Effy Wild is an art witch, teacher, and writer who lives in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Her life revolves around her creative practice, which informs her spiritual and healing journey. Most of what she does happens within the pages of hand made art journals, but she has recently begun a canvas practice. 

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What does “Art is Magic” mean to you?

I consider myself an “art witch” who engages creative practice as a way to raise energy toward the attainment of my desires, be they as simple as a changed state of mind or as complex as healing trauma. I work with different mediums, symbols, and colours to call in divine intervention or call up my own inner wisdom so that I always have access to guidance and support on my journey. To me, art has always been magic, and I turn to it daily as part of my spiritual practice.

Tell us about your journey to become an artist.

I have been a writer since I could hold a pencil, but in 2009, I developed a terrible case of writer’s block and had to go looking for alternatives modes of creative expression. I worked through The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and took her advice to do other things alongside writing very much to heart. A quick google search led me to art journaling and the rest, as they say, is history. I am not longer blocked as a writer AND I get to fling paint every day. What a win/win situation!

What does your creative practice look like?

My life is set up so that the opportunity to be creative every day is right there in my face. I have an easel set up in my living space with all my paints set out and ready to be flung whenever the urge strikes. I have a room dedicated to my art journaling practice with every supply you could possibly imagine within arm’s reach. I create programs that require me to show up at least once a week so that I am never not creating. You’d think this might cause me to burn out, but it has had the opposite effect. Since I have some structure around my creative life, I never have to depend on “inspiration”, and that has been very effective for me. There is always something to respond to whether that’s the phase of the moon, a theme I’ve chosen for the month, or a selection of Journal Jam cards to play with, and responding creatively no matter what else is going on keeps me in touch with myself and able to be responsive to the world around me.

How has your process evolved?

More and more over the years, my process has become less about making things that “look good” and more about making things that mirror my current state. Each painting, whether it includes a portrait or not, is an honest look at whatever it is I am dealing with in any given moment. Sometimes that means I’m painting out of difficult feelings, but just as often, it means I am dreaming up new realities or celebrating my triumphs. While I do like to create things that look good to me, it has become way ore important to me to create things that accurately express what is true for me in any given moment. This means my body of work is a kind of “visual diary” that I can look back on, and I have found this to be a very useful tool in my spiritual and healing journey.