less conventional "elements." These zines written every six weeks were in conjunction with the three other weekly zine series, 52 Feathers, 52 Facets, and 52 Petals. Suffice to say, after writing over 160 zines I needed to mix things up.
In 2021 I began remixing THRIFTWITCH to keep the project fresh and live. The theme for this third series was types of love, most specifically inspired by the distinctions made by the Ancient Greeks. Using different types of love as a jumping off point I researched new papercrafts and wove experiential art into the "pages." I started with a fortune teller for Eros, erotic love, and most recently created Xenia Blessing, the most complicated remix to date!
Xenia is the Greek Ritual of Hospitality, a kind of love that exists between host and guest. The form for this zine is an explosion book, each page popping open with a blessing to share at events and gatherings.
With the arrival of Spring, I am spending more and more time with ones I love at birthdays, impromptu movie nights, and performances. This Zine seemed like the perfect compliment to that energy, and the art is a reflection of springs green bud magic.
The zine contains four blessings:
1. A Blessing for the Host
2. A Blessing of Old & New Friends
3. A Guest of Honor Blessing
4. A Blessing for Strangers
When I began creating this zine I didn't anticipate how time consuming it would be to create. The pages for the zine are crafted in my studio out of mixed media materials. I then transfer them to my computer and digitally alter them, adding the blessings. Once organized for printing, I print several drafts to make sure everything is working how I expect before sending it to the printers. Then I spent hours cutting, folding, and gluing each zine. Once completed I mailed them to my Patrons on Patreon.
This zine was more time consuming than others because each page of the explosion book is folded and glued separately. Also, despite making several drafts, I made some mistakes with the title pages. These mistakes cost time because they required extra cutting and fiddling to end with a product I was happy with for my patrons. In the end I am still really grateful to have gone through the journey with this remix, I just hope to have an easier time with future projects.
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