A Faery of Sorrow

This piece began as a sketch of the upper body of the fae, and progressed from there. Everything sort of found its place as the project continued. The owl resting on the tombstone is a Barred Owl. The tombstone itself is inscribed with the number thirteen, which our tarot enthusiasts will know is the number of the Death card in the Major Arcana, as well as a Latin phrase that means "remember death." All of the moon crescents in this piece are waning, including the "moon" scyth below the grave marker. In many magical traditions, the waning moon is believed to signify a withdrawal of externally directed energies, and introspection. From this description, the whole piece seems quite gloomy, but this is somewhat counteracted by the frog the fae balances on her thumb. The frog represents transformation from one state into another - in this case the transition from a physical body into a spiritual one, or the transforming of a mourner's grief for the deceased into a peaceful acceptance of their death. Below the tombstone is a crescent scyth and some grain, which is a reference to the reaper. The Egyptian God Osiris was once a God of vegetation before he became a God of the Otherworld. This may have contributed to some of the other metaphors found in mythology and culture between the harvesting of grain and the harvesting of souls.