Smoke and Mirrors page 5 (or 6...)

It's funny what you can accomplish when waiting for eight hours for your car's brakes to be fixed -- This page for example. Other than some last minute touch ups, this whole page was drawn in a West Seattle coffee shop. It's amazing how exhausting waiting can be, and I was fried when I got home afterwards, but it's days like this, when I can really dig into my passion for cartooning without interruption, that reminds me how much I absolutely love what I do. Shamanism and Cartooning -- The double helix of my existence, that both shapes and is shaped by who I am and who I become; My twin divinely destined vocational callings which I can not not answer as easily as I can not not breathe. They truly are not just what I do, but who I am -- A Shaman Cartoonist. 

This particular page is the fifth in my Smoke and Mirrors series, recalling my path to becoming a Sacred Pipe Carrier after being challenged by a couple people who questioned what I was doing online. When I started this page, I failed to reference the previous one and so this may become page six because I am realizing the need for a better segue. I also need to fix the bit about my Lakota teacher. After drawing the page I contacted my teacher and, though she was trained in Lakota ways, she is not herself Lakota. To move forward with even a slight inconsistency like that would undermine the integrity of, and the whole purpose and reason for drawing this particular comic.  

To read the entire series thus far, please click on the "Smoke and Mirrors" label below. If you enjoy what you read here, please follow my blog. I do hope you enjoy my comics as much as I enjoy drawing them, and thank you for reading!

By the way, my aforementioned teacher, Kristina Bloom, is amazing and was one of my greatest teachers. You can check out her website at https://kristinabloom.com/.

Saga of Didrik page 17

As usual for any given situation in my life, I have several brands in the fire when it comes to my comic projects. Not including any one-shot, one- or two-pagers that randomly occur, I have at least three separate comic stories actively in progress -- 

Dismem-boar-ment - Chronicling some profound experiences from a Vision Quest a couple years ago (Click on the corresponding label below to read the story so far)

Smoke and Mirrors - A exercise of soul-searching in response to some outside resistance I encountered to my spiritual path (Click on the corresponding label below to read the story so far)

Saga of Didrik - First of a planned series of adaptions of archery myths and legends from around the world, the latest page of which is posted here (Again, click on the corresponding label below to read the story so far)

So I'm going to try (I know! "...There is no try, only do or do not..." blah blah blah...😉) to concentrate on Didrik, being the one closest to being finished, and, I believe, the one I've been working on the longest, to free up some creative energy on the other two. My intention is to not let anything linger in limbo for too long. It's good to have a couple things going at the same time, so I have a couple choices of were to apply and follow my inspiration, depending on the accompanying emotional states. When things go on for too long, though, without closure or completion, for me it seems to leave loose ends which are fertile ground for the development of guilt and self-judgement, which tends to block or clot the creative energy, slowing the creative flow to the detriment of all creative projects. 

So, in that spirit, here is the latest page in the last chapter of the Saga of Didrik!

 

Smoke and Mirrors page 4

Here is page four of my latest comic series, documenting a current onslaught of soul-searching around my spiritual path and who I am. To read the rest of the pages thus far, please click on the Smoke and Mirrors label below, and to read more comics about my relationship and lessons with White Buffalo Calf Woman, click on that label below. 

Thank you for reading! 💖

 

Smoke and Mirrors page 3

Here is the third page of my most current comic series as I do some soul-searching to sort out, through the magick of cartooning, recent events that have had a couple people calling into question my integrity around videoing my sacred pipe videos, something that I know goes counter to tradition but which I've been consistently guided to do by my helping spirits, especially White Buffalo Calf Woman.

This is not an attempt to justify or excuse myself, or to make myself the good guy and cast aspersions on others. It is an honest look at what I do and why I do it -- a seeking of the truth, and of integrity. 

To read the other pages thus far in this series, please click on the Smoke and Mirrors label below. And to read other comics where I've dealt with similar issues, please click on the White Buffalo Calf Woman label below.

 

Smoke and Mirrors page 2

Presenting the second installment of my current (well, one of my current) comic projects, as I sort out for myself, through my comics, recent challenges from outside and from within, concerning my path. 

To catch up with both pages so far in this series, please click on the Smoke and Mirrors label below, and to read other comics where I wrestled with similar issues, please click on the White Buffalo Calf Woman label below.  

And again, as always, thank you so much for reading! <3

Smoke and Mirrors page 1

There's an issue that is never far away from my conscious mind that I've been dealing with since the beginning of the pandemic, which I find necessary to revisit from time to time in order to maintain my integrity around it in what I call my "Golden Lasso" moments. That issue is the videoing of sacred ceremonies, namely the Sacred Pipe Ceremony, which, if not outright forbidden by tradition, is definitely frowned upon.

I don't want to say too much about it at this point because this blog is largely about utilizing my cartooning skills to work things out. I'll just say that recently I've had a couple people, one indigenous and one not, requesting I stop because they felt that according to tradition it was disrespectful. This comic series is not to explain or justify myself, but to honestly look at what I do and why, and to find the balance, as well as the strength and courage, to continue forward when the guidance on my Shamanic path says one thing while traditions tell me something else. 

I have written about and drawn other comics on this subject, and to see those comics you can click on the White Buffalo Calf Woman label below. Please stay tuned for the unfolding of this comic series, and, as always, thank you for reading and for sharing this journey with me! <3