Ritual Dust

Way of life

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 00:00:00 EST

This is in no way intended to be general advice or universal truth, it’s what worked for me in life so far. These are the result of a long distillation process, introspection, life experiences, therapy and meditation. It will definitely change in the future, like myself. It is written in that form as a message from present me to future me.

Listen to nature
Know your feelings
Trust your body
Set boundaries
Take accountability
Practice gratitude
Learn your privilege
Tend to your insecurities
Be honest with yourself
Commitments not tasks

Cultivate a relationship with nature

Nature is always there somewhere, even in the most brutalist city corners and we’re part of it. Taking time to notice and appreciate nature thought me a lot about life and myself and brought me a lot of joy and pleasure. Taking walks in the woods, tracing the paths left by termites on a dead log, playing with our cat, basking in the sun.

“Take your time as the mighty oak tree does, growing tall and strong and glorious in its own due course, fully confident that its great work is immune to the harrying of time. It grows its mighty bows where there is enough light, it puts forth leaves as it pleases and it’s acorns falls to the forest floor when they’re just heavy enough.“
- Steven Zapata

Learn to listen, name and express feelings

Especially as someone who was raised as a boy and who had very little guidance and examples of the wide range of human emotions, this one was a cornerstone of living a better life. Getting in touch with my feelings, noticing them without judgement and developing the language to talk about them and express them to others opened up doors that allowed me to connect more deeply with myself and the people close to me, develop more nuanced empathy and understanding towards others and myself and get to know what I really wanted for myself.

“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I change.”
― Carl Rogers

Trust your body and learn to take care of it

While getting to know my emotional needs, I was also faced with how much stress and emotions were linked to the body, creating tension, pain and changing my posture and breathing. I learned that it doesn’t really work to force your body to relax, it has it’s own natural ways to do so and getting to know these and integrate them in everyday life seems to bring the more long-lasting change. What helped me in that process is yoga and meditation, starting with guided ones and then growing my own practice from what felt better.

“Listen to me, your body is not a temple. Temples can be destroyed and desecrated. Your body is a forest—thick canopies of maple trees and sweet scented wildflowers sprouting in the underwood. You will grow back, over and over, no matter how badly you are devastated.”
― Beau Taplin

Get confortable with setting and respecting boundaries

A boundary, soft or hard is never intended to harm, punish, or deprive someone else of something. It is an act of self-honesty and comes from knowing my own limits and respecting them. The more forward and clear I’m becoming with my boundaries and my availability - in terms of time, energy, or capacity - the easier it becomes to be present and to help and give to others without building resentment or overwhelming myself. The more I learn about my own limits the easier it becomes to recognize and respect the ones of others and also be considerate and check in with other about their boundaries in case they don’t express them upfront. Not everyone feels equally safe to express those.

Take accountability for your actions and feelings

I can, I have and I will cause harm or hurt other people. I need to keep this in mind as I navigate through life in order to be able to see it, to take accountability and learn from it when it happens. Depending in the people whom I have hurt for that only makes it worse so I am committed to integrate self-accountability to my mindfulness practice and explore the way my words and actions can affect others in un-intended ways. From there, if I realize I have hurt someone I will face the fear and the guilt and look into why I did it and how it hurt the person. Without understanding the why and naming clearly the harm perpetrated it’s almost impossible to take accountability without centering myself or avoiding parts of it and in the end healing the unconscious need which prompted the hurtful action.

“Accountability is about making a commitment to the people in our lives to work through destructive behaviors, toward healthier, more egalitarian relationships. Accountability is about the willingness to receive input from and be responsive to the people around us, prioritizing their needs, safety, and emotional health in our actions.” ― Crimethinc

Grow a practice of gratitude

An always present source of happiness comes from noticing and appreciating what’s already there. By training my mind to appreciate the moments I experience, the people I love, the things I have, and the things I create and noting it down every night it progressively made it easier to walk through every day noticing and appreciating the smallest things and feeling grateful for them. It also allowed me to accept parts of myself that were harder to reconcile with and notice my own growth in the things I do but as importantly in the things I don’t do anymore.

Develop an awareness of privilege and power dynamics

We live in an unfair society, and we’re born with different kinds of privilege - gender, age, race, class, etc - and those create power imbalances that affect most of our interactions with other people. Learning to identify those and name them is useful to counter-balance societal inequalities. The more I develop awareness of those the more I can avoid perpetuating abusive and hurtful patterns that I inherited the people and culture around which I grew. I can also more easily step aside and leave room for more marginalized voices who are often silenced by people and institutions in power.

Realize that insecurities comes from ignorance of self

Sometimes I react strongly when people point out things in myself that I’m either not aware of or haven’t accepted yet. This defensiveness is a sign of unexplored parts in myself. I learned that the more I look inside and tend to these hidden parts and heal the guilt or shame that is often attached to them the more these insecurities take a more background role and have less and less unconscious control over how I interact with others, how I perceive myself and what I’m capable of.

“It’s harder to be yourself than it is to be anybody else”
- Andrew Jackson Jihad

Challenge assumptions and false narratives about yourself

In the process of tending to my insecurities I had to question parts of my own constructed identify that were conflicting with my true values, feelings and commitments. This is scary and letting go of them can feel like losing myself, but the more I challenge those versions of me that aren’t compatible with who I really am the more I realize that I don’t need a large set of descriptors and immutable traits to have a strong sense of identity. The more I let go of the ones that don’t serve me anymore the more it creates space to grow.

Focus on commitments, dreams and goals instead of tasks

I have a natural tendency to rationalize, organize and do, which serves me in a lot of ways but can also become a trap. Creating expectations for myself to accomplish a detailed series of tasks in a day to take care of my mind and body is overwhelming and easy to procrastinate away from. It can also feel like work or chores really quickly. Instead I found that writing down and memorizing simple commitments is a lot lighter on the mind, leaves less room for self-disappointment and criticism and allow me to come up with ways that are more healthy to apply these commitments.

Readings

A piece on taking accountability
Settlers - white history from a non-white perspective
An intro to breathwork

Now

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 00:00:00 EST

I’ve replaced my now page with a journal, read it here

See what I’m currently reading , watching , playing .

Desktop altar

Personal work

Lizbeth Poirier

End of years

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 00:00:00 EST

This page is a collections of notes, ramblings and highlights for each year I pass through. I’m starting this at the end of 2021 with the intention of adding to it yearly. A good companion to this is the Timeline which retraces my projects and notes chronologically.

Highlights of 2022

Started a Patreon with a monthly print club
Started tattooing for real

Highlights of 2021

Moved in with my partner Hex
Published the first issue of Fantômes zine with contributions from a lot of great folks
Travelled to Saguenay with some friends
Lost my job and found a way better one
Started painting again
started working on a small dungeon crawler game with Devine
started working on a new album for Blood and Dust
Made a card game for Treecrets
Made black metal logos for 6 bands/projects
made a whole lot more black metal logos for fun
Got my first big illustration contract which made me consider a path to live from my art
Learned a lot more about myself
Joined the Stone Club
Stayed inside a whole bunch

Highlights of 2020

Found my drawing style
Released the first Blood and Dust album
Turned this website into a more personal website
Joined Merveilles again on Mastodon this time

Fantasy art

Lizbeth Poirier

The ghost is part of the earth now

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 00:00:00 EST

I no more feel like a ghost, i feel like the earth, the soil with it’s deep and complex network of roots and mycelium, with a whole ecosystem of bugs and living things crawling around. I can feel the cover of dead leaves and rotting fruit accumulated on top of me, not hindering my feelings but comforting like a blanket, protecting the bulbs and the nuts that fell on the ground at the turn of the seasons, allowing them to slowly get ready to bloom in the spring, feeding on this bed of decomposing remnants from the past. My body and my mind are my landscape now, a familiar place to roam and explore, with new things to notice during every walk. I accept and embrace the decay the rot and the mold slowly covering and transforming what is dead in my land. It is as important as the blossoming and growth of new and exciting forms of life. We feed and live amongst dying things.

And in that landscape is an old cemetery, complete with wrought iron gates, crumbling monuments and shadowy crypts. The main difference now is that i don’t haunt these parts as an immaterial being but became the very land and trees and wind that is the cemetery. The other ghosts living in the cemetery are part of me too, i can get to know them in a different way now. And deep inside this land that is myself lies many many layers of sediment, trees, plants and animals that died ages ago and were slowly covered by a new bed of rotting matter, compressed by the weight of time, some forgotten, some remembered but all contributing to the shape and composition of the top soil. Like the buried ruins of ancient temples affecting the growth of the crops growing over them centuries later.

Watching

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 00:00:00 EST

This is my movie watchlist, I keep it yearly, highlight the movies that really stayed with me and keep the movies that really impacted me in the films section .

Still from the opening sequence of the wicker man

To watch
2022
2021
2020

To watch

Delia Derbyshire: The Myths And The Legendary Tapes, Caroline Catz - 2020
Berberian sound studio, Peter Strickland - 2012
Sedmikrásky (Daisies), Věra Chytilová - 1966
The Old Dark House, James Whale - 1932
Wristcutters, Goran Dukic - 2006
The Night of the Demon, Jacques Tourneur - 1957
An Inconvenient Truth, Davis Guggenheim - 2006
L’erreur boréale, Richard Desjardins - 1999
Candyman, Nia DaCosta - 2021
Candyman, Bernard Rose - 1992
Antlers, Scott Cooper - 2021
The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, Robert Wiene - 1920
Metropolis, Fritz Lang - 1927
Throne of Blood, Akira Kurosawa - 1957
Macbeth, Orson Welles - 1948
Andrei Rublev, Andrei Tarkovsky - 1966
The Juniper Tree, Nietzchka Keene - 1990
Tilbury, Viðar Víkingsson - 1987
Picnic at Hanging Rock, Peter Weir - 1975
Requiem for a Village, David Gladwell - 1976
The Lair of the White Worm, Ken Russel - 1988
Solitudo, Pino Borselli - 2008
Border, Ali Abbasi - 2018
Pelican Blood, Karl Golden - 2010
Wake Wood, David Keating - 2009
Dark Waters,
Sleepy Hollow, Sam Weiss - 1972
Pastoral: to die in the country, Shūji Terayama - 1974
le diable probablement, Robert Bresson - 1977
The Moon and the Sledgehammer, Philip Trevelyan - 1971
The Void, Jeremy Gillespie, Steven Kostanski - 2017
You won’t be alone, Goran Stolevski - 2022
Witchhammer, Otakar Vávra - 1970
The White Reindeer, Erik Blomberg - 1952
Upurga, Ugis Olte - 2022
Godland, Hlynur Pálmason - 2022
Concerning Violence, Göran Olsson - 2014

2023

Talk To Me, Danny Philippou & Michael Philippou - 2023
The Virgin Suicides, Sofia Coppola - 1999
- BEEF (series), Lee Sung Jin - 2023
For A Fistfull Of Dollars, Sergio Leone - 1964
The Good, the Bad and the Weird, Kim Jee-woon - 2008
Derry Girls (series), Lisa McGee - 2018
- Black Mirror (series), Charlie Brooker - 2023
Dungeon and Dragons Honour among thieves, John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein - 2023
- Sharp Objects (series), Marti Noxon - 2018
I don’t feel at home anymore in this world, Macon Blair - 2017
- Come to Daddy, Ant Timpson - 2019
- Yellowjackets (series), Ashley Lyle - 2023
Enys Men, Mark Jenkin - 2022
- The Ring, Gore Verbinski - 2002
Everybody in the place An Incomplete History of Britain 1984-1992, Jeremy Deller - 2019
Creep, Patrick Brice - 2014
Blair Witch, Adam Wingard - 2016
mushishi, Yuki Urushibara - 2005
Buffy the vampire slayer, Joss Whedon - 1997
Brotherhood of the wolf, Eric Darnell & Tim Johnson - 2001
- Paprika, Eric Darnell & Tim Johnson - 2006
Antz, Eric Darnell & Tim Johnson - 1998
Matilda, Danny DeVito - 1996
We’re all going to the world’s fair, Jane Schoenbrun - 2021
- Skinamarink, Kyle Edward Ball - 2022
Nowhere, Gregg Araki - 1997
Princess Mononoke, Hayao Miyazaki - 1997
My neighbour Totoro, Hayao Miyazaki - 1988

2022

Got a better pace of watching movies in 2022, went through an aliens and predator phase and was pleased to see all the good new movies that came out.

The Thing, John Carpenter - 1982
The Faculty, Robert Rodriguez - 1998
Arrested Development (series), Mitchell Hurwitz - 2003
- The Banshees of Inisherin, Martin McDonagh - 2022
Alien Vs Predator: requiem, the Brothers Strause - 2007
- The Street of Crocodiles, the Brothers Quay - 1986
Alien Vs Predator, Paul W. S. Anderson - 2004
- Embrace of the Serpent, Ciro Guerra - 2015
The Predator, Shane Black - 2018
Alien: Covenant, Ridley Scott - 2017
- 6 feet under (series), Alan Ball - 2001 to 2005
- Wild, Jean-Marc Vallée - 2014
Predator, John McTiernan - 1987
Prometheus, Ridley Scott - 2012
- Alien: Resurrection, Jean-Pierre Jeunet - 1997
Alien 3, David Fincher - 1992
- Aliens, James Cameron - 1986
The Beast Within, the Making of Alien, Charles de Lauzirika - 2003
- Alien, Ripley Scott - 1979
- You are not my mother, Kate Dolan - 2021
- Deadstream, Joseph Winter, Vanessa Winter - 2022
- Bodies Bodies Bodies, Halina Reijn - 2022
- Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon, Ana Lily Amirpour - 2022
- Hatching, Hanna Bergholm - 2022
Tremors, Ron Underwood - 1990
Quartermass and the pit, Roy Ward Baker - 1967
- Nope, Jordan Peele - 2022
- Jennifer’s Body, Karyn Kusama - 2009
- Trolljegeren (The Troll Hunter), André Øvredal - 2010
Primal, Genndy Tartakovsky - 2019
- Moloch, Nico van den Brink - 2022
- Better Call Saul (series), Bob Odenkirk - 2022
- Jurassic Park, Steven Spielberg - 1993
Blair Witch 2, Joe Berlinger - 2000
Claymore (anime), Hiroyuki Tanaka - 2007
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Tom Gormican - 1966
Everything, Everywhere, all at once, Daniels - 2022
Berserk (anime), Naohito Takahashi - 1997
- Microcosmos, Claude Nuridsany, Marie Pérennou - 1996
Elfen Lied (anime), Mamoru Kanbe - 2004
Psychomania, Don Sharp - 1973
Marketa lazarova, František Vláčil - 1967
Into Eternity, Michael Madsen - 2010
Hellbender, John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser - 2021
The Fog, John Carpenter - 1980
The Mezzotint, Mark Gatiss - 2021
The Dunwich Horror, Daniel Haller - 1970
For Sama, Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts - 2019
The Hungry Grass, Archie Reid - 1981
- Demon, Marcin Wrona - 2015
The Stalls of Barchester, Lawrence Gordon Clark - 1971
- The Taking of Deborah Logan, Adam Robitel - 2014
Adventure Time (series), Pendleton Ward, 2010-2018
- Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Sergei Parajanov - 1965
Euphoria (series), Sam Levinson - 2019-
Hawkwind, do not panic, Simon Chu - 2007
- Wilczyca (the she-wolf), Marek Piestrak - 1983
Sightseers, Ben Wheatley - 2012
Yellowjackets (series), Ashley Lyle - 2021
The Tragedy of Macbeth, Joel Coen - 2021
Marianne (Series), Samuel Bodin - 2019
An American Werewolf in London, John Landis - 1981
Journey To The Center Of The Earth, Henry Levin - 1959
L’Inferno, Francesco Bertolini - 1911

2021

I watched quite a bit of folk-horror movies in 2021 and the best documentary on the genre I’ve seen so far, 2 movies Starring Nicholas Cage, some great TV movie adaptations of M.R. James ghost stories, my favourites are highlighted in the list below.

