I have always been drawn to the sensory side of creativity, as I love to get lost in the textures and scents of different mediums. I currently work with pyrography (wood burning), watercolor, and embroidery because I feel that between the three, all of my senses are activated. There is something so wonderful about working with wood and experiencing the sweet smell of the burn. It grounds me and reconnects me with nature, even in my most disconnected moments. 

My work is influenced by a life-long fascination with the natural world, mythology, folklore, and symbols that have been used throughout history. Humanity has long created ways to work with their own consciousness and communicate their complexities through their artwork, and I find it endlessly inspiring to utilize these symbols within my own works. My hope is that my work honors the artists who have come before me and the nature that is a part of all of us.

About the artwork:

When Jordan had shared with me that the Empowerment Collective wanted a reimagining of the Queen of Wands, especially within the context of connecting with our intuition and feminine power, it put me in a contemplative mood about the complex dynamics of our society at this point. It feels as though so many Americans are feeling isolated and untrusting of their neighbors or the institutions that they once did. Some of this is very justified. At the same time, I believe a great deal of this is the work of major powers who are using social media and their influence to activate our baser instincts instead of building community. Which lead me to sit and think more deeply upon the questions:

What is the difference between instinct and intuition? How does one discern the difference and act confidently on intuition?

Ultimately, I landed on the idea that instinct is a vital part of our base selves that communicate for survival, while intuition is the voice of the higher self that allows us to remain true (or even move beyond) the self. This distinction is more a continuum instead of a hard line but is important to understand as we strive to connect with our highest self, our community, and the universe. How does one learn to listen to intuition's voice? I believe that it is through a balanced life of knowledge through study and experience, wisdom through experience and listening to those who came before us, and the stillness that gives us the time to take these various inputs and incorporate it into our inner knowing. 

With that in mind, I began to build out the image of the Queen of Wands. I decided to use Dr. Gita Prakash as my inspiration for the model. She is a powerful woman who became a doctor in India in her twenties, a model at 57, and is currently balancing both while running a charitable clinic from her own home. In her videos, she radiates a confidence borne from someone who is fearlessly exploring all of her capabilities. She's a practiced and knowledgeable healer who has a fire for life and the arts - she has not allowed anyone to put her in a specific box, but has embraced the challenges and opportunities of life with a sense of joy and beauty. To me, she is the embodiment of the queen of wands. 

Once I had her in mind, the rest of the pieces of the composition fell naturally together. I added the snake onto the wand to represent the rod of Asclepius (the Greek symbol for healing associated with medicine), and used imagery inspired by the goddess Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of the arts and poetry, learning, and language. She, too, is a beautiful representation of the passions and myriad paths that one can walk toward our highest selves. The swan at her feet is her vehicle and is associated with the discernment of the spirit to understand right and wrong. The lotus that grows from the mud is another symbol of the knowledge one can have when one is connected to the spiritual self. The other plants at her feet are mugwort (for intuition), sage (for wisdom), and blue iris (connected to the goddess Iris, who bridged the heavens and earth). While the Queen of Wands has connections to all fire signs (with the alchemical fire symbol at the top right), the Leo fire sign is a strong association, especially as she sits on her throne of lions that look in each direction. I chose the kenaz rune (bottom left) to show the illumination that comes from knowledge and study and the laguz rune (bottom right), which brings in the water and intuition elements of the Queen of Wands. The runic poems of laguz show the varied nature of water and intuition. In one, we read about the ornaments of gold (Which I interpret as the rewards of listening to one's inner wisdom), in another, we read of the dangers of the water. Walking in our own power and embracing all that we are is a continuous balance of these different aspects of self as we gather knowledge, wisdom, and heed our own intuition.

As we come together in community, my hope is that each of us can support one another in achieving this highest self and find our inner Queen of Wands. May you hear your own inner voice as you move forward in life. 

Emily Joy Walker