The Frouds and Individuality

I love the art of the Froud family. Brian, Wendy, and Toby are all teeming with creativity and talent. We are all lucky to be able to partake in the world they see around them and in turn share with us. And one of my favorite things about the creative projects of the Frouds is that they encourage hands-on participation. I'm not just talking about their workshops and seminars they conduct at festivals and colleges worldwide. I'm also speaking about their projects such as the Froud Faerie Oracle and The Runes of Elfland. One thing that has long irked me about oracular methods...dream interpretation, tarot, runes, etc. is that so many of the books and manuals instructing a person how to use them will ascribe a single meaning to each symbol or card.

I am a believer in individual spirituality, and the fact that our lives inform and influence how we respond to stimuli. For instance, I absolutely love bats, and spiders are a positive supernatural harbinger of mine. But to someone else these creatures could have incur a very different reaction and symbolic meaning. I truly appreciate that when I read the materials for Froudian oracles, they emphasize individual exploration and interaction with the cards and the symbols.

What, besides the reference to the Frouds, does this have to do with a blog about mythic decorating? The filling of a home with treasures and magic, like opening your mind to faerie messages, is a highly personal undertaking, influenced by an endless number of personal factors. Your history, your life story, the way you choose to share with others your view of the world, your likes, your dislikes. All of these and more combine together to influence all your choices.

Now, many of us are here because we have similar touchstones in what we find special to us. I'd be willing to bet that a good percentage of us put priority on wonder, enchantment and creation. I'd also hedge that most of us are likely bibliophiles, and a good number would recognize names such as Charles de Lint, Neil Gaiman, Charles Vess, Alan Lee, and (the above) Frouds. But there are so many additional ways in which our tastes might diverge. We can all love fairy tales, but some may veer toward the stories of pond and lake, others the tales of desert and stone. Some may love frigid Russian tales of bears and Baba Yaga, while others prefer sun-scorched stories of Aladdin and the Arabian Nights.

And we shouldn't forget either that the interests, biases, and history of the blogger will influence what you find here as well! This is why I am so thankful to have the Domythic Bliss Facebook group to help encourage me to share a variety of posts on topics I might not have thought of on my own. In order for this blog to represent the largest cross-section of mythic enthusiasts possible, I encourage participation by anyone and everyone who reads and enjoys the blog. It's through all of us that this blog is possible!

So please...share your passions and loves. It is through you that we are able to make this blog represent a wide cross-section of the Mythic community, instead of just the preferences of one blogger.

After all, I suppose not all of my blog posts can be purple, velvet, Twelve Dancing Princesses, and Pre-Raphaelite!