Tag: red

bookmark_borderSocial Media Observations & Ramblings

Posted on by savethesavages

Mostly based on my own behavior, I noticed that:

– People just aren’t paying attention as much. For me personally, my attention span dips in and out. The millions of people promoting or sharing something can be taxing and I have other things on my mind these days. Maybe it’s because I’m getting old? Idk. I was also one of those people promoting or sharing something for a hot minute…I got sick of myself.

– One of the things I learned about marketing your business is that if you want people to pay attention, then you have to post A LOT. This is how people will remember you, through repetition. It’s annoying as fuck tbh but it works. Posting a lot in my opinion though, eventually leads to burnout especially if it’s not producing some kind of return (a lead or a sale of your product). I definitely felt this with my crystal shop and that’s why I haven’t posted in some time now. Although I had a couple of loyal folks who always bought crystals from me (if you’re reading this – thank you, I love & appreciate you!), the majority of my crystal sales never came from posting on Instagram anyways.

– Posting a lot won’t necessarily bring the results you want. If anything, the majority of people just want to be entertained by what you post. They don’t always want to buy, which is why I think the shop section of IG is pointless. I’m definitely one of those people who also rejects a lot of ads (most of them are irrelevant anyway)…which is why it’s hard for me to do ads for my own business. Too critical for my own good.

– I haven’t been very successful with my own entrepreneurial endeavors; thanks to the neverending pandemic, I kinda gave up on it. I tried it, but wasn’t built for it. Did the universe spare me from struggling and putting myself in a situation I didn’t really want to be in? Probably. That or being programmed to be an employee for life has taken its toll.

– As usual, I’m bored with everything that I’m doing and I don’t know what’s next for me. A friend did a channeled card reading for me recently and also sensed my eternal state of boredom. Sigh. Anyways, here’s an excerpt from Mystic Medusa‘s Astral DNA Report aka her take on my natal chart that at least gives me some clues as to why I can’t just settle as a “personal brand”:

Neptune House X

Their public image can be mysterious: an alias, nom de plume or a brand conceals the true persona. Tenth House Neptune people are adrift in an ocean of treacherous career currents until they find or create their true vocation. Their c.v. is peppered with surreal episodes, a twilight zone of enigmatic gigs and of course, quite a few off-c.v. escapades. Whatever their official occupation, their title is really “magician” or “rainmaker.”

Enjoy this gif I made. Happy Scorpio season!

bookmark_borderSHERMGRAFIK Website Screenshots

Posted on by savethesavages

It used to be so fun, challenging and also frustrating building websites; I was so obsessed about how mine looked and I was constantly tweaking it. The site was built in HTML via Dreamweaver, I was using iframes and tables to align elements. At the time, everybody was doing it that way.

Then WordPress came out.

All this reminiscing came about because I was thinking about Futura 2000’s website around 2004 when I started learning web design.

His website stood out to me because it was very experimental and out there. Everybody was using Flash to make their website graphics interactive.

However, I didn’t learn how to code actual HTML until 2014.

So yeah, before I switched to Save the Savages – Shermgrafik was my first ever domain.

Want to take a trip down www memory lane? You can see old versions of websites at Internet Archive.

bookmark_borderSHERM Gotchic Lettering – 2010

Posted on by savethesavages

I don’t really give myself enough credit sometimes. Well I can finally look back on my work 10 years later and say that it was actually pretty good, like this SHERM drawing.

I really don’t miss painting graffiti all that much but I do miss how I can get very detailed with my letters.

bookmark_borderI Trust Myself

Posted on by savethesavages

Reflecting back on it now, setting up the crystal shop was easy; selling something that is tangible and beautiful is quite easy.

Marketing & selling a service on the other hand, is a bit more challenging; people can’t see it, it’s not tangible like a crystal or a stone. But it’s still doable.

I trust myself, I trust that I can make this work.

Everything takes times to grow, the hardest part is being patient especially when you’re planting a seed. Seeds grow in the dark, you can’t see what’s happening but you must tend to it, you must believe that it will grow.

This is what I’m doing right now with my latest project, Crystal Healer LA; just experimenting with it and seeing where it goes. I expect it to be another source of income, and I expect to receive awesome clients from it. I expect that I am going to be in service to others in a way that makes me happy.

I definitely did not foresee that I would take the path of the healer. But really, I’m just following my inner guidance and it feels right.

My mindset is definitely different from last year, I was more driven & motivated. This time I’m more about just learning, experimenting and enjoying the experience.

I usually create content for every blog post, but I don’t know what to post this time around. I was digging through my internet files and stumbled on this surreal, occult work of art by Felix Labisse.

bookmark_borderGarnet VVitch

Posted on by savethesavages

While driving to work I was holding this Garnet Soapstone (available for purchase) in the photo and got a surge of energy flow through me and my eyes welled up a little…I thought about blood, bloodshed and sacrifice.

In my mind’s eye I got a flash of witches being accused and persecuted. Perhaps these were just mental pictures from witch-related movies I’ve seen, I wasn’t sure. But it was enough to make me feel something and to write this down.

Anyways.

In terms of sacrifice, often times we think about veterans who were in the war, but what about the thousands of innocent witches, healers who were burned at the stakes…

What about the countless women who were raped past, present and future…

It was brought to my awareness recently that James Marion Sims, the father of modern Gynecology, owned black slave women and cut them up without anesthesia in order to study and learn about our reproductive organs.

The history of mankind is gruesome and it was the women who usually suffered the most.

They all sacrificed themselves to have what we have today.