The Alchemists of Sound , Roger Pomphrey - 2003
- The Thing, John Carpenter - 1982
What we do in the Shadows (series), Jemaine Clement - 2016-2021
Titane, Julia Ducournau - 2021
The Strings, Ryan Glover - 2020
Lamb, Valdimar Jóhannsson - 2021
Sound of Noise, Ola Simonsson & Johannes Stjärne Nilsson - 2010
- Dune, Denis Villeneuve - 2021
- Penda’s Fen, Alan Clarke - 1974
The Similars, Isaac Ezban - 2015
Whistle and I’ll come to you, Jonathan Miller - 1968
Paranormal activity, Oren Peli - 2007
My Heart can’t beat unless you tell it to, Jonathan Cuartas - 2020
A Warning to the Curious, Lawrence Gordon Clark - 1972
- Stigma, Lawrence Gordon Clark - 1977
- Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, Kier-La Janisse - 2021
All the Moons, Igor Legarreta - 2021
- The Green Kight, David Lowery - 2021
Kratt, Rasmus Merivoo - 2020
Pig, Michael Sarnoski - 2021
Gaia, Jaco Bouwer - 2021
- SG̲aawaay Ḵ’uuna (The Edge of the Knife), Gwaai Edenshaw, Helen Haig-Brown - 2018
- Flowers (TV show), Will Sharpe - 2016-2018
Boys from county hell, Chris Baugh - 2020
Caveat, Damian Mc Carthy - 2020
- On the silver globe, Andrzej Zulawski - 1988
- In the Earth, Ben Wheatley - 2021
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, Tom Stoppard - 1990
Sanjuro, Akira Kurosawa - 1962
Hard Candy, David Slade - 2005
- The Green Room, Jeremy Saulnier - 2015
Willy’s Wonderland, Kevin Lewis - 2020
Saint-Maud, Rose Glass - 2020
- Koko-di Koko-da, Johannes Nyholm - 2019
- Valerie and her Week of Wonders, Jaromil Jires - 1970

2020

La Casa Lobo, Joaquín Cociña - 2018
A Dark Song, Liam Gavin - 2016
Friday the 13th, Sean S. Cunningham - 1980
- Nostalghia, Andrei Tarkovsky - 1983
The House of Usher, Roger Corman - 1960
- Let the Right One In, Tomas Alfredson - 2008
- Raw, Julia Ducournau - 2016
- La Jetée, Chris Marker - 1962
- Holy Motors, Leos Carax - 2012
Wild at Heart, David Lynch - 1990
Shadow of the Vampire, E. Elias Merhige - 2000
- Color out of Space, Richard Stanley - 2019
- Offret (Sacrifice), Andrei Tarkovsky - 1986
- Horror Noire, Zandashé Brown, Robin Givens, Rob Greenlea, Kimani Ray Smith - 2019
- It Follows, David Robert Mitchell - 2014
- Parasite, Bong Joon-ho - 2019
The Love Witch, Anna Biller - 2016
The Owl Service, Peter Plummer - 1969-1970
Salem’s Lot, Tobe Hooper - 1979
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Peter Greenaway - 1989
- The Crow, Alex Proyas - 1994
- Chernobyl (series), Craig Mazin - 2019
Kiki’s Delivery Service, Hayao Miyazaki - 1989
The Omen, Richard Donner - 1976
Solaris, Andrei Tarkovsky - 1972
- Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson - 2009
- Tangerine, Sean S. Baker - 2015
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki - 1984
- The Color of Pomegranates, Serjei Parajanov - 1969
- Hagazussa, Lukas Feigelfeld - 2017
The Secret of Nimh, Don Bluth - 1982
The Tomb of Ligeia, Roger Corman - 1964

2019

Children of the Corn, Fritz Kiersch - 1984
Faust, F.W. Murnau - 1926
- La Llorona, Jayro Bustamante - 2019
- Children of the Stones (series), Peter Graham Scott - 1977
- The Stone Tape, Peter Sasdy - 1972
- Midsommar, Ari Aster - 2019
- VIY, Konstantin Ershov and Georgiy Kropachyov - 1967
- November, Rainer Sarnet - 2017
- The Babadook, Jennifer Kent - 2014
- The Lighthouse, Robert Eggers - 2019
- Get Out, Jordan Peele - 2017
- Mandy, Panos Cosmatos - 2018
- Begotten, E. Elias Merhige - 1989
- Twin Peaks (series), David Lynch - 1990-1991

2018

Hereditary, Ari Aster - 2018
Häxan, Benjamin Christensen - 1922

2017

Black Sunday / The Mask of Satan, Mario Bava - 1960
- Häxan, Benjamin Christensen - 1922
- Suspiria, Dario Argento - 1977
- In The Mouth of Madness, John Carpenter - 1994

2016

Mad Max: Furry Road, George Miller - 2015
The VVitch, Robbert Eggers - 2015

“I don’t know why people expect art to make sense when they accept that life doesn’t make sense”
- David Lynch

Reading

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 00:00:00 EST

The book of english magic, with some artifacts

This is my reading list, it contains the books, zines and long form articles I’ve read in the past (organized by year) or that I intend to read in the near future.

Books
Zines
Articles and websites

Books

To read

Radical Mycology Peter McCoy
Objets low-tech du quotidien Alizée Perrin
Then and Now C.S. Lewis
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, Italo Calvino
Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula, Bram Stoker, Vladimar Asmundsson
Psychology and alchemy, C.G. Jung
Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead, Olga Tokarczuk
Prelude to chemistry, John Read
The Design of Books, Adrian Wilson
The Willows, Algernon Blackwood
The Letters of JRR Tolkien,
The Art of Decadence: European Fantasy Art of the Fin-De-Siècle, Hiroshi Unno
Fantasy : the golden age of fantastic illustration, Bridgid Peppin
The Wild Places, Robert Macfarlane
The Old Straight Track, Alfred Watkins
Cosmicomics, Italo Calvino
The Anarchist’s Tool Chest, Shwartz
No Logo, Naomi Klein
The Book of Tea, Okakura Kakuzō
Pacific Edge, Kim Stanley Robinson
CAPS LOCK (How Capitalism Took Hold of Graphic Design, and how to Escape it), Ruben Pater
Voyage au centre de la terre, Jules Verne
The Book of Trespass, Nick Hayes
Timber Frame Construction, Jack Sobon & Roger Schroeder
Social ecology, Murray Bookchin
Small is beautiful, Ernst F. Schumacher
Always coming home, Ursula K. Le Guin
The one straw revolution, Masanobu Fukuoka
Blood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain, Ronald Hutton
The Future Is Degrowth, Matthias Schmelzer, Aaron Vansintjan, and Andrea Vetter
Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy, Barbara Ehrenreich
This mortal coil, Cynthia Asquith
Genius Loci, Clark Ashton Smith
The Irish Cottage: History, Culture and Design , Marion McGarry
The Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard
Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
Companion to Irish Traditionnal Music, Fintan Vallely
What Are People For?, Wendell Berry
Sand Talk, Tyson Yunkaporta
Deathtrap dungeon, Ian Livingstone

2023

The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson
The Táin, translated by Thomas Kinsella
Thirty-Two Words for Field, Manchán Magan
The Dawn of Everything, David Graeber & David wengrow

2022

A Pattern Language, Christopher Alexander
The Book of English Magic, Philip Carr-Gomm & Richard Heygate
A Textbook for the Ecocene, Sarita Dougherty and others
The City on Mallington Moor, Lord Dunsany
Harrow County, Cullen Bunn & Tyler Crook
Uzumaki, Junji Ito
The Enigma of Amigara Fault, Junji Ito
Crom Cruach, Valkyrie Loughcrewe
The Empire of the Necromancers, Clark Ashton Smith
Prehistoric Avebury
Monolithic undertow, Harry Sword
Come as you are, Emily Nagoski
The Story of the Necronomicon, H.P. Lovecraft

2021

Macbeth, William Shakespeare
Your Psilocybin Mushroom Companion, Michelle Janikian

2020

I Hope We Choose Love, Kai Cheng Thom
Psilocybin Production, Adam Gottlieb
La peste, Albert Camus

“He saw the Expriest stumbling across the bones and holding aloft a cross he’d fashioned out of the shins of a ram and he’d lashed them together with strips of hide and he was holding the thing before him like some mad dowser in the bleak of desert and calling out in a tongue both alien and extinct” – Cormac McCarthy in Blood Meridian

Zines

To read

Eava zine, issue 1
Eava zine, issue 2
Feed the Beast, issue 2
Feed the Beast, issue 1
Rituals and Declarations, issue 1
Rituals and Declarations, issue 2
Black Dog, issue 1
Black Panels Only, issue 3

2022

Becoming the forest, issue 2
Becoming the forest, issue 3
Becoming the forest, issue 4
Hellebore, no.7

2021

Grimoire Silvanus, issue 2
Grimoire Silvanus, issue 1
Astral Noize, Tolkien issue
Hellebore, Summoning issue
Hellebore, Yuletide special
Hellebore, Samhain issue
Black Panels Only, issue 2
Black Panels Only, issue 1
Enchantment Dismantled from the Fiddler’s Green Leaflets
Fiddler’s Green, volume 2 number 2
Fiddler’s Green, volume 2 number 1
Weird Walk, number 4
Airmid’s Journal, issue 1

2020

Weird Walk, volume 1, number 3
Weird Walk, volume 1, number 2
Weird Walk, volume 1, number 1

Articles and websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Veles
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch
https://medium.com/@malkekvmachashayfele/not-relationship-anarchism-but-relationship-communism-a27b89884fa8
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/art/romanticism-and-the-art-of-dark-souls-iii
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/metabolic-survivors-on-mckenzie-warks-sensoria-thinkers-for-the-twenty-first-century/
https://www.autostraddle.com/consent-asexuality-angela-chen/
https://neustadt.fr/essays/the-small-web/
https://garbados.github.io/my-blog/software_from_another_world.html
https://paper.dropbox.com/doc/Codex-Vitae-rRJ8akyi4ky4Sdc8CQscV
https://newsocialist.org.uk/eco-politics-sublime-nature-environmentalism-and-covid-ecology/
https://newalchemists.net/publications/new-alchemy-1971-1991/
https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/writer-and-forester-peter-wohlleben-on-what-nature-can-teach-us-about-creativity/
https://reallifemag.com/the-great-offline/
http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2010/03/22/pendas-fen-by-david-rudkin/
https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22543858/isabel-fall-attack-helicopter
https://lux-magazine.com/article/the-road-to-terfdom/
https://cailleachs-herbarium.com/2021/03/self-making-queerness-in-scottish-culture-norse-myth-queer-magic-queer-deities-gay-priest-cults-and-cross-dressing/
https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/land-as-a-social-relationship
https://faculty.washington.edu/timbillo/Readings%20and%20documents/Wilderness/Cronon%20The%20trouble%20with%20Wilderness.pdf
https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/goodbye-to-the-wellness-grift
https://coolcalvary.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/on-fairy-stories1.pdf
https://www.academia.edu/9403910/He_met_his_own_funeral_procession_The_Year_walk_ritual_in_Swedish_folk_tradition
https://www.stilldrinking.org/programming-sucks
https://wolfmd.me/blog/minimalism-v-self-reliance.html
https://heredragonsabound.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-forever-project.html
https://medium.com/@the_jennitaur/how-to-do-nothing-57e100f59bbb
https://evergreenreview.com/read/donald-trumps-operation-mindfuck/
https://c4ss.org/content/53915
https://blog.deathtobullshit.com/
https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/

https://archive.qzap.org/index.php/Splash/Index
https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=strandmag
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encounters_with_the_Archdruid

Druidism

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 00:00:00 EST

Hand holding small boline

History
Celebrations
Links

History of druidism

Very few sources concerning the druids of the Iron age subsists to this day, most of the being accounts from Greek, Roman and christian sources. It can be interpreted from these texts that the modern image of the druid as a priestly figure presiding over sacrifices, rituals and the conservation and sharing of wisdom was mostly found amongst the druids of Gaul. Other druids existed in other Celtic societies during that period but often these sources generalize the traditions and culture of the Celts as a monolithic thing, which it very much wasn’t.

Later on, the early christian monks of the 4th to 6th century, the historians and antiquarians of the British Isles during the 19th century and even later on the New Age groups of the 50’s and 60’s developed and crafted a fantastical image and history surrounding the druids, often in order to either defend christianity in opposition to heathen practices, create a glorious historical past to justify a national identity or as a way to combat the uncertainty brought on by the drastic post-war changes in our ways of life.

My approach of druidism isn’t one that pretends to be the continuation of an ancestral tradition tied to a specific culture or country. It is purely a modern creation that borrows from older but still relatively recent sources and also integrates a lot of my own imagination, intuition and habits. Naming it druidism is a bit of a folly in itself (like the druid’s temple in Yorkshire, built in the 19th century) but it feels right to me and taken in it’s context I think leaves enough room for the historical truth of the iron age druids to coexist with the modern invention that is neo-druidry.

the 19th century druid's temple in Yorkshire

My practice

Druidism and magic for me are closely tied to the cycles of sprouting, growth, death and decay present in nature and how it reflects our own internal psychological cycles while going through moments of painful growth and also to societal cycles of progress and deep change. The more I become aware of my own cycles, the more i can live in a deliberate way with them and contribute more to societal growth. So in that sense druidry for me is more a frame of mind, a series of habits and personal traditions around nature and my relationship with it.

The three yearnings of druids according to the order of bards ovates and druids are also in alignment with how I perceive the practice:

To be fully creative in our lives,
to commune deeply with the world of Nature,
and to gain access to a source of profound wisdom

“If we wish to live in authentic cooperation with the planet and its host of spirits, de-centering our narratives and putting our ear to the ground to listen for instruction is the first step.”
– Melissa Madara

coligny calendar used to reconstruct the celtic calendar

Celebrations and important calendar dates

Developing an awareness of the cycles of the seasons and what they bring is a good guide for our own activities and it’s something that’s easy to fall out of synch with when living in the city. Here are the most common celebrations observed my modern druids and pagans.

Samhuinn/Samhain

The Druid festival of the Ancestors – a time for honouring those who have died, celebrated around 1st November in the Northern Hemisphere, 1st May in the Southern. It is that start of the Celtic year, where the wheel starts.

Yule (winter solstice)

Held on the shortest day of the year, a celebration of light and warmth in a time of darkness. It is celebrated on December 20th in the Northern Hemisphere.

Imbolc/Oimelc

The Druid festival of the Goddess, particularly Brighid, celebrated around 1st February in the Northern Hemisphere, 1st August in the Southern. It symbolizes the promise of the return of spring.

Ostara (spring equinox)

Marks the beginning of spring and all things coming back to life. It is celebrated on March 19th in the Northern Hemisphere.

Beltane/Bealteinne

The Druid festival dedicated to celebrating Spring and the union of God and Goddess. Meaning ‘The Good Fire’, Beltane celebrations usually include leaping over a bonfire. Celebrated around 1st May in the Northern Hemisphere, 1st October in the Southern.

Litha (summer solstice)

Celebrated on the longest day of the year, it marks the start of summer, it is a time of blessings for the crops and of unions and engagements. It is celebrated on June 19th in the Northern Hemisphere.

Lughnasadh/Lammas

The Druid festival of the Harvest, celebrated around 1st August in the Northern Hemisphere, 1st February in the Southern.

Mabon (autum equinox)

The arrival of autumn and the reaping of the harvest. It is a fest of abondance and preparation for the darker times to come. It is celebrated on Sept 21th in the Northern Hemisphere.

