You’ve probably realized this already: When you start to notice the Underworld, you begin to find it everywhere. I’ve been seeing it in the apple bins of a Krogers, in the act of mailing a zine to a friend, in this emoji 〰️, and this one 🕸️, and this one 🕳️.

As artists, it’s our job to observe the world around us. That act of noticing forms a thread — there’s a line of connection between you and the object you are observing. This is the idea of relationalism, something physicists way smarter than me try to conceptualize into how reality works. (See the work of Carlo Rovelli for more on this!)

As artists (and witches, if that identity serves you!), we also have the skill of playing with those threads. We can weave them into shapes and stories. We can connect things that may have previously felt unrelated. When we train ourselves to notice, we can see patterns that we might have previously missed.

The thing about noticing is that any road can get you to the same place. My friend and I recently talked about how she gets the same thing from a blue sky that I get from a compost bin: that exact feeling of shedding ourselves for what will come next. One is above us and one is below us and they both lead to our own waning. (In preparation for being full again.)

The art is in the noticing. Your craft is paying attention.