This painting demonstrates magic practice. It is magical and is designed to give me confidence in a situation I have little control over. Please see my writing “Rook Hill Spell 2008” to read the painting text.

I was brought up at Upper Rouchel, Hunter Valley, Australia. One story on how Rouchel got its name is that the first Scottish/English settlers saw a crow (rook) on a hill and called it Rook Hill which became Rouchel.

In my recent university course “The Art of Magic” the following quote empowered me to believe in spells and magic.

Middleton summaries some of Malinowski’s theories: “Magic protects people from failure and enables them to achieve success in which emotional and social involvement are high. Magic raises the psychological self-confidence of its believers, may help them achieve higher stages of technological and moral development, and may enable them better to organize their labour and to control cooperative work on which the well-being of society’s members depend…” (9:86)

As Malinowski wrote, magic “ritualizes man’s optimism.” (From Middleton 9:86)

Rook Hill Spell 2008 (text on painting)

Dear Gaia

I, Cathie daughter of Dawn
call upon you Goddess of the
Earth to understand my needs!
May I use your powers to
guide & empower me!
I do this in honour of you.
May your power give fertility &
abundance to Rouchel & its animals.
May the domestic stock be free of disease.
May the Gods of Rain bless the land.
As a follower of Sunism may Akhenaten & Nefertiti
bring forth the blessing power of the
Sun God, Aten.
Please Gaia, open the doorway
to my new home and give me strength to recover.

The rook is the message bringer.
A black crow on the right is a good omen.
Rouchel gets its name from the crow.
May the forces of
water, earth, air, fire & spirit
energise Rouchel and me.
May my art express my emotions & create magic.
This is what I want.
Let it be so.
Amen