All these women live through me and they exist as little druzy sparkles in this Garnet Soapstone. Garnet is all about strength and security. I am you, you are me, we are One. Now whenever I look at Almandine Garnets I will always think about all the blood that has been shed and seeped through the earth to create such a beautiful stone.

I cursed myself often, often wishing I was a man instead. They always seemed to get away with doing things. It took some time to love my body and accept myself as a woman.

I used to be angry that my period would inconvenience me, it’s actually happening right now and I think it’s perfect for writing this post.❤️

bookmark_borderHow Does Your Intuition Communicate with You?

Posted on by savethesavages

I’m writing this down before it slips away.

Some people get clear messages with absolute clarity that they should be doing something or not…

I don’t. Instead, my interests are led by it. I just realized this now, so I had to write it down immediately.

Like if I really like doing something, I’ll be into it. I’ll put lots of energy into learning it, investing time and money even.

For a while I really thought that becoming a Web Developer would be my path. But it’s clear now that it’s not. I tried applying myself a few times and it just would not gel. I look back now on the few times I’ve tried to apply for school and I kept being blocked by something inconvenient. I was forcing it.

Combining all the things I’m into now (art/design/marketing/magick) and really making it my own little thing, is where I feel like I’m truly thriving. I can actually feel my sense of purpose.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, trust yourself to make the right decisions. You are going the right way even though it might not seem like it, it might not even make sense at first.

I got into crystals & stones in 2012 not knowing that I would setup a crystal shop 5 years later, learn how to heal myself and in the process become a healer too.

I followed my interests and it led me to finding my true self and my true purpose. Life is trippy.

bookmark_borderGIF: Eternal Conflict 2012

Posted on by savethesavages

I was digging through old files when I stumbled upon this old drawing. My mom was Christian so after she passed away in 2006, my soul wanted to draw, paint and explore the dark stuff. I was fascinated by the occult, Satanism, Anton LaVey and the image of the devil.

I was also heavily influenced by tattoo imagery, so I borrowed the devil image from Sailor Jerry’s flash. I wanted to be a tattoo artist at some point, so I bought a tattoo machine – tattooed myself and a couple of people out of my home. I was a scratcher, I didn’t get very far :/

Anyways, I guess I’m just reminiscing.

The Devil (15) is still my friend. I look forward to seeing him and I actually laugh, wondering what kind of temptation will he present to me whenever he shows up via tarot, or will he play the devil’s advocate through a person I encounter that day? You never know and that’s why I like him. He breaks up the seriousness of the tarot with his presence.

bookmark_borderShamrock Trip – Trippy GIF

Posted on by savethesavages

It’s not luck at all, but call me lucky.

Lucky because I can put some of my uniqueness into the graphics I create for work.

Lucky because it’s a quiet atmosphere.

Lucky because I am alone for hours, with space to create and generate ideas.

Lucky because I got this far in life and I didn’t even have to get a college degree or drown in massive amounts of debt.

Lucky because I have the ability to keep on learning.

Lucky because I get to experience life in a human body.

I can stare at this all day. Kinda like a lava lamp, but not really.

bookmark_borderIf Your Hobby Became Your Job…

Posted on by savethesavages

If what you are really passionate about became your job, would you still love it?

Would you still feel the creative fire, or would it be replaced with feelings of obligation? Feeling stagnant and uninspired will also likely soon to follow.

Continue reading “If Your Hobby Became Your Job…”

bookmark_borderWhat Does the Term ‘Occult’ Mean to You?

Posted on by savethesavages

The term ‘occult’ seems to have a bad rep (depending on how you perceive it I suppose) – do a quick Google image search and you’ll see mostly dark, visual interpretations of the word. Different people interpret it in so many ways and that’s fine, everybody’s entitled to their own creative vision. In movies however, the occult has often been mostly portrayed as something weird, dark and scary. Synonymous with black magic, it’s become a permanent image in people’s subconscious that it’s an evil thing that can call in demons, vampires, witches, ghosts and otherworldy beings that can harm you.

The occult has also been tied to government conspiracies, the illuminati, the Knights Templar, Freemasonry, etc.

I admit that I was initially attracted to the occult by way of dark, strange imagery on the internet. I didn’t understand what the symbols meant, but I was drawn to it and knew that I liked it. It makes for great subject matter for when you’re creating something in the horror, cult, supernatural, sacrilegious, weird genres. One’s imagination can conjure up all sorts of imagery from the term. And it just looks damn cool.

Over time though I realized that the occult didn’t just encompass the dark, but also the light. My interest in the occult eventually led me to healing and learning about myself. The light and dark are One Thing. Duality only exists in our human minds, I believe it’s how we make sense of the chaos that is our earthly existence on this dimension.

The word occult simply means hidden from view; something mysterious, a secret. When I close my eyes and visualize the word, I imagine a beautiful shining light, hidden deep within my being and yours; something that you search for that’s really been there all along. This light has been dimmed by layers of programming throughout our human existence by negative beliefs and other mental junk and is just waiting to be rediscovered, awakened by our true selves.

All the things I have been spending time learning about these last 4 years – tarot, crystals, Qabalah, magick, meditation, metaphysics, mysticism, comparative religion, etc…all are part of the occult.

I hope this (sort of) clears up some misconceptions about that word. I’m sure someone out there can better clarify what I’m trying to say here but hopefully this will do for now. Feel free to add to this or expand what I’m trying to say.

On an unrelated note: the watercolor painting above was done when I was emulating the bold, traditional tattoo style of tattooing that I really like. I was trying to get into tattooing at some point and so my artistic style had that feel for a few years.