Links and resources

Music visuals

Lizbeth Poirier

Playing

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 00:00:00 EST

This is the list of games I played or want to play, I keep it yearly and highlight the games that really stayed with me.

To play
2022
2021
2020

To play

Witchaven
Darkest Dungeon
Blasphemous
Gray Dawn

2022

Harvest Moon
Banjo Kazooie
Dark Souls
- Diablo II
Starfox 64

2021

Amnesia: the dark descent
What remains of Edith Finch

2020

Darkwood
Gris

Bookmarks

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 00:00:00 EST

My bookmarks of interesting / useful / beautiful websites. I’ve also included some links to my topic specific lists of resources at the end of this page. Most of the links on this page were first saved in my local notes on my computer then moved in one of those pages on here.

Castle ruins in Scotland, a reminder that nothing last forever, especially links

Websites
Publications
Bookstores
Artists
Art
Tattoo
Tattoo Studios
Design
Politics
Spirituality
Food
Tech & craft
Synths
Music Tools
Events
Resources

Personal websites and wikis

Zines and publications

Blogs

Bookstores and publishers

Occult books

Others

Lovecraftiana & cosmic horror

Artists

Art

Tattoo artists

Amandine Anyr larbaz (Montréal)
Empousai (Montréal)
Matt Chaos (Montréal)
Meagan (Montréal)
Alixe Cooper (Montréal)
Jeremy (Sherbrooke)
Christopher Jade (Los Angeles)
Micah Ulrich (Detroit)
Leaf (Brooklyn)
Liev (Trinket keeper) (Portland)
Alexander Grim (Prague)
살보 (Seoul)
Placide Aventia (Aix-en-Provence)
Jacko (??)
Lipa (Warsaw)
Sasha (Warsaw)
Fabian Staniec (Poland)
Kajetan (Poznań)
Muk (Korea)
Voziakova Aleksandra (Saint-Petersburg)
Leny Tusfey (Cannes)
Maldenti (Berlin)
Mishla (England)
B.Ignorant (Leipzig)
L’hérétique (Strasbourg)
Knive (Belgium)
Side Tattooing (Lyon)
Hugo Barbier (Lyon)
Laura Nahna (Berlin)
Sofa Oblina (Berlin)
Michael Cooper (UK)
Alberto Santi (Italy)
Philip Burok (???)

Tattoo studios

Black Circle Mtl (Montréal)
Tatouage Royal (Montréal)
Minuit Dix (Montréal)
Désolé maman (Montréal)
Les chochottes (Montréal)
COOP Crève-coeur (Montréal)
Studio l’arrosoir (Montréal)
War Tooth (Toronto)
Black Veil (Salem)
Black Circle Lyon (Lyon)
People’s Temple Tattoo (Lyon)

Miniatures and dioramas

Historical replicas

Old craft workshop

Design, fonts

Politics

An anarchist FAQ

spirituality

Internet and code

Food and recipe blogs

Tech, low-tech, no-tech and craft

Music labels and distros

Synths and module-makers

Music tools and plugins

Klanghelm

events

Expozine

Resource and link pages

On being trans

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 00:00:00 EST

I am powerful, fierce, resourceful, creative, weird, caring. I am so much more and also none of that, in my own way. I take some time here to write about womxnhood and encourage everyone to actively challenge how we perceive it. Let the womxn in your life expand your definition of it.

It’s been an incredible journey getting to know the trans womxn I am and coming to terms with how I want to live my life from this point forward. Identity is indeed a very politic thing as much as it is a personal thing and coming out as a trans womxn definitely affirmed my stances as much as my appearance. I stand with my sisters today and will fight for a more kind, inclusive and supportive society.

“Rejecting the idea of a natural basis to sexual difference allows us to see that it is always susceptible to new interpretations. Like other systems of meaning, it is less like a cage, and more like a tool: it constrains but never completely determines what one can do with it.”
– Mary Joe Frug

Also don’t forget that the gender binary is fucked and that all queerness is traumatized in a cis-hetero-patriarchal society.

“But by saying that trans people have an acknowledged past, trans people can better imagine a future.”
– M. W. Bychowski and Dorothy Kim in Visions of Medieval Trans Feminism

Body horror as a metaphor for dysphoria

The unnatural and graphic transformation, degeneration, or destruction of the body: the themes and images of body horror evoke visceral fear and repulsion, causing us to ask questions. What does it feel like to lose your identity? To become alien to the people around you? To feel severed from your own body? During the process of coming out as trans and transitioning, I’ve been faced with these questions often, and I wanted to step out for trans awareness week and express my support to all trans and non-binary folks. Many of us live with internalized horror and darkness—which too-often originates from outside forces that violently impose “normativity”—but compassion, both for ourselves and each other, is an act of resistance, as well as an irrefutable answer to those existential questions.

Go check the series of photos I did with Hex exploring this idea too and the song we composed on it.

On changing my name and symbol

A bit more than a year after changing my name to Lizbeth, I replaced my online pseudonym and sigil for something that better expresses the tools and philosophies that are resonating with me in the present moment. Ritual Dust is the new name I’ll be presenting as online. “Ritual” refers to my process of making, which is something I’ve started exploring using an alchemical approach; this approach has now been allowed to deepen, incorporating a more intuitive side to my practice—one that’s informed by feelings, emotions, and honesty. I include with it “dust” because of the dust that’s settling now as the sheet I’ve been wearing, hiding myself like a metaphorical ghost, finally falls off. Accumulating slowly, dust to me is a testament to the passage of time, an ode to patience and impermanence, but also a reminder of the beauty of a single mote of dust floating in a sunbeam—a quiet kind of beauty that I’m discovering in more and more places every day.

“I am haunted. All trans women are. Behind me stretches a line of ghosts-trans women, killed before their time by the hatred of a society that does not know how to love us. Perhaps this is why trans women’s words are so powerful, in those rare moments when we are allowed to speak: we speak with the voices of those who have come before.”
- Kai cheng Thom

Additional reading and resources

Here’s a good article on trans-inclusive design
The website of Trans care BC
The procedure to change your legal name and gender in Qc Trans and non-binary identities in ancient Mesopotamia

Hardware

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 00:00:00 EST

Computing
Audio
Photo and video

Computing

Apple Macbook Pro 13" mid-2014 with 1TB OWC SSD drive
Raspberry Pi 4B+ (I plan to turn it into a resilient computer )
Keychron K6 with green keys

Audio

Synths

Korg Monotron
MakeNoise Strega
Modular synth

Controllers

Arturia keystep
Arturia beatstep

Recorders

Tascam DR-40 (Really rugged and the battery lasts a long time, sadly cannot work as an audio interface and the interface isn’t really intuitive)

Audio players

Vintage Technics cassette deck
Audio Technica record player

Headphones

Hifiman HE350 (sound quality is good but the open back design can be annoying to others and the cord broke at some point)

Photo and video

I have often bought photo and video gear for specific projects or to explore new ways of making images. A lot of my choices were informed by my budget at the time too, there’s always a better tool but finding the one you can afford that you can learn to use in the most creative way is more important at the end of the day I think.

Photo camera

Sony A6300
Smallrig cage
Cheap Sony to Canon mount adapter

Lenses

Canon EFS 24mm f2.8 with HOYA filter for protection
Rokinon 10mm f2.8

Tripods

Photopro X-4CN carbon fiber tripod
Davis & Stanford video tripod on wheels

Software

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 00:00:00 EST

Visual tools
Audio tools
Coding tools
Utilities
Links

Software tools for me are mostly a mean to an end, although I do enjoy building them if I have a specific problem and nothing is available that I find simple and efficient enough for the task. I’m currently migrating away from proprietary tools towards open source tools compatible with a wider range of OSes and that could run on my resilient computer . If you ever know of good tools that could replace some of the ones I’m using right now feel free to let me know!

Visual tools

Darktable for raw file editing
Krita for photo editing & digital painting
Noodle for low-resolution digital painting
Nasu for making pixel art and game tiles
Inkscape for vector
Blender for video editing and compositing
DaVinci Resolve © for video editing and color grading
Adobe InDesign ($) © for book layout (looking for an alternative)

Audio tools

Ableton Live ($) © as main DAW
Audacity for some simple audio file manipulation

Coding tools

Atom for code editing
Hugo for static site building

Utilities

Left for notes and todo lists
Google calendar for time management (looking for an alternative)
Working on my own tool for budgeting
Tagr for mp3 file tagging

Resources and links

Tapes

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 00:00:00 EST

Just listing all the tapes from my collection here

Dark ambient
Synth music
Metal
Dungeon synth
Folk

Dark ambient

The search for the sulphurous well, Tommy Creep
Rites of blood and dust, Blood and dust
Sun of serpent, moone of cipher, Them Teeth
Auditory witchcraft, Them Teeth
Alkemisten & vansinnet, Them Teeth
Come, deathless, Surachai
Hinterpest, Mumbles

Synth music

Sortilèges, Potochkine
Potochkine, Potochkine
The devil rides out, Dream division
Surlendemain acides, Autmelodi
Careful, Boy Harsher
Glider 10 reworks, The Sight below
???, Cut Unconscious
The horizon kisses you until there’s nothing left, Lyndsie Alguire
???, Cosmic highness
a passage in time, Dead can dance

Metal

Henbane, Culte des ghoules
Herbal noise, Hadewijch
Thee opener of the way, Primitive knot
Postum, Lord Summerisle
No dawn for men, Feminazgul
Interrupt request, C:>

Dungeon synth

I, Fief
II, Fief
III, Fief
IIII, Fief
Bohollow, Autumn
A spectral mist on hallows eve, Witch Haunt
Op under fjeldet toner en lur, Neverlur
Duskhymns, Cimitir
Assorted mushrooms of new england, Mycologia
The song of a long forgotten ghost, Mortiis
Magical atavism, Book of skelos

Folk

Within, Geist and the sacred ensemble
Dig in sessions: III, Geist and the sacred ensemble

Talks

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 00:00:00 EST

Here are the keynote presentations of the talks I have made in the past at design events

This website

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 00:00:00 EST

The why

This website is part portfolio , part digital garden and part recipe blog . It is where I collect and expand upon my thoughts and discoveries, and where I showcase what I create, craft and conjure.

See the whole structure in the Tree .

Explore projects over time in the Timeline .

Fonts

When selecting fonts for this website, I was looking to combine my love for 70’s psychedelia and gothic blackletter while keeping everything mostly legible and accessible.

Fonts used on this website:
Basteleur for the larger titles Cooper Std is used for the second level of titles
Distro is used for the third level of titles
Wrenema is used for body text

If you’re into cool fonts look up this directory of open source fonts by womxn , this crazy foundry making free fonts , this directory of free to use and free to modify fonts and the download foundry making really experimental stuff. Last thing, here’s a cool site with all the unicode characters handy .

Color theme

This website changes color theme every season. For doing so I’m using a theming system based on the one built by Devine Lu Linvega in their older JS apps, see the code and find other themes here . It uses an svg file to store the color values. By default, the first time you load the website it will apply this season’s theme, but you can also change it by dragging and dropping a theme svg file onto it. Once you do so, it will save your preferred theme in local storage so you’ll see it when you visit again. Also note that these themes are compatible with the older hundred rabbits apps like Left , Orca or Dotgrid feel free to use them for that too!

Here are the themes I’ve made so far

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

Images

By default it loads low resolution dithered images (generated with Ditherit.com ) to reduce the loading time and the bandwidth needed to view the website. A toggle on the top right allows to switch to high resolution images. This feature was based upon Nate Steiner’s imageswap .

Technology

This website is basically a collection of html files in folders, generated by Hugo . It does not require javascript to run. The files are hosted on DigitalOcean and the domain on Gandi .

If you’re interested in better markup and more accessible websites, go take a look at this little guide:
Html tips by Thomasorus

“Technologies aren’t created in isolation. They are imprinted with the ghosts of their past.”
– Jeremy Keith in Resilient web design

To the otherworld linocut print

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 00:00:00 EST

Decay linocut print

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 00:00:00 EST

Henbane linocut print

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 00:00:00 EST

Hekate linocut print

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 30 Jul 2022 00:00:00 EST

Growth linocut print

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 00:00:00 EST

Treecrets

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 00:00:00 EST

Cooking grains and cereals

Lizbeth Poirier — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 00:00:00 EST

Rolled oats

2 cups of water for every cup of oats.

Combine the oats and water in a pot.
Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium heat, let cook for 15 minutes.

Steel-cut oats

3 1/2 to 4 cups water for every cup of oats.

Combine the oats and water in a pot.
Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium heat, let cook for 20 minutes while stirring from time to time.
After that time keep it simmering for an extra 5 to 10 minutes depending on desired consistency.

White rice

2 cups water for every cup of rice.

Combine water and rice in a pot (it’s nice but optional to add some margarine or seasonings at that step).
Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat. Simmer for 7 minutes.
Remove the pot from the heat remove the lid and fluff with a fork.

Quinoa

1 3/4 cups water for every cup of quinoa.

Combine the quinoa and water in a medium pot.
Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Remove the pot from the heat and let it sit, covered, for 10 minutes more.
Then, remove the lid and fluff with a fork.

Dark Elf Shield

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 00:00:00 EST

Dark elf shield

Dungeon Synth Show Flyer

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 00:00:00 EST

Flyer for an underground show inspired by old-school fantasy visuals.

Flyer for an underground show

Skeleton Warrior Head

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 04 Jun 2023 00:00:00 EST

Severed head of a skeleton warrior wearing a helmet

Bonfire

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 00:00:00 EST

Sun

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 29 May 2023 00:00:00 EST

Ashes of May

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 27 May 2023 00:00:00 EST

Ashes of May by Ritual Dust

A 7-min meditative drone piece that feels like taking a stroll through a field early in the morning, just in time to see the first sun rays peek at the horizon, torch in hand, on your way to light a Bealtaine bonfire.

Originally recorded for “This Trembling Place”, a drone compilation put together by fallen lo-

Battle axe

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 26 May 2023 00:00:00 EST

Chainmail

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 21 May 2023 00:00:00 EST

Demon drinking form a horn

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 20 May 2023 00:00:00 EST

Acorn

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 19 May 2023 00:00:00 EST

Custom album cover illustration

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 15 May 2023 00:00:00 EST

Album covers

I can do album covers in pencil, as an acrylic painting or with processed photography. In all cases, we’ll discuss the concept of the album, its themes, and how they should be represented visually. From there, if we go with illustration or painting I’ll do sketches, a round of adjustments and complete the final piece. Please note that I only do things that fit my illustration style ( see here for reference ). For photography-based covers, I’ll see if I have something that would work in my current collection or research something from the public domain that I could rework, make a round of adjustments and editing and then finalize the file.

The prices can vary more for this kind of project depending on the complexity and the resources needed to complete it, once we have discussed about it more I’ll be able to give you a quote. The files I send you when it is done is a high-quality scan of the drawing or painting large enough to be printed on a vinyl sleeve, if you’re interested in owning the original piece we could discuss that at that point.

Please note that these prices are only for the artwork itself and not for the layout and typography, I can also do that either for a digital release (adding the name of the album and the band) or for a physical release with a full sleeve designs and possibly complementary illustrations.

Full color painted album cover

500$ / 400$ / 300$ cad

The most elaborate option, a full-color painting of a scene, object or composition in my painting style to illustrate your album

Ink drawing album cover

300$ / 250$ / 180$ cad

A detailled pencil drawing colorized digitally, this option gives a more graphic feel to the album cover.

Colorized pencil drawing album cover

300$ / 250$ / 180$ cad

A detailled pencil drawing colorized digitally, this option gives a more graphic feel to the album cover.

Digital collage / photo album cover

200$ / 150$ / 100$ cad

A combination of photos and graphic elements manipulated to create a unified visual for the album cover. I only work from my own photos and public domain images for these.

