The Bee

In ancient cultures, The Bee was a sacred creature that bridged the natural world and the underworld. A messenger that travels between the outside world and the hive, The Bee is at home in both sunlight and darkness. The Bee also symbolizes fertility. The Bee’s honeycomb is a hexagon, which is a symbol of community, interconnectedness and strength. The Bee has also been associated with hidden wisdom and mysteries, but also with industry and hard work. As a totem, The Bee might teach us to create art in our everyday lives and to trust in our communities. Like The Bee, our lives are interconnected.

The Bee on etsy.

The Salmon (The Struggle) Totem Art Print by Kerrie CarbaryI

I was teasing you a while back about a new collage I was working on, The Salmon. Well, would you like to see?

There are actually two salmon collages. This one is The Salmon (The Struggle). I'll save the other one for later. :)



The Salmon is big for me, sizewise. I've been working small lately, but have been reminded that I love to work larger as well. So, there's no medium right now! Only miniature and XL. XL is 22 x 30 inches for me, I know that's tiny for some artists, but I'm still recovering from having a tiny space to create tiny art in.

For me, The Salmon relates to the tarot card, The Chariot. The Salmon will be one of the cards in The Totem Tarot. This is a good card for my life right now. I'm in the middle of a ton of transitions and changes and decisions. The Salmon is a fighter, creative, a creature of the cycle. What goes around comes around. The Salmon is also a symbol of creation and birth, death and rebirth. The Salmon finds home upstream to spawn, then dies giving life so the cycle may continue.

While you're (surely!) anxiously awaiting The Totem Tarot, I'm offering prints of The Salmon: Etsy :: kerrie :: The Salmon (The Struggle) Totem Art Print by Kerrie Carbary

The Salmon (almost a work in progress)

I've been reinspired lately to work on my Totem Tarot again, after putting it aside for a while. I have a lot of card designs finished, but realized that I haven't done much in the way of organizing them or relating them to actual tarot cards. So, I pulled out my copy of The Tarot According to You (a book I love) and my favorite tarot deck and shuffled them up, asked what I was supposed to focus on, and pulled a random card. It was The Chariot.

The Chariot is a good card for my life right now. I'm in the middle of a ton of transitions and changes and decisions. I rededicated myself to talking to people in person about art (my monthly open studio) which can be tough for me. I am shy, believe it or not. Then, my Americorps job is coming to an end. Changes. Will there be a similar job for me in the future, in non profit, helping others, etc, etc? Maybe and maybe not. The nonprofit in which I served my indentured servitude Americorps term is not hiring right now due to budget concerns.

Money is an issue, of course. So I'm applying for jobs. But also wondering if a) it's a choice between more indentured servitude Work and Art, b) if I get a Big Job, a Career Style Job, if it means stepping back from the art just as I was starting to be able to make art again and c) will I die homeless and penniless, and no one will love me, Stuart Smalley Style? and finally, d) don't Real Artists have more ego? Maybe by worrying about this in a public place I'm cursing my rights to be an artist...?

See how appropriate The Chariot is?

I think Salmon when I started to think about what The Chariot means to me, so my next totem card will be The Salmon. The Salmon is a fighter, creative, a creature of the cycle. What goes around comes around.