I am making slow progress on the deck. I decided to bring my supplies in from the art room where my water cup was frozen solid.
Slow Magic: Painting the Minor Arcana in Winter
Progress on the Minor Arcana has been quiet. Not stalled—just moving at the pace of breath, bone, and season.
I’ve begun with the Pentacles, an intentional choice. Earth first. Body first. Work, survival, money, craft—the slow mathematics of staying alive. Instead of oil, I’m painting these in acrylic, letting the medium mirror the energy: quicker drying, layered decisions, a willingness to move forward without endlessly reworking the past.
I’m working on two to four cards at a time, passing between them like a pilgrim moving between small altars. When one painting resists me, another opens. When one feels heavy, another feels generous. It keeps the process alive—less like forcing a single vision into existence and more like listening for which image is ready to speak.
Winter feels like the right container for this pace. The world itself is not rushing. Roots are growing underground. Seeds are deciding who they will become. Nothing looks dramatic on the surface, yet everything essential is happening in the dark.
This is how the Minor Arcana wants to be made—not in a rush of spectacle, but through accumulation. Quiet labor. Repetition. Small revelations. Layer by layer. Card by card.
Pentacles teach patience. They remind me that magic is not always lightning—it is often soil, time, and the discipline to return to the work even when progress looks invisible.
Slow progress, yes.
But slow progress is still progress.
And sometimes it is the most honest kind.
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