Goat head

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 14 May 2023 00:00:00 EST

Arm with arm tattoo

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 05 May 2023 00:00:00 EST

Exsomnis

Lizbeth Poirier — Thu, 04 May 2023 00:00:00 EST

Logo and sigil for the band Exsomnis.

Exsomnis logo

Sigil

Ritual Dust

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 03 May 2023 00:00:00 EST

A series of analog-processed logos for my music project.

First version of the logo

Second version of the logo

Third version of the logo

Detail of the texture of the logo

Vocal processing notes

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 02 May 2023 00:00:00 EST

Layers
Effects

Layers

Layering vocals with more takes of the same lead (called doubles), harmonies and fills creates a much richer and fuller sound giving more energy and presence to the vocals in a track.

Doubles

Doubles are two other takes of the lead melody sung in the same way with the same pitches, these are then panned all the way left and right and if needed can be chopped and ajusted to fit the rythm of the main lead. recording with a click track or the lead playing is really useful for these.

Doubles are kept quite lower in volume than the main lead and it’s good practice to cut their low end up to the fundamental frequency and dip their high end (around 5-9khz) and de-ess them pretty hard to get rid of transients and sybilans.

Harmonies

Harmonies are either the melody sung higher or lower than the main lead or just notes without any words that harmonize well with the main melody.

Fills

Fills (or ad libs) are shorter vocal elements that either accentuate a specific part of the lyrics by saying or singing it differently or fill in between the words of the lead, these can be really anything that adds interest to the vocals and make them more interesting. They are a good place to experiment with more intense effects too.

Tips

Use an EQ on doubles to remove some low end and high end to separate them a bit from the lead and make mixing easier
EQ the harmonies even tighter on the actual frequency that is being sung to remove a lot of unnecessary sonic information

Effects

When processing vocals with multiple layers, it’s useful to group all the secondary vocals together and apply an effects chain on the whole group while keeping the lead separate with it’s own effects chain, that way it’s less time consuming than tweaking effects on a lot of secodnary vocal tracks while still allowing to differentiate the backing vocals from the lead, the vocal chains we use are the same for both the lead and the backing vocals, their effects are just mixed differently.

All the following effect are also applied in a parallel processing way, which means that copies of the dry signal are created and the effect is applied to them fully wet. Then the level of the different copies (original dry and different effected ones) is mixed and panned to balance the presence of every effect and make the whole harmonious.

1. Autotune

Autotune should always be the first effect on a track, for a lead vocal 20-50% of correction is a good place to be, for the backing vocals they can be pushed further since they are less present in the mix and we won’t hear the correction as much.

2. Compressors

In the effects rack in itself, the first effect that is applied is compression, since this is gonna be used for parallel compression we can push the compression very far with the highest ratio. It’s interesting to create two tracks with tho different compressors on them and pan them slightly (2L, 2R). Playing with the attack and release parameters also help further shape how the compressed vocals are sounding.

3. Flanger

After compression, a flanger is used to add some more stereo width to the vocals, good settings for that is a longer delay time and less feedback. This can be panned slightly to the side too.

4. Filter delay (slapback)

Then, a filter delay with only the left and right sides active is used as some kind of slapback delay. The delay times are set manually to be slightly different from each other and pretty short. Both left and right channels have a different EQ on them. This is panned opposite of the flanger.

5. Short reverb

A new track is added with a short reverb, panned to one side.

6. Long Reverb

To accompany the short reverb, a longer one is added, panned to the opposite side. Adding grit with various distortion effects can be really interesting on these reverbs.

7. 1/8 note delay

Using a regular delay, create a 1/8 note repeat, panned to one side.

8. 1/2 note delay

Same as previous but with a longer 1/2 note repeat panned to the opposite side. It’s interesting to add other effects on these delays to make it sound really different than the main vocal, anything from flanger, chorus, distortion and reverb works well.

Tips

automating the mix levels of the different effects in different parts of a song can be a good way to make the vocals sound different and create a different mood in a chorus versus a verse for example.
on doubles, use quite a lot of compression to make them more uniform.
modulated delay and reverb, especially filtered down to focus on the low-midrange is really effective on doubles.

Inpathos EP illustrations

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 00:00:00 EST

A series of 4 imaginary landscape paintings for the latest EP of Inpathos called ascension . I focussed on the symbolism of the places I depicted and the feeling they conjure in order to illustrate the different songs.

Painting of shores with high rocky cliffs and blue moonin the distance

Painting of the snowy peak of a mountain lost in the clouds

Painting of dense woods with a stream going through it, the background fading to fog

Painting for the cover of the album, a mountain pass with steep cliffs and some mountains in the distance, a branch crosses the path we're on and storm clouds are gathering overhead

Dark Fantasy Battle axe

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 23 Apr 2023 00:00:00 EST

Celtic inspired dark fantasy battle axe.

Celtic inspired dark fantasy battle axe

Basilisk

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 00:00:00 EST

Claw

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 00:00:00 EST

Illuminations Album Cover

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 21 Mar 2023 00:00:00 EST

Painting for the cover of the second album “Illuminations” of the local dungeon synth project Aura Merlin . This second album has more of a new age, melodic ambient vibe with still some solid dungeon synth roots. It’s perfect for daydreaming or pondering the deep knowledge hidden in old illuminated medieval tomes.

The arwork for it was inspired by medieval manuscripts and the illuminations that embellishes their handwritten pages. I did quite a bit of reasearch on the iconography, the colors and the gilding techniques used back in the day to make something that felt authentic.

Illuminated painting of a large I with a heron and some trees with a castle in the background with some gold leaf details

Detail of the process of applying gold leaf to th painting

The artwork was also turned into a full design for a cassette release by Ancient Kings.

Front of the cassette case

Back of the cassette case

Inside of the sleeve

King of the Dead

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 00:00:00 EST

Bloodshot eyeball

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 00:00:00 EST

Key Dagger

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 00:00:00 EST

Horn-playing demon

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 00:00:00 EST

Blunderbuss

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 00:00:00 EST

Tiny fillers

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 00:00:00 EST

Field Recording

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 00:00:00 EST

These are my personal notes and reference for field recordings. I researched and wrote those in preparation for a trip to some neolithic sites and caves in Ireland with the goal of making recordings there and using them on my upcoming album.

Microphone on a handle, connected to a small recorder

Intro to field recordings
Techniques
Equipment
Recording Settings
Data Storage
Links

A short intro to field recordings

Field recording refers to all audio recordings performed outside of a controlled studio environment. But it’s also a lot more than that. Field recordings are commonly used as foley in movies or for sound effects in games and other medias, or made for research and scientific purposes, but the use and practice i’m more interested in is one that was pioneered in the 1940’s with music concrète and grew in popularity during the 70’s: field recordings as an art form and for use in music and other forms of art.

When approached through an artistic lens, field recordings become a way to take an imprint of a space or a landscape, to record its acoustic ecology . Not unlike a landscape painter or photographer, a recordist can create an image of a landscape and capture the ambience created by the land and it’s living inhabithants, it’s weather filtered through the artistic choices made with microphone placement, length of recording, mixing and futher processing of the sound.

More recently, interesting interesctions between field recording and other fields of study have been cropping up like archaeoacoustics which is interested in the sonic qualities of archeological sites and the experimental recreation of pre-historic soundscapes. This is usually done in a scientific context with precise measuring and sound emitting devices but I find it really interesting to approach as an artist as part of a creative exploration of the layers of history imbued in a landscape.

A great little video on different musicians and their approach of field recordings

Here are some contemporary musicians working with field recordings:

Techniques

Field recording techniques refer to the different arrangements and placement of microphones in relation to each other and to the sound that is captured in order to achieve different effects in the final recording.

Single microphone

The simplest way to do field recording is using a single microphone, be it a directional or omnidirectional one. This is usefull when trying to capture more precise sounds without necessarily having a lot of the ambient noise coming in the recording.

X/Y

X/Y is the most commonly used recording technique, it involves a matched pair of omnidirectional microphones spaced a couple inches apart. It aims recreate the way our ears pick up sounds and simulate a stereo space by the delay by which a sound gets to one microphone versus the other.

M/S

One of the disadvantages of the X/Y technique is that there is no way to adjust the wideness of the recording acter the fact, the M/S approach allows that. In this arrangement a directional microphone is combined with an omnidirectional (or bidirectional) microphone allowing to focus the recording on a specific area but to also record the overall soundscape and then mix these two sources at varying levels after the fact.

ORTF

The capsules of the microphones are placed 17 cm apart and at a 110 degree angle between each other.

Other techniques

Along with these techniques, new approaches and experimental microphones are more and more used for field recordings. These include stuff like hydrophones (designed to record under water), parabolic microphones (allowing to focus on a very precise point), contact microphones (which are attached directly to a surface), EMF microphones (which record electro-magnetic fields) and geophone (microphone that captures vibrations in material and soil).

Equipment

Starting a field recording practice does not require any specific equipemtn other than a recording device equiped with a microphone. A phone works perfectly well for that purpose. It becomes interesting to get more sensitive microphones and microphones who can capture a wider stereo image of a place if one is interested in recording more subtle or spatial sounds. At the end of the day, the act of going out onto the field, listening actively and recording is much more important than which gear is used for it.

Microphones

Microphones come in different types and sizes for different applications. For field recording the most desired quality of a microphone is it’s sensitivity, in order to be able to capture the tiniest details of a soundscape. For that reason condenser microphones are the go to.

But even in condenser microphones there is a wide array of potential microphones to choose from. Knowing the kind of sound and for which final application you’re recording them can help narrow down that selection. For immersive soundscapes with a very wide stereo field, a pair of omnidirectional microphones or even a single omnidirectional microphone is a great choice. They allow to capture sounds from all around the microphone and if using a pair of them, place them more clearly in the stereo field.

Recorders

The improvements brought to the quality of a recording by the preamps and the recording device itself versus the microphones is almost negligeable. Using high quality microphones with a cheap recorder will yield a way better result than recording with cheap microphones on an expensive recorder.

Power

A large enough and reliable power source is a must have for field recording, especially if you’re trying to record long multi-hour soundscapes and ambiences. Battery banks are a good option, they usually have one or more usb output that can power the recorder for many hours. The microphones themselves are usually powered by phantom power coming from the recorder if they are condenser types.

Accessories

Some useful accessories to include to a field recording kit:

Wind protection

Wind protection takes the form of foam or fur covers that goes over microphone and protects them from gusts of wind which can create a lot of noise and clipping in a recording.

Handle / tripod / monopod

Basically a support for the microphones allowing them to be held securely in a fixed location or moved around without disturbing them and creating additional noise. Tripod and monopods can also be extended to reach things that would otherwise be hard to record.

Headphones

Used to monitor the sound recorded into the recorder, it’s especially useful when setting up levels initially. It’s also great to be able to hear some of the more subtle sounds being recorded amplified through headphones, it can lead to the discovery of interesting sound that would otherwise have been hard to notice.

Recording Settings

Bit depth

Depending on your recorder you’ll be presented with 2 or 3 different bit depth options when configuring a recording: 16, 24 or 32 bits. What this essentially represents is how much dynamic range (or nuance between levels of volume) the recorder is going to pick up and record. A higher bit depth will give more dB of dynamic range which is gonna allow for quiter and louder sounds to be recorded without the quiet ones being lost in the noise floor or the loud ones clipping.

Levels

Data storage

Most recorders have the option of recording directly into a SD card which is great because SD cards with larger capacity are available now and take very little space to store and bring to a location.

Average recording times for different SD card sizes at 24bit:

2 GB - 4 hours
32 GB - 64 hours

As a common rule, one track of 24 bit 48kHz is about half a gigabyte per hour.

Links and resources

Tombstone

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:00:00 EST

Broken dagger

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 00:00:00 EST

L'appel du vide

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 00:00:00 EST

Brutal mace

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 00:00:00 EST

Album Illustration for Andy Aquarius

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 00:00:00 EST

A small symbol illustration of an harp and a sword drawn for Andy Aquarius .

A small symbol illustration of an harp and a sword

Symbol on the cover of the Holy Rude vinyl album

Goblin Week 2023

Lizbeth Poirier — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 00:00:00 EST

Goblin woman with armor and a polearm

Goblin faces and details

Goblin chariot

Goblin sitting in the forest and contemplating a mushroom

Kludged together goblin weapon

Goblin shield with grinning moon

Belladona

Lizbeth Poirier — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 00:00:00 EST

Traverse the Nightmare Fog

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 00:00:00 EST

Thick fog was rising from the ground like in a victorian gothic story.

An old brick school with a row of trees disappearing in the fog

Trees vaguely visible in the fog

Trees and a pointy roof vaguely visible in the fog

Headlights shining on a street drenched in fog

Large tree with smaller ones slowly fading in the distance

Path in a fog covered park

Church visible in the distant fog, with leafless trees in the foreground

Tortured tree against a fog backdrop

Church steeple with some branches

Old church in the fog

Large brick school with low rolling fog and a tree in the foreground

Fenced area in a park covered in fog

Oak Leaf

Lizbeth Poirier — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 00:00:00 EST

Chainmail

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 00:00:00 EST

Rock drawings

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 00:00:00 EST

Ephemeral rock drawings done in different locations and times.

Beholder

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 00:00:00 EST

Gelatinous cube

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 00:00:00 EST

Fantasy Battle axe

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:00:00 EST

Old-school fantasy battle axe

Details of the axe

Black Metal December 2022

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 EST

Black metal logos and symbols a day during the month of December.

Arcane

Chaux Vive

Grim

Cairn

Sigil

Eternal Flame

Lucifer Sigil

ACAB

Trolls & Goblins

Katabasis

Abysmal

Elder Sign

No AI

Solstice

The Hookups

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 EST

Death metal style logo for the psych surf rock band The Hookups.

The Hookups death metal logo

To the otherworld

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 20 Nov 2022 00:00:00 EST

The fifth of my monthly print club

Linocut on paper, 4.5" x 10" - 2022

Join the monthly print club on Patreon and get an original print by mail every month: https://www.patreon.com/ritualdust

To the otherworld limited edition linocut print

Small original linocut print, made in an edition of 28, numbered and signed, printed on locally made paper

45$ CAD

Leaf fillers

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 00:00:00 EST

Small leaf fillers

Mushrooms

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 00:00:00 EST

Amanita muscaria mushrooms

Growth

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 00:00:00 EST

Woodcut-style tattoo based off on one of my linocuts.

Wolf man

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 00:00:00 EST

“L’homme est un loup pour l’homme”

Woodcut-style tattoo inspired by this ancient saying and medieval illustrations.

Voidxwitch

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 00:00:00 EST

Cemetery Walk Samhain 2022

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 00:00:00 EST

On the eve of Samhain we ventured out at the end of the day to go visit the ruin of the Calvin Presbyterian Church and it’s cemetery in the small rural town of Saint-Anicet in Quebec. The whole place was surprisingly well maintained (compared to how it looked in 2002) and contained a wealth of ancient tombstones.

The church was once part of a settlement comprised of people with French, Irish, and Scottish heritage called Godmanchester Village created in the 1820’s which only survived around 30 years and was then abandoned.

The whole place was amazingly peaceful and we witnessed a great sunset bathing the stones in a warm light.

View inside the ruined church

A broken gravestone

A willow detail on a gravestone

A broken gravestone with a masonic symbol

A book detail on a gravestone

A gravestone with some kind of orange moss on it

Hex walking amongst the ruins

Very old grave lying on the ground

Shattered gravestone

More gravestone details

Small stone inscribed with just the word mother

My hand resting on the small praying bench

The sky at dusk over the cemetery

Fantômes issue 2 cover

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 00:00:00 EST

Pen and ink illustration of a gothic cemetery scene for the upcoming 2nd issue of my ghost story and haunting images zine Fantômes .

Pen and ink illustration of a cemetery with a large iron gate, a lantern on one of the gate pillars, plenty of tombstones in the distance and a victorian house in the distance

Illustration in context on the cover of the zine with some text on the back and the logo on the front

Hekate

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 00:00:00 EST

Woodcut-style tattoo based off on one of my linocuts.

Cemetery Walk October 2022

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 08 Oct 2022 00:00:00 EST

A collapsing crypt

A mystery bone

Leaf-covered steps

A mysterious figure walking towards the horizon

Me standing in an archway

An abandoned spiderweb

Mysterious figure amongst the graves

The sun shining through the leaves

Colors turning in the canopy

A lonely wooden cross

Hex squatting in the long grass

Broken cross on the long grass

Hex lying down amongst the forgotten

Me enjoying the warm sun

Another lonely cross

Me with some trees in the background

Winter Lantern t-shirt illustration

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 00:00:00 EST

Eldritch ink illustration made for the band Inpathos. This was made for a t-shirt design, I channelled lovecraftian horror and the aesthethics of the game Bloodborne in there.

Custom lettering work

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 00:00:00 EST

Band / Project logo

I have quite a bit of experience doing lettering work and logos for bands of a good range of genres but mostly black metal, doom, dungeon synth, noise and experimental music.

When you commission me a logo, the first step is talking a bit more with you about what you’re envisioning and getting any inspirations that you like as a reference point (you can also just give me wildcard and I’ll work from the music and the name itself). Once I have this I’ll do some sketches and send them to you. We can then do a round of adjustments on these sketches if needed and then I complete the final logo from the selected sketch.

Price-wise, I work with a sliding scale based on your financial situation, the three prices matching with the three levels of the sliding scale. Note that these prices are a guideline, depending on the specifics of the project, the planned usage, the amount of work and detail these can vary.

Hand-drawn text logo

280$ / 200$ / 150$ cad

The most common choice, a custom lettering piece with your project name and some ornementation if desired.

Hand-drawn symbol

200$ / 150$ / 100$ cad

Only a symbol or sigil with either a letter or an illustration only, this can complement an existing logo.

Hand-drawn text logo + symbol

400$ / 350$ / 280$ cad

This package includes the logo and a symbol with the possibility of having a version of the logo incorporating the symbol.

Hand-drawn text logo + symbol + extra small illustrations

500$ / 425$ / 375$ cad

The biggest package, including logo, symbol and extra small illustrations. This is really useful if you plan on making merch or for making a more complete album sleeve.

I ask for half of the price before starting work and the other half upon reception of the final files. These prices includes hi-res files in black and white with transparent background (I can also include one in color in there if needed).

If you’re interested in commissioning a custom lettering piece, reach out at lizbeth.poirier.m@gmail.com.

Bealtaine

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 17 Sep 2022 00:00:00 EST

Bealtaine (or Belltaine in Old Irish), which means “the month of May” or “the month of the beacon-fire” is an ancient Celtic festival and celebration that takes place on May 1st in the northern hemisphere. Beltane marks the first day of summer and the beginning of the pastoral season, when livestock would be driven out to their summer pastures.

Beannaich, a Thrianailt fhioir nach gann, (Bless, O Threefold true and bountiful,) Mi fein, mo cheile agus mo chlann, (Myself, my spouse and my children,) Mo chlann mhaoth’s am mathair chaomh ‘n an ceann, (My tender children and their beloved mother at their head,) Air chlar chubhr nan raon, air airidh chaon nam beann, (On the fragrant plain, at the gay mountain sheiling,) Air chlar chubhr nan raon, air airidh chaon nam beann. (On the fragrant plain, at the gay mountain sheiling.)

Gach ni na m’ fhardaich, no ta ‘na m’ shealbh, (Everything within my dwelling or in my possession,) Gach buar is barr, gach tan is tealbh, (All kine and crops, all flocks and corn,) Bho Oidhche Shamhna chon Oidhche Bheallt, (From Hallow Eve to Beltane Eve,) Piseach maith, agus beannachd mallt, (With goodly progress and gentle blessing,) Bho mhuir, gu muir, agus bun gach allt, (From sea to sea, and every river mouth,) Bho thonn gu tonn, agus bonn gach steallt. (From wave to wave, and base of waterfall.) - Am Beannachadh Bealltain (‘The Beltane Blessing’), collected by folklorist Alexander Carmichael in South Uist

Rituals and traditions

Lighting of bonfires

All hearth fires in the town or village were doused before lighting the sacred bonfire. In order to make this sacred fire more potent it was to be kindled by friction between two wood pieces, using a wood drill or fire churn. The flames coming from this fire protect against sickness, supernatural harm and witchcraft. Torches lit from the bonfire would be brought back to every household and used to light the hearth fire again. When the bonfire would die, people would gather the ashes and sprinkle themselves, their cattle and their crops with them.

Often two bonfires were lit pretty close to each other and cattle was driven between them to ensure their good health for the coming season.

May bush

Decorated bush put outside of a home or in a communal area, commonly made of hawthron and decorated with ribbons, flowers and tinsels.

Dancing up the sun

Morris dancers get out in the fields in the night before Bealtaine to perform a dance supposed to help the sun rise again and bring on this new cycle of the year.

Maypole

Associations

Symbols: flowers, green branches, fire
Colors: Yellow
Herbs and plants: may flowers
Trees: hawthorne

Links and references

Bealtaine traditions in folklore

Earrach

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 17 Sep 2022 00:00:00 EST

Earrach marks the spring equinox, the balance of day and night. It is celebrated on March 20th in the northern hemisphere.

Associations

Symbols:
Colors:
Herbs and plants:
Trees:

Links and references

Fómhar

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 17 Sep 2022 00:00:00 EST

Fómhar marks the balance of night and day, the autumn equinox. This festival is celebrated on September 22 in the northern hemisphere. The name comes from Middle Irish fogamur‎ (“harvest”) and from Old Irish for autumn.

It is a time to mark the start of the harvest season.

Associations

Symbols:
Colors:
Herbs and plants:
Trees:

Links and references

Gheimhreadh

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 17 Sep 2022 00:00:00 EST

Gheimhreadh marks the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. It is celebrated on December 21st in the northern hemisphere.

Associations

Symbols:
Colors:
Herbs and plants:
Trees:

Links and references

Lúnasa

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 17 Sep 2022 00:00:00 EST

Lúnasa (which means “the month of august”) is an ancient Celtic festival and celebration that takes place on August 1st in the northern hemisphere. Lúnasa marks the beginning of the harvest season.

This festival is associated with the old god Lugh.

Associations

Symbols:
Colors:
Herbs and plants:
Trees:

Links and references

Samhain

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 17 Sep 2022 00:00:00 EST

Samhain (which probably comes from the Old Irish samfuin, meaning “death of Summer”) is an ancient Celtic festival and celebration that takes place on October 31st in the northern hemisphere. Samhain is a feast that marks the end of the harvest and the beginning of the winter half of the year.

Samhain is one of the fire festivals, at which large bonfires were (and sometimes are still) lit. Around them, great gatherings and feasts were held in celebration.

It also marks a very liminal time of the year, one during which the veil between this world and the otherworld is very thin, allowing all kinds of spirits to pass through more easily. In ancient times in Ireland, Neolithic passage tombs (some of which were aligned with the sunrise on the morning of Samhain) were open during Samhain.

It is custom to give offerings of food and drink to the spirits on Samhain to appease them and to help ensure that people and livestock survive the winter to come.

Making of Parshells to protect the home

One of the traditions surrounding Samhain in Ireland is the making of Parshells, a cross with equal branches made out of sticks and straw.

The two sticks are laid on top of each other at a right angle, then straw is woven between the sticks, going clockwise and ending before reaching the ends of the cross.

When hanging the new cross, you would recite the following:

“An donas amach,
Is an sonas isteach,
Ó anocht go dtí bliain ó anocht”.

Meaning
“Misfortune/ill-luck out,
Happiness/good-luck in,
From this night until a year from tonight”.

A new parshell is made every year on Samhain and replaces the one made the year prior. When taking down the old cross you had to say “Fan istigh ar an Sídhe” in order for it to retain some of its potency. This meant “Stay inside on account of the fairies”

Associations

Symbols:
Colors:
Herbs and plants:
Trees:

Links and references

Samhradh

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 17 Sep 2022 00:00:00 EST

Samhradh marks midsummer, the summer solstice and the longest day of the year. It is celebrated on June 20th in the northern hemisphere.

Associations

Symbols: Colors: Herbs and plants:
Trees:

Links and references

Ossuary Wraith T-shirt Design

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 00:00:00 EST

A large ink illustration made for the band Ossuary Wraith , designed for their merch. The frame also contains their logo which I also designed, see more details about it .

Passager lettering

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 00:00:00 EST

Decay

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 00:00:00 EST

The forth of my monthly print club, is complementary to the first one, decay and growth working together in an endless cycle, just in time for the coming of death season.

Linocut on paper, 3" x 5" - 2022

Join the monthly print club on Patreon and get an original print by mail every month: https://www.patreon.com/ritualdust

Decay limited edition linocut print

Small original linocut print, made in an edition of 28, numbered and signed, printed on locally made paper

45$ CAD

Cottage restoration

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 11 Sep 2022 00:00:00 EST

Derelict cottage in the Irish landscape

Glossary
Finding a cottage
Inspection and survey
Planning
Walls
Floors
Roof
Windows and doors
Heating
Resources

I’m building this page to collect my notes, research and resources on the restoration of traditional Irish cottages. It is a project I’m planning to do with some help in the future when we move to Ireland so I’m doing a lot of prep and research work in advance to be ready when we get to it.

I have experience in woodworking and carpentry but none in stonework, plaster and lime work or any other trade involved in the building and restoration of old homes but I plan on learning some of them as I go and collaborate with trained craftspeople for more critical matters.

Glossary of terms

FLAGSTONE

; Large slabs of generic flat stone that naturally splits into layers. Commonly used to roofs (1 inch thick) and floors (2 inch thick).

LIME

; A type of mineral used as a mortar or a finish on stone buildings. The word lime originates with its earliest use as building mortar and has the sense of sticking or adhering.

LIME RENDER

; A lime render is a succession of coats of lime applied to a surface.

LIME WASH

; A lime wash is a thin coat of lime (tinted or not) applied to a surface, most commonly walls.

POINTING

; The action of filling the gaps between stones in a wall with some kind of mortar

Finding a cottage

The first step of this kind of project is finding the right cottage. There is plenty of them up for sale currently in different parts of Ireland, mostly in rural areas. You can find some in a states of disrepair, from needing a bit of finishing work to needing to be entirely rebuilt from a ruined state.

These two extremes and everything in between have some pros and cons. Getting a derelict cottage or a ruin will often be a lot cheaper, but necessitate enormous amounts of specialized work to be brought back to life. On the other hand, a good looking and inhabitable cottage can provide a good base for a restoration, or hide bad renovation choices and hidden problems that need to be dealt with (see the Irish farmhouse restoration blog ).

A good website to look for old cottages in Ireland is daft.ie

Buying a rural site in Ireland

Inspection and survey

This is the step for which I have the least information for now. It is definitely a very important step and one for which selecting a trusted and competent professional is crucial. The report that will come from this inspection guiding the planning and priorities of the restoration.

Planning

Once planning permission has been acquired and the cottage has been well inspected in order to have a clear picture of it’s current state, the time for planning the restoration work has come. This part is crucial and many factors come into it. One thing being the time that every step will take, including the setting and drying times (which can be calculated in months) and whether the climate and weather of the season allows for the type of work to be performed.

One thing to keep in mind when renovating a derelict cottage, or even just one in bad shape is living acomodations and storage space. Since often the cottage cannot be inhabited right away and needs extensive work, it won’t be possible to both live in it and renovate it. So it’s quite important to plan a good solution that will be adapated to the climate (i.e. really wet and cold winter in my case). Storage is also quite important, since the cottage might not be able to provide that either for tools and material that are gonna be needed in the project. Options here are renting some kind of container storage, or renovating an outbuilding.

Walls

The walls of cottages were commonly made out of stone or mud reinforced with straw and other material and then covered with a lime render. The walls are usually around 24" thick without any kind of insulation, the stones or dirt acting as some kind of damper for the cold / warmth.

Stone walls were made of local stone, fitted together and then pointed with lime mortar . After the pointing, which effectively smooths the surface of the wall between the stones, preventing water accumulation in what would otherwise be crevices, the walls are coated with around 4 coats of lime render (which can be tinted of different colors). The lime render is very characteristic of Irish cottages, as opposed to a lime wash

Using lime for this process of filling the gaps is important as it allows air and moisture to pass through the walls. When restoring old stone walls it is usually necessary to chisel out the old mortar which usually will have mostly crumbled away and to replace it with new lime mortar.

Sometimes stone walls were covered in concrete during the 60s and 70s, possibly in an attempt to lower maintenance of the external walls. This causes problems, since concrete does not breathe like stone and lime does, trapping moisture inside the walls and allowing it to spread to internal wooden structures, causing damp, rot and mold problems. This can be addressed by removing the concrete render on the outside first to allow moisture to escape.

Then, if a similar concrete render has been done on the inside, it can be removed at the bottom of walls (up to 2-3 feet) to allow more moisture to escape, it’s also a good idea to inspect the floor boards and beams at that point and if they are rotted, cut off a foot off the floor boards close to the walls to allow for more evaporation. It is always a good idea to get rid of all the concrete covering the stone on the inside and replacing it with a lime plater, there is multiple types of lime plaster available, some of them with additional insulating properties, which can help make the home warmer without building modern insulated walls on top of the original stone walls.

A note on insulation: contrary to modern best practices, in a house with stone walls that are 2 feet thick, the main source of insulation is the thermal mass provided by the thick stone and lime. Adding some extra membranes or insulation boards on the inside won’t do much of a difference but will definitely be very costly (because once again, this insulation material has to be breathable).

Floors

A lot of cottages had packed mud floors when they were initially built, other had large flagstones laid on top of the dirt.

More recently, a lot of those old cottages had a concrete floor poured inside of them to make a more level and isolated floor.

Nowadays, more options are available in terms of flooring, including some that allow for better breathing, allowing moisture out. One of these options is called limecrete, basically some form of concrete made with lime.

Roof

Traditionally a lot of the stone cottages built in Ireland had tatched roofs made with overlapping layers of straw (usually wheat, water reed or flax depending on the location). These layers are laid on rods of hazel and willow and pinned using various methods. Tatched roofs can last more than 30 years but the top ridge must be replace every 10-15 years since it wears out faster than the rest.

Stone or slate was also used for roofing in particularly rocky areas of Ireland, this method is extremely durable and if well put together and maintained can last for the life of the cottage.

In more recent years, a lot of these traditional cottages had their tatched roofs replaced by corrugated iron for cost reasons. They look quite bad usually and don’t last nearly as long as the other options, especially in a rainy place like Ireland.

Windows and doors

Irish cottages usually have very few (small) windows. My guess is that it made the house easier to keep warm during winter, the price of glass must have been prohibitive and also, because of the tax on windows .

The window frames themselves were usually made of wood and coated with linseed paint. Some of them were replaced with newer wooden frames coated in acrylic paint or even worse, by plastic window frames over the years. Window frames on Irish cottages are succeptible to the same problems as the walls, especially if the walls were rendered with concrete: they can trap moisture and rot. The reason why window frames were painted with linseed paint back in the day was that linseed paint allows for breathing compared to acrylic paint or plastic.

I plan on using old wooden double sash windows. There is a couple reasons for going with these over modern windows, first they can be found quite easily at architectural salvage companies for a fraction of the price than new windows (they will need to be custom built for a stone cottage because of the non-standard window holes). Old wood windows when maintained also proved to last over 100 years, which is quite a bit more than the usual 20 to 30 years a new window lasts. Another very practical reason for this kind of purpose build windows is that on traditional Irish cottages, the holes for the windows aren’t of any standard size and windows have to be custom made to fit.

They are also quite energy efficient when used correctly even compared to modern aluminium or vinyl windows. Victorian double sash windows were designed to create air convection, meaning that in summer, an opening is created at the bottom and top of the window allowing cool air to come in from the bottom and hot air to come out of the top, basically acting as passive air conditioning. In addition to that, windows would have removable screens and storms (glass panes), the screens would be put in place in the summer to keep bugs out and in winter they would be replaced by the storms, effectively creating more isolation by having two glass panels with air in between.

Sash window on Wikipedia

As for doors, there was different arrangements possible depending on the locality where the house was built. The front door usually faced south and some cottages had one door on each side.

Note on linseed paint: this paint is usually applied on a primer that's 50% percent oil. It's best to apply it in light coats and allow it to dry properly before applying a new coat. Contrary to water-based paints, it dries with UV light, so UV lamps can be used to speed up the drying process (which at worse can take a couple months).

Waste management

Cottages in rural areas in Ireland are rarely connected to a sewer system and will need a septic tank. Counties usually have pretty strict rules on the design and installation of these and installing a new one will require planning permission, so it’s an important thing to plan for.

Heating

Wood and peat burning in an open hearth was the traditional way of keeping cottages warm and fight the ever-encroaching dampness. Cottages were usually built with one or more large fireplaces, either on the ends or in the middle. Since there was no insulation and open fireplaces are not particularly efficient at heating up spaces it must have been quite cold still in these homes in the winter months, forcing people to gather around the hearth, cover themselves in blankets and tell stories.

Resources

Knowledge bases and books

Knowledge base of the SPAB
Heritage House
Irish cottage history
The Warm Dry Home
The Timeless Way of Building, Christopher W. Alexander
A Pattern Language, Christopher W. Alexander
Drawing for Architecture, Leon Krier
Get Your House Right, Marianne Cusato

Build logs and blogs

Builders and craftspeople

Trans demon with sword

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 00:00:00 EST

Hellboy symbol

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 02 Sep 2022 00:00:00 EST

Henbane

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 00:00:00 EST

The third print of my monthly print club, a henbane plant, one of the psychoactive plants used by witches in their flying ointment.

Linocut on paper, 3" x 5" - 2022

Join the monthly print club on Patreon and get an original print by mail every month: https://www.patreon.com/ritualdust

Henbane limited edition linocut print

Small original linocut print, made in an edition of 24, numbered and signed, printed on locally made paper

45$ CAD

Pious Rot Weapon Compendium

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 00:00:00 EST

Together with my friend Steven, we’re building a fictional fantasy world called Pious Rot, we started with some of the legendary weapons and their lore and we’ll keep going from there. I’m putting together these pages for each weapon like if they were part of a full book (hopefully we get to actually make the book one day) with all the stats, the story and the illustrations .

Pious Rot Weapon Compendium Illustrations

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 00:00:00 EST

In collaboration with my friend Steven, I’m illustrating a series of TTRPG weapons from a fantasy world we’re creating called Pious Rot. Every weapon has some lore and stats attached to it which informs the illustration I make for it. We’re also making these following different parts of the fantasy world and I try to create a sense of local culture and craft between them. We’re making a new one every week for the time being until we’re done with all the regions of the world.

The illustration are made with graphite and ink, I’m also considering adding colour to all the weapons of a region once we’re done with it.

Skeleton Chest Piece

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 00:00:00 EST

Hekate

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 30 Jul 2022 00:00:00 EST

Second print of my monthly print club, the key to the underworld and the snake, two symbols of Hekate, the goddess of boundaries, the underworld and witchcraft.

Linocut on paper, 3" x 5" - 2022

Join the monthly print club on Patreon and get an original print by mail every month: https://www.patreon.com/ritualdust

Hekate limited edition linocut print

Small original linocut print, made in an edition of 30, numbered and signed, printed on locally made paper

45$ CAD

Are you ok?

Lizbeth Poirier — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 00:00:00 EST

Music video / ritual performance for the first song released by Voidxwitch , titled “are you ok?”. Shot in one night after a storm in rural Quebec.

We took plenty of inspiration from witchhouse and traumacore while developing visuals that are unique to Hex’s project. Most of the shots were lit with a light mounted on the camera to emulate old-school camcorders like the one used in Blair Witch, we also shot the whole thing handheld to be able to follow the movements of Hex during the performance and add some nice camera shake. The whole thing was shot in digital but was processed to resemble a video playing back from a VHS.

All the illustrations and the typography were hand-drawn and animated with a low frame rate for that imperfect wonkyness.

Credits and details

Direction / Performance / Outfits: Hex Evans
Photography / Editing / Illustrations: Lizbeth Poirier

Shot handheld on the Sony A6300 with a 24mm prime lens
Edited and color graded in DaVinci Resolve

day 3

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 24 Jul 2022 00:00:00 EST

Me and Hex finished the upcoming music video for their VOIDXWITCH project last night and then I spent some good time printing a new small linocut print in the scorching heat of the last heatwave to hit Montreal. Today we’re braving the heat to go practice for our upcoming live show.

Beholder

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 22 Jul 2022 00:00:00 EST

Classic DnD beholder

Preparing for your tattoo session

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 00:00:00 EST

The week before
The day before
The day of

The week before

Drink plenty of water and stay hydrated, this will help your skin be in better condition for tattooing and heal better. Moisturize your skin regularly to keep it in its optimal condition.

The day before

Shave the general area where you want your tattoo while being careful not to break or cut the skin since damaged skin cannot be tattooed and has to heal before.
If you usually wax, do it a couple days before your tattoo to allow your skin to heal from the waxing process before getting tattooed.
Get a good night’s sleep before your session, eat well and avoid alcohol and drugs so you’re well rested for your tattoo. The pain is usually lower if you’re not tired or hungry.

The day of

Don’t moisturize your skin the day you get your tattoo since that can impact the stencil.
Put on clothes that make exposing the area you’re getting tattooed easy while still making your comfortable, here’s a little guide to help you choose the best clothing based on your tattoo placement: What to wear to your tattoo session
Bring water and snacks, especially if it’s gonna be a long session. You can also bring music and headphones to distract you during the process.
Bring a comfortable mask, I’m more comfortable with both of us wearing masks during the tattoo sessions.

Custom tattoo project form

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 17 Jul 2022 00:00:00 EST

Fill this form if you have an idea for a custom tattoo that you’d like to have done by me. When you’ve completed it, hit the submit button and then send the email that it will generate for you. I will answer your request by email at the address you provide as soon as possible.

About you

First name (required)

Last name (required)

Preferred name

Pronouns

Birthdate (required)

Email (required)

Phone number

About your project

What subject matter apply to your tattoo? (required)

Dark fantasy
Folklore and myth
Symbols and sigils
Occultism and magic
Medieval-style woodcut
Lettering

Describe your tattoo idea (required)

Where do you want it on your body? (required)

What size do you have in mind? (required)

Consent and acknoledgements

I AM 18 AND OVER (If you fail or do not provide a valid ID to check on day of, you'll lose your appointment/drawing/deposit)

YES

I understand that under no circumstances will another artist's work be copied, and the artist reserves the right to deny work on pieces that they don't feel is appropriate(IE designs that can be considered appropriation by other cultures). EXCEPTIONS: historical painting/sculpture/artifact, direct permission from an artist allowing fair use of a design of their creation, cultural piece that's from your ethnicity/religion/nationality/etc (please bring in all the details that your artist would need to know in order to create the design accurately and respectfully).

YES

Before the appointment can be finalized, I will require a non-refundable deposit to be put toward the final price of the project; any rescheduling or cancellation must be made no closer than 48hrs from the appointment time. Deposit will be forfeit if you fail to do so. YES

Please be aware that my studio is a LGBTQIA+, Anti-racist, Pro Sex-Work, Intersectional Feminist, Body Positive space, meant to be safe for artists and other clients alike; please be respectful & mindful of this with words & body language. If you fail to do so, a ban will be issued. YES

Cancelling or rescheduling a tattoo

If for any reason you need to reschedule a tattoo appointment you should let me know 2 days or more in advance, otherwise you will lose your deposit.

Changes to a drawing

I will send the drawing of your custom tattoo a couple days in advance of your appointment, if you request small changes I will do them right away and get the final drawing for the session, if you request big changes (the kind that necessitates re-drawing big parts or the whole design), I will ask for another deposit and reschedule the date of the tattoo so I can make the changes. It is best for you to really make sure you give me all the information and references that you can before I start drawing your design to avoid delays and extra fees.

Quill and ink sketches

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 00:00:00 EST

The beast of the Gevaudan

The King of the Dead

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 00:00:00 EST

Portrait practice of the King of the Dead from Lord of the Rings.

The King of the Dead who haunts the paths of the dead

day 2

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 00:00:00 EST

I woke up to new submissions for the second issue of my zine Fantômes which started my day really well and I received my bodhran kit from Ireland, which I’ll be slowly putting together. Plenty of exciting things coming up in my future!

Test

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 00:00:00 EST

Recently found out about the html journal format and decided to give it a try to replace my (mostly stagnant) now page. I though it could be interesting to bring the latest one on the home page too, making it some kind of latest news section.

Mixing notes

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 02 Jul 2022 00:00:00 EST

mixing process
focussed listening
midrange-focussed mixing

The Mixing Process

Organization

Tips

Group all related tracks together (drums, voice, synths, etc.) and color-code them.
Name all the tracks in a way that makes it easier to find what is what.
Remove all unused tracks and sounds.

Volume

Overall volume balancing

Starting with the main tracks and working down from there, set the relative volume of the tracks. It’s usually preferable to bring things down than up most of the time, even if that mean bringing down everything to keep one track at it’s current level and being more prominent.

If necessary, automate the volume of tracks in some parts of the song to leave room for other elements. For example, in a verse drums can be quieter and then come back louder for the chorus.

Tips

put the whole song in mono while doing that step to prevent being skewed by perceived loudness of very wide sounds
Try to keep between -3db to -10db of headroom for mastering.
Having a little bit of compression and a limiter on the master bus when mixing can help get a better feel of how it’s gonna sit in the mastered track.
Increasing the volume of some tracks slowly during buildups is really effective.
Having a little bit of silence before a drop makes it sound more impactful.
in ableton, select a track, then press CMD+A and then you can adjust all volume levels at the same time

Compression

Compression turns down the volume of a track every time the sound exceed a certain level (threshold) The ratio is the amount that is turned down. For example, threshold at -16db and ratio at 2:1, every time the sound goes over -16db, the extra volume is gonna be reduced by half. The Attack sets amount of time after threshold is exceeded for the compression to happen. The release is how long it takes after compression has happened before volume gets back to it’s initial level. And finally, makeup gain compensates for the loss of volume after compression.

Compression ratios:

2:1 gentle
4:1 standard
8:1 aggressive
20:1 limiting

Use compression to make sounds / tracks more even in volume over time (starting with -20db of compression is a good start) and then play around with different ratios. If a song has a lot of little sounds on different track for a section and they should be mixed in a similar way, grouping them and then compressing the group is a good way to get started with that.

Parallel compression, to keep the original dynamics of the sound in addition to a more punchy compressed version, can be combined with full wet compression on a same track depending on the effect desired.

Tips

start with the kick and then compress the other elements by order of importance, ending up with the high percussion last
Sidechain a lot of the elements of the song to the kick, either individually or through grouping them and then side-chaining.
If some tracks are really filtered it can be good to add a compressor on them to compensate for the loss of volume due to filtering.
Put compression on drum groups to glue them together
longer release and shorter attack makes thing more punchy

Panning and stereo field

There’s multiple ways to move different sounds in the stereo field in order to make them more interesting or to separate them to make a mix clearer. The simplest of them is to lower the volume on one channel and increase it on the other channel, that’s what usually panning knobs in different DAWs do.

Another method is called Haas panning, it uses delay to change the perceived position of a sound while still having the same volume on both channels. It works by adding a very short delay to one of the channels (usually around 30ms).

A third way is pan using EQ to change the stereo image of a sound. It works by applying different EQs on the two channels, for example having the left one be brighter and the right one be darker.

A last method that is more subtle but can make sounds more wide is using compression on only one of the channels.

Tips

Using headphones for this part is really useful.
Bass elements should be mono.
Keep reverb stereo.
Pan different tracks to create a wider stereo field.
In drops, keep most important tracks mostly in the center.
Ping pong delay is also a good way to make a track more wide.
Having the lead a bit more to one side and the chords a bit more to the opposite side can make them clearer.
Animating the panning on some element can make it more interesting.

Equalization

Remove the low end of everything that’s not bass or a kick drum to prevent muddiness (that can include effects sends like reverbs and delays). To know where to start the low cut, check the lowest note played by that instrument.

check for conflicting frequencies and either pan them apart or boost / cut different frequencies for both sounds so they compete less. As with volume, it’s usually best to cut more frequencies than to boost them to create more room.

Tips

EQ reverbs so they don’t add mud in the low and high end
Punchy kicks: scoop down at 200hz, then compress with a medium attack and a quick release.
Identify and remove unwanted harmonics with a high Q point in an EQ plugin.

Double checking the mix

It’s good to do the mix itself on a good set of monitors but it’s also really useful to test it out on headphones and other types of speakers during and at the end of the process (trying it out in the car is a classic test).

Exporting the stems

Once the mix is good, it is time to export the stems for mastering. I usually create a new folder called “[name of song] - stems (x bpm)”. Before exporting the tracks i make sure that no track is soloed or deactivated. I export all tracks at a sample rate of 44100Hz, in WAV format, making sure to include the return and master effects (with nothing on the master bus).

Focussed listening

Put on some music and listen deeply to the balance of the different elements, how they are panned, what are the supporting elements in the background of the song doing, etc.

Midrange-focussed mixing

200hz < — > 4khz

Try accomplishing most of your mixing goals while staying in that frequency range, then at the end make changes on the lower and higher end if needed. This can help a lot with the perceived volume of the track.

VOIDXWITCH

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 00:00:00 EST

I made this logo for VOIDXWITCH based on a scribbled text they made. The concept was to play around with some angry but childlike drawing style and the void tearing at it.

Scribbled logo in white on black

Voidxwitch logo in use in their first music video

Pluto symbol

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 00:00:00 EST

Cuisinons avec amour

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 00:00:00 EST

Lettering for a t-shirt design for a group of cooks.

Cuisinons avec amour lettering with a small heart-shaped vegetable on top

Growth

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 00:00:00 EST

First print of my monthly print club, a mushroom growing from a hand, a piece about growth and connection with the self and what surrounds us.

Linocut on paper, 3" x 5" - 2022

Become a stone circle patron to join the monthly print club and get an original print by mail every month: https://www.patreon.com/ritualdust

Growth limited edition linocut print

Small original linocut print, made in an edition of 20, numbered and stamped with my seal, printed on locally made paper

45$ CAD

Grimoire

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 00:00:00 EST

Battle axe

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 00:00:00 EST

Old-school fantasy battle axe for upcoming merch by black tongue silver .

Old-school fantasy battle axe

T-shirt design for Arroliga

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 30 May 2022 00:00:00 EST

Very metal queer liberation themed t-shirt design for Arroliga .

T-shirt desig for Arroliga

Fantasy cimitar

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 28 May 2022 00:00:00 EST

Sworn to Darkness

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 28 May 2022 00:00:00 EST

Woodcut style occult inspired logo for Sworn to Darkness

Sworn to darkness logo and symbol

In order to get a realistic woodcut style I made a linocut of the symbol first to guide the drawing of the letters, here are some photos of this process:

carved linocut symbol

inking and printing the linocut

the printed symbol and the linocut

final printed symbol

Spirit photography

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 27 May 2022 00:00:00 EST

Ghostly portraits of Hex and Kita in the style of victorian spirit photographs. The ghost effect was made in camera and the daguerreotype feel was achieved in editing. A detailed how-to is available on my patreon .

Family portrait with ghostly Hex

Ghostly Hex sitting on a stool

Kita holding the hand and putting her hand on Hex's ghost's shoulder

Ghostly Kita sitting on a chair

Kita sitting with her hands crossed and veil on her head

Portrait of Kita with some old books

Ghostly Kita laying on a table

Death creeping with it's skeleton hand

Ghostly Hex squatting

Ghostly Kita walking with a candleholder

Kita sitting at a table with ghostly Hex

Hex as death looking at the camera with their skeletal arm

Ghost hand with candleholder

Ghost Hex and Kita together

Hex sitting on a chair and lighting a match with a ghost passing behind them

Ghostly Kita laying down against a stool

Hex standing and holding hands with ghostly Kita

Hex standing with a double ghostly face

Antique shears

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 14 May 2022 00:00:00 EST

Demon with bellows

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 14 May 2022 00:00:00 EST

In This Wet Place

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 06 May 2022 00:00:00 EST

Album cover designed for the latest Orchid Lodge album In This Wet Place , inspired by 80’s and 90’s 4AD releases.

Orchid Lodge - In This Wet Place album cover

I also designed a cassette sleeve variant of this for a short-run self-published tape of the album.

Front of the cassette case and sleeve

Back of the cassette case and sleeve

Cassette and case

Outside of the sleeve

Inside of the sleeve with additional text

Cassette with pad print

Midsommar hammer

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 30 Apr 2022 00:00:00 EST

Ossuary Wraith

Lizbeth Poirier — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 00:00:00 EST

Ghastly bone-covered logo for the black metal band Ossuary Wraith

Ossuary Wraith logo

Ossuary Wraith symbol

Witches Flying Ointment

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 00:00:00 EST

Flying ointment or salve is a potentially hallucinogenic and highly toxic blend of plants in a fatty base that appears in folklore, fiction and books relating to witch hunting dating back to the middle ages. There’s still quite a bit of debate amongst folklorists and researchers on whether such ointments actually existed, if they actually contained the toxic and hallucinogenic plants often associated with them and whether they are one of the sources of the myth of the witch flying on a broom (the theory being that witches would craft mind-altering flying ointment, apply it on a broom stick and “ride” it in order to “fly”, in a combination of sexual stimulation, trance state and possibly vivid dreams and visions of flying).

One such description of the unholy recipe was given by Francis Bacon: “the fat of children digged out of their graves, of juices of smallage, wolfe-bane, and cinque foil, mingled with the meal of fine wheat.” The specific recipe varies but the intent remains pretty consistent: to conjure visions and dreams and give the witch the sensation of flying or travelling to the sabbath.

The plants commonly associated with this type of salve are the following: wolfsbane, henbane, hemlock, parsley (which had a reputation of being a devilish plant back then) and wild celery. During victorian times, authors embellished the story and recipe of the flying ointment, adding to it new ingredients like mandrake, thornapple, soot from chimneys, blood from small animals and more.

Whether these ingredients were associated with witchcraft (and the flying ointments by association) because they were toxic and dangerous or because of their actual use in a witchcraft practice is almost impossible to know for sure, but the folklore is still fascinating in it’s own rights. We of course have to acknowledge how it was used by the church to persecute healers and cunning folk during the multiple witch hunts that swept through Europe and America, portraying these people as witches working with plants associated with death or the devil.

More reading on the subject:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_ointment
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/229401822.pdf
https://www.corvusgreenwood.com/about-flying-ointments/

Halberd

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 23 Apr 2022 00:00:00 EST

Tattoo station setup

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 00:00:00 EST

Setup
Teardown
Green soap recipe

Setup

Step 1: setup surface

Wash your hands
Put on gloves
Spray top of station with water or alcohol
Cover top of station with plastic film, leaving some overhanging
Cover power supply with bag
Tape a dental bib on top of station

Step 2: prepare supplies

If making a large tattoo or one with a lot of a color of ink it's best to take out more ink cups and fill them than having to refill during the tattoo

Take out these supplies and lay them on the station:

new disposable razor
machine bag (cut a corner)
disposable grip (drop without touching)
clip cord bag (only touch ends)
wash bottle bag
rubber nipple
ink caps
small strip of tape
enough strips of paper towels for the tattoo

Cover green soap bottle with a bottle bag, while touching the outside of the plastic as little as possible, making sure to cover the bottom, then put it on the station
Using a wooden stick, scoop some vaseline and then using the other side scoop some shea butter (or other tattooing lotion), then put the vaseline on the top of station to hold the stick in place and stick it in in with the vaseline and lotion on top
Get your ink caps out, dip the bottom of them in vaseline and stick them to the wooden stick
Get the needles that you’ll need for the tattoo out and put them on the station

Step 3: prepare machine

Keep the machine and clip cord on the tattoo bed until they are fully bagged to prevent cross-contamination of the clean station

Slide clip cord in clip cord bag while touching the bag as little as possible, protect part of clip cord closest to the machine
Plug clip cord in power supply and keep the other end covered with the bag on the station
Take the disposable grip and slide the tube part through the small hole in the machine bag, then reverse the bag on your hand and the grip
Grab your machine and attach it to the grip, then pull back the machine bag on the machine
Plug the clip cord in the machine and tape the machine bag close, now you can put the machine on the station

step 4: prepare tattoo bed

Once everything is off the tattoo bed, spray it with medical disinfectant and leave it on for the maximum kill time
Wrap the area where the tattooed body part if gonna be, plus a bit larger with plastic film
If using an arm rest, clean it and cover it with plastic film too

Step 5: Prepare and apply stencil

Step 6: pour ink

Once the stencil is applied and drying, put a new set of gloves
Shake your ink and pour it in the ink cup and get ready for tattooing

Teardown

Wash your hands and put on gloves
Remove needle from grip, put all needles in needle disposal container
Remove the plastic covering the tattoo bed without touching the top surface, wrap it in a ball and throw it away
Remove grip from machine and leave it on the station
Drop machine and cable out of plastic on the tattoo bed, leave the bags on the station
drop the wash bottle out of its bag onto the bed without touching it and leave the bag on the station
Wrap all the stuff on the station in the plastic without touching the top surface and throw it away, removing your gloves at the same time
Put on a new pair of gloves
Spray the tattoo bed, station top, machine, wash bottle, clip cord and power supply with medical disinfectant and leave on for the maximum length of the kill time

Green soap recipe

In a 16 oz wash bottle mix the pure green soap with distilled water in a ration of 1 part green soap for 8 parts water.

Tattoo stencil

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 00:00:00 EST

find size
Copy stencil
Prep skin
Apply stencil

Step 1: Find design size

Print the design in black and white in a size that seems good for the placement
Cut around the printed design and try it on the body of the client, making sure the size is good
If needed, resize with the printer, print again and double check the new size

Step 2: Copy stencil by hand

Once the good size was found, get a sheet of stencil paper and remove the tissue paper barrier
Tape the printed design on top of the stencil paper to prevent it from moving
Using a ballpoint pen, trace over the lines of the design while applying good pressure
Before removing the design, make sure all the lines are copied
Remove the taped design and cut the stencil to size
Place it onto the tattoo bed, stencil side up

Step 2: Copy stencil with a thermal stencil machine

Once the good size was found, tape the design on a blank sheet of paper, leaving some room at the bottom
Get a sheet of stencil paper and remove the tissue paper barrier
Place the stencil paper in the machine
Place the sheet with the design in the machine
Press copy and hold the stencil paper with both hands slowly pulling on it while it copies the design
Once the copy is done cut around the stencil and place it onto the tattoo bed, stencil side up

Step 3: Prep skin

Wash your hands and put on some gloves
Take your razor and shave very closely the area you’re gonna tattoo + around 2 inches
After the skin is shaved, use an alcohol pad or prep stuff to sterilize the skin

Step 4: Apply stencil

Once the alcohol has dried, apply a moderately generous amount of stencil stuff to the area, spreading it with your finger to get an even thin coat
Hold the stencil over the area and when really sure of placement apply it onto the skin starting from the middle
Slowly stick the rest of the stencil to the skin with your finger working from the middle towards the outside
Rub it slightly when it’s all stuck to the skin
Slowly peel the stencil off
Leave to dry for around 10 minutes

Bloodroot

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 00:00:00 EST

Aura Merlin

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 13 Apr 2022 00:00:00 EST

Wizardy dungeon synth logo for Aura Merlin

Aura Merlin logo

Vear

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 00:00:00 EST

I made this logo for the ritual noise project Vear inspired by occult symbolism and sigils.

Logo for vear, occult-like symbols and letters overlapping each others

Grimoire

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 09 Apr 2022 00:00:00 EST

Inverted Cross

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 09 Apr 2022 00:00:00 EST

Satanic Skull

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 09 Apr 2022 00:00:00 EST

Available flash

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 00:00:00 EST

Dark Fantasy

An ongoing series of pieces inspired by old-school DnD, dark fantasy and sword and sorcery. All pieces 6" minimum except the ones labelled small.

14 (small)

16 (small)

19 (small)

22 (small)

Fear the old blood

Ongoing series of flashes inspired by the blood-soaked streets of Yarnham and their underlying eldritch horrors. All pieces 8" minimum except the ones labelled small.

4 (small - repeatable)

5 (small - repeatable)

6 (small - repeatable)

Woodcuts

Flashes inspired by medieval bestiaries and folklore in a woodcut style, all pieces 6" minimum except the ones labelled small.

2 (small)

4 (small)

The Armory

The armory is an ongoing series of flash of imagined fantasy and historical weapons, from ornate ceremonial weapons to makeshift ones created from farm tools, magical swords and brutal weapons crafted by mysterious creatures of the woods. Minimum size for tattooing is 6", can be bigger too.

Book an appointment

Fill this form with your contact information and the flash you want. When you’ve completed it, hit the submit button and then send the email that it will generate for you. I will answer your request by email at the address you provide as soon as possible.

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Consent and acknoledgements

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Post-Civilization Anarchism

Lizbeth Poirier — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 00:00:00 EST

Post Civilization is an idea that I’ve first encountered when I was about 18, still in university, very much a self-described anarchist and at the time quite active in the student movements. Revisiting this idea of a way of living post-civilization that is more sustainable, more equal and more fulfilling still rings true 14 years later with the current climate crisis and the constant train wreck of late-stage capitalism.

The first iteration of that philosophy comes from a small zine published by Strangers In a Tangled Wilderness called Post-Civ! which starts like this:

Post-civilization is about scavenging the ruins, physical and cultural. Post-civilization is about taking what is appropriate from all of history and pre-history. It’s about an organic method of growth, where we can apply philosophies and structures and technologies and cultures as best suits any given situation.

It’s about the anarchist urban hunter-gatherer squatting the ruins of the city living side-by-side with the micro-hydro engineer who has rigged the water running through the sewers to power her gristmill. It’s about the permaculturalist who collects camera lenses to build solar cookers. It’s about the living food-forests that we’ll turn our towns into.

It’s about never laboring again. (In this case, we are defining labor as “unnecessary, un-enjoyable work”). Frankly, it’s about destroying civilization and saving the world and living a life of adventure and fulfillment.

This first zine was then expanded upon in a second one by Usul of the Blackfoot: A Deeper exploration into post-civilization anarchism which goes a lot more in depth in taking a critical lens to primitivist ideas and modern “western” civilization, arguing for the developing, experimenting and putting into practice the ideas of post-civilization anarchism while this current civilization decays.

It also defines the core values of post-civ anarchism as follows:

Synthesis

Scavenging & Adaptation

Anarchism

Sex & Gender Equality

Ecological Harmony & Stewardship

Permaculture

This aligns a lot for me with our necessity to re-evaluate how to move forwards as a species without destroying ourselves and our environment, it aligns with my beliefs that low-tech and appropriate technology is the way forward, that agroecology and permaculture are better ways of growing our food and cultivating the plants we need, it aligns with my yearning for a re-enchanted world, one filled with stories, folklore and customs that enrich everyday life, that uplifts the most vulnerable, promote more healthy ways of connecting with our feelings, with each others and with the people who came before us.

Anarchist reading list

La Conquête du Pain - Pierre Kropotkine
L’entraide - Pierre Kropotkine
An Introduction to Anarchism - Cindy Milstein
Anarchism: What It Really Stands For - Emma Goldman
The Progressive Plantation - Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin
Anarchy - Erico Malatesta
God and the State - Mikhail Bakunin
The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin
Tao Te Ching - Lao Tseu
NO! Against Adult Supremacy https://archive.org/details/no-against-adult-supremacy
The Descholarized Society - Illych
Expect Resistance, To Change Everything, Fighting for our lives - CrimethInc
Intro to Anarchy: power and violence

Three Swords Album Cover

Lizbeth Poirier — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 00:00:00 EST

Painting for the cover of the first album “Three Swords” of the local dungeon synth project Aura Merlin . The concept for the album was a lonely wanderer making their way to this cave in the woods in a quest to find three magical swords.

“Attack, threaten or defend
A gift, three swords, one choice
A passage to transcend
Through a smoky cavern, a voice..”

I was inspired by Russian landscape painters from the turn of the century for the colors and ruggedness of the trees in these kinds of snow-covered landscapes. The painting was made with acrylics on heavy paper.

I also made a logo for Aura Merlin which features on this cover and a layout for a cassette release of the album.

Painting of a cave in the snowy woods with smoke coming out of it and footprints leading into it

Full cover of the album with the painting, the title 'Three Swords' and the logo of the project

Cassette release of the album

Detail of the cassette sticker

Tattoo aftercare

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 00:00:00 EST

Aftercare routine
Recommended products
Stages of tattoo healing
Placements that need extra care
Signs of infection
Links

Aftercare routine

With specialized film (Saniderm)

Day 1

Keep the specialized tattoo film on your tattoo first the first 24h.

Day 2

If your tattoo artist gave you extra sheets of tattoo film, remove the tattoo film and clean the tattoo gently using your fingers with a mild antibacterial soap, pat dry with a paper towel. Then apply a new one on the clean tattoo and keep it for the following 5-6 days.

If you didn't get extra sheets of tattoo film, keep the one that's on your tattoo for the first 3-4 days and then switch to the washing and moisturizing routine.

Day 5 to 15

Remove the tattoo film and clean the tattoo gently using your fingers with a mild antibacterial soap, pat dry with a paper towel.
At this point you can switch to a routine of cleaning and moisturizing your tattoo.

Day 16 to 30

You can now switch to only moisturizing the tattoo multiple times a day when you feel it becoming dry.

With regular cling film

Day 1

3-4 hours after leaving the tattoo shop gently remove the bandage covering your tattoo.

I recommend using clean sheets that you don't care staining for the first few days of healing your tattoo.

Day 2

Start the washing and moisturizing routine: once during the day clean the tattoo gently using your fingers with a mild antibacterial soap, pat dry with a paper towel and then apply some moisturizing balm. Add moisturizing balm on the tattoo when you feel it getting dry during the day.

Always wash your hands before touching your tattoo (for applying balm for example).

Day 3 to 15

Continue the washing and moisturizing routine like on day 2.

Day 16 to 30

You can now switch to only moisturizing the tattoo multiple times a day when you feel it becoming dry.

Stages of tattoo healing

Stage 1 - Swelling, oozing, soreness (day 1 - 6)

This stage starts during the tattooing session or just after it finishes, the area of the tattoo is usually gonna be swollen, especially if a lot of shading or solid ink was done, the swelling comes from increased blood form in the damaged area, a way the body has to heal wounds. Additionally there may be oozing a mixture of blood, plasma and ink this is a normal part of the healing.

Stage 2 - Itching and flaking (day 7 - 14)

This is usually the most annoying phase, the tattoo and the skin around it will feel itchy and flakes of skin may come off, especially when cleaning the tattoo, it is important to refrain from scratching or pulling on the dry skin since it can damage the tattoo and create a pathway for bacteria. Dry scabs might start forming around that time too, these will protect the healing skin from bacteria and foreign substances.

Stage 3 - Dull and cloudy (day 15 - 30)

At that stage the top layer of the skin is healed but the lower layers of skin are still in their healing process. Most of the flakes of skins and scabs should be gone by now, depending on the size of the tattoo, bigger scabs may still remain. The tattooed skin may look shiny under some light during this phase and the tattoo itself may look dull and cloudy, this is normal. The clarity of the design will come back as the skin finishes to regenerate itself.

Placements that need extra care

Some tattoo locations need some extra care in order to help the healing process in addition to the aftercare routine outlined above.

Feet and ankles

Keep your tattooed feet elevated when sitting down or laying down the first days after getting the tattoo
Try to minimize rubbing on the fresh tattoo from socks / shoes, avoid walking long distances

Side and shoulder tattoos

These placements can make sleeping awkward and it’s best to try to keep the tattoo from rubbing or sticking to bedsheets during the healing process

Palm tattoos

It is recommended to get un-powdered exam gloves to cover the tattoo during the first phase of healing, change the gloves 4 times a day and apply lotion before putting on gloves.
After 4 days you can stop putting on the gloves and resume the normal aftercare routine

Signs of infection

Here are some early signs of infection, if your tattoo is infected, these symptoms will worsen over time. Keep a close eye on a tattoo that start to show any of these symptoms and if they persist or worsen, consult a doctor immediately.

Tattooed area feel warm to the touch
Increasing pain on or around the area
Worsening redness after phase 1
Bleeding from the scabs
Oozing fluids (especially if yellowish or greenish) after phase 1

Resources and links

Agroecology and Rewilding

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 00:00:00 EST

Small stream with native plants and logs

Introduction
Concrete examples
Links

Introduction

There’s no mystery that our relationship to nature and the way ecosystems work has shifted dramatically over time, basically almost from the time we started large scale cultivation of crops. Things got further aggravated during colonization with the import of exotic plants, animals and bugs that disrupted the existing relationships and balance present in the native ecosystem.

Rewilding is defined as “the planned reintroduction of a plant or animal species and especially a keystone species or apex predator (such as the gray wolf or lynx) into a habitat from which it has disappeared (as from hunting or habitat destruction) in an effort to increase biodiversity and restore the health of an ecosystem” by the Merriam Webster dictionary

Agroecology is defined as “an ecological approach to agriculture that views agricultural areas as ecosystems and is concerned with the ecological impact of agricultural practices”

Concrete examples

Shelled legumes contribute to re-inject nitrogen in the soil by channelling it from the atmosphere through their leaves and passing it down in the earth through their roots by a symbiotic process with bacteria. This could be used as an alternative to chemical nitrogen fertilizers which are derived from natural gas and petrol and release a lot of green house gases in the process of their manufacture.

Native Americans have been using a technique called the three sisters in order to maintain the quality of the soil they use to grow food. It consisted of planting corn, squash and beans in alternating rows.

Preserving and nurturing biodiversity is another way to make communities more resilient to crop failures caused by bacterias, fungus, insects or viruses (see the great famine in Ireland). The more varieties are cultivated or growing in an area the more rich and complex the ecosystem will be. And the easiest way to encourage that biodiversity is to into the local soil and learn about the native species that grow well in it.

8 Steps to rewilding a piece of land according to Douglas Tallamy

Shrink your lawn. Tallamy recommends halving the area devoted to lawns in the continental United States—reducing water, pesticide and fertilizer use. Replace grass with plants that sustain more animal life, he says: “Every little bit of habitat helps.”
Remove invasive plants. Introduced plants sustain less animal diversity than natives do. Worse, some exotics crowd out indigenous flora. Notable offenders: Japanese honeysuckle, Oriental bittersweet, multiflora rose and kudzu.
Create no-mow zones. Native caterpillars drop from a tree’s canopy to the ground to complete their life cycle. Put mulch or a native ground cover such as Virginia creeper (not English ivy) around the base of a tree to accommodate the insects. Birds will benefit, as well as moths and butterflies.
Equip outdoor lights with motion sensors. White lights blazing all night can disturb animal behavior. LED devices use less energy, and yellow light attracts fewer flying insects.
Plant keystone species. Among native plants, some contribute more to the food web than others. Native oak, cherry, cottonwood, willow and birch are several of the best tree choices.
Welcome pollinators. Goldenrod, native willows, asters, sunflowers, evening primrose and violets are among the plants that support beleaguered native bees.
Fight mosquitoes with bacteria. Inexpensive packets containing Bacillus thuringiensis can be placed in drains and other wet sites where mosquitoes hatch. Unlike pesticide sprays, the bacteria inhibit mosquitoes but not other insects.
Avoid harsh chemicals. Dig up or torch weeds on hardscaping, or douse with vinegar. Discourage crabgrass by mowing lawn 3 inches high.

Links and resources

Folk Horror

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 00:00:00 EST

The sun symbol from the titles of the Wicker Man movie

Introduction
Movies and television
Literature
Music
Links

Folk Horror refers to a mode of story-telling, a set of themes and to some extent an aesthetic movement fascinated by exploring the ways in which old rites, traditions and folklore can embed itself in the land and places, it digs for the ways in which humans over thousands of generations have imprinted the landscape and also how the landscape leave impressions on the human psyche.

“Hail Behemoth spirit of the dark. Take thou my blood, my flesh, my skin and walk. Holy Behemoth father of my life speak now, come now, rise now from the forest, from the furrow, from the fields and live!”
- from Blood on Satan’s Claw

It initially arose from the tension between modern life and the old ways, between the city and the countryside. Folk Horror plays with our yearning for nature and a return to the land and ideas of pastoral life while at the same time shining a light on the more dreadful side of rural living with its superstitions, repression, cults and real or metaphorical sacrifices.

god is dead, the old gods are back

By going back to the countryside and reconnecting with the old ways, folk horror unearths the bloody and traumatic history that lies buried in many places in the world, hidden behind a facade of civility and modernity. It also uses the stage of the rural village with its inhabitants meeting an outsider coming from the progressive and wealthy city to address class and culture tensions that are still very relevant today.

Folk Horror in movies and television

There is a very long list of movies and television shows using the mode and themes of folk-horror. In fact, in this new revival of folk horror it seems that cinema is the main media for which new stories are written and that contribute quite a lot for broadening the reach and scope of those stories. The unholy trinity of folk-horror films was strongly rooted in the British landscape, the new wave brings new horrors out of the soil through native American tales, ghost stories from Asia, legends from the Nordic country and more.

The Unholy Trinity

The Wicker Man, Robin Hardy - 1973
Blood on Satan’s Claw, Piers Haggard - 1971
Witchfinder General, Michael Reeves - 1968

First Wave of British Folk Horror

Children of the Stones (series), Peter Graham Scott - 1977
Stigma, Lawrence Gordon Clark - 1977
Penda’s Fen, Alan Clarke - 1974
The Stalls of Barchester, Lawrence Gordon Clark - 1971
The Owl Service, Peter Plummer - 1969-1970
Robin Redbreast, James MacTaggart - 1970
Whistle and I’ll come to you, Jonathan Miller - 1968
Quartermass and the pit, Roy Ward Baker - 1967

Folk Horror Revival

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, Kier-La Janisse - 2021
In the Earth, Ben Wheatley - 2021
Midsommar, Ari Aster - 2019
La Llorona, Jayro Bustamante - 2019
Koko-di Koko-da, Johannes Nyholm - 2019
SG̲aawaay Ḵ’uuna (The Edge of the Knife), Gwaai Edenshaw, Helen Haig-Brown - 2018
The VVitch, Robert Eggers - 2015
A Field in England, Ben Wheatley - 2013

Other notable movies

The Lair of the White Worm, Ken Russel - 1988
Wilczyca (the she-wolf), Marek Piestrak - 1983
The Hungry Grass, Archie Reid - 1981
VIY, Konstantin Ershov and Georgiy Kropachyov - 1967
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Sergei Parajanov - 1965

Folk Horror in music

Strangely, I first heard of the term folk horror used to describe music, since that first encounter I developed a fascination with everything related to this idea. The way it manifests in music is akin to how it does in film, through a variety of genres (from actual folk music to experimental electronics) but with a shared interest in some themes and aesthetics. Finding about Ghostbox records was another milestone in my exploration of musical folk horror, their curated collection feels like an extension of the early sonic explorations of the BBC radiophonic workshop and I would describe the music they release as the sound of hauntology .

Folk Horror in literature

Fiction and tales

Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology by Richard Wells
The Fiends in the Furrows: An Anthology of Folk Horror by Steve Toase
Casting the Runes by M. R. James
Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon
Randalls Round by Eleanor Scott
Works by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Writing about folk horror

Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful and Things Strange by Adam Scovell
We Don’t Go Back by Howard David Ingham

Old anthropological texts

The Golden Bough by James Fraser
The Witch-Cult in Western Europe by Margaret Alice Murray

Links and Resources

Bonbons aux patates

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 00:00:00 EST

Ingredients

1 small potato
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp of vegan butter
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
4 tbsp of peanut butter

Steps

Boil 1 small potato in water until it is soft when poked with a fork, around 15 min
Let the potato cool, when it is safe to handle, remove its skin and put in large mixing bowl
Add 1 tsp of vegan butter and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract to the potato and mash very well until there is no more clumps
Add 3 cups powdered sugar to the potato mixture in small batches while mixing together, it should create a semi-firm dough. If after the 3 cups the dough is still very runny, add more powdered sugar until a better consistency is achieved
Lay down a large piece of plastic film on a flat surface and spread the dough on it to create a long rectangle, approximately 4" wide
Spread 4 tbsp of peanut butter evenly on top of the dough rectangle
Grab the plastic film on one of the long sides and carefully roll the dough in roll. Keep the film wrapped around the roll tightly to help it keep it’s shape and place it into the refrigerator for a couple hours to harden
When the roll feel more firm, unwrap the plastic film and cut the roll into slices, enjoy!

Crust paper props

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 00:00:00 EST

I recently had the chance to work on the soundtrack for a narrated story called “Crust” released on the Library of the Occult label with Blood and Dust . The story is set in 1976 in rural England in the little town of Greenwood located close to a bog called Andertons Moss where in 1951 a well preserved prehistoric bog body apparently offered to the waters as ritual sacrifice was discovered.

These paper documents are ones that the main protagonist of the story, an archeologist looking for the truth behind Andertons Man’s death, encounters during her research. I made those to bring the story to life and give it a more tactile and physical presence.

A variety of papers and cardstock were used to match what would have been used in reality, like heavy white cardstock for the museum label, newsprint for the newspaper clipping and a thin off-white paper for the leaflet.

You can listen to the whole story and it’s soundtrack on Bandcamp: Crust story narrated by Peter Baker .

All the paper props

Detail of the page from the History and Folklore of Greenwood leaflet

Detail of the museum artefact label for the Anderton man bog body

Detail of the newspaper clipping reading Moss Man Unearthed

Hoisin Sauce

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 00:00:00 EST

Ingredients

1/3 cup hoisin sauce
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp hot sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp ginger
4 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
black pepper

Steps

If using apples, cut half an apple in small squares and put in a pan with 1/2 tsp of plant-based butter, cook until sligthly browned.
In a small pot combine 1/2 cup of rolled oats and 1 cup of water
Cook on medium/high until it boils, around 7 min while stirring.
Turn of the heat and add 2 tbsp of plant-based milk, mix well.
Once the oats and apples are ready, transfer them both to a bowl, then measure all the other ingredients and add them on top, stir well before eating and enjoy!

Swamp Lantern

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 00:00:00 EST

Mushy, heavy and psychedelic logo shrouded in thick smoke for the occult doom band Swamp Lantern .

Logo and icon

Logo only

Icon only

Arroliga

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 00:00:00 EST

Spiky neo-tribal inspired logo for the photographer Arroliga .

Outline version of the logo

Full color version

Imbolg

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 00:00:00 EST

Imbolg is an ancient Celtic festival and celebration that takes place on Feburary 1st in the northern hemisphere. Imbolg is a fire festival celebrating the promise of the return of spring or the rekindling of the solar hearth.

This festival is associated with the goddess Brigid (or Bríg) who is associated with wisdom, poetry, arts and crafts, healing, protection, blacksmithing and domesticated animals. It is said that Bridgid started the custom of keening.

“Moch maduinn Bhride,
Thig an nimhir as an toll,
Cha bhoin mise ris an nimhir,
Cha bhoin an nimhir rium.”

“Early on Bride’s morn
The serpent shall come from the hole,
I will not molest the serpent,
Nor will the serpent molest me.”
- Hymn to the serpent, coming out of slumber on Imbolc

Rituals and traditions

After a feast, each family would gather and making a Brigid’s cross, a cross made out of straw or reeds which would then be hung over a doorway for protection.

Associations

Symbols: Swan, Sheep, Serpent, Flame, Brigid’s cross
Colors: White, Silver and Green
Herbs and plants: Blackberry, Coltsfoot, Ginger, snowdrops
Trees: Rowan, Willow

Links and references

Imbolg lore

Research links

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 00:00:00 EST

Instruments

Music production

Music

Giant list of anti-fascist metal bands

The Travel Log

Lizbeth Poirier — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 00:00:00 EST

An illustrated logo inspired by old-school DnD Manuals made for the DnD lore podcast The Travel Log.

Travel log logo on an old tome illustration

Henbane

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 00:00:00 EST

A lettering piece made inspired by the henbane herb, used by european witches in their flying ointment.

Henbane lettering

Bosch Creature

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 00:00:00 EST

Small illustration of a creature form a Bosch painting made for an art trade.

Bosch creature illustration

Detail of the head and bird perched on the nose of the creature

Detail of the spiky tail of the cape

Chickpea flour omelet

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 00:00:00 EST

Ingredients

3/4 cup of chickpea flour
1/2 block of silken tofu
3/4 cup of plant-based milk
1/2 tsp of turmeric
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil for cooking

Steps

In a large bowl, mix 3/4 cup of chickpea flour, 1/2 block of silken tofu, 3/4 cup of plant-based milk, 1/2 tsp of turmeric and salt and pepper to taste with a whisk until smooth.
Heat up a pan with a little bit of oil in it, when it’s hot, pour half of the mix in the pan and cook for 5 minutes or until the bottom side starts to brown, no need to turn it over when it’s cooked.
Serve with fillings or on it’s own, enjoy!

My favourite recipes

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 00:00:00 EST

Breakfast
Sides
Pasta
Stews
Soups
Comfort food
Sandwiches
Desserts
Bread

Breakfast

Vegan buttermilk pancakes

Date bread

Latkes

Sides

Kimchi

Lembas

Grilled brussels sprouts

Potato salad

Pasta

Creamy mushroom pasta

Cauliflower mushroom pasta bake

Butternut squash pasta

Gochujang mushroom pasta

Alfredo truffle pasta

Tuscan gnocchi

Tuna casserole

Peanut tofu noodle bowls

Mushroom pasta

Soba noodles

carbonara noodles

Stews

Southern fried cabbage

Japanese curry

Spicy vegetable stew

Spanish rice with chickpeas

Moroccan Tagine

Dublin Coddle

Soups

Zuppa toscana

Coconut Curry soup

Creamy mushroom ramen

Potato and leek soup

Broccoli and cheese soup

Salads

Roasted carrots and chickpea salad

Comfort food

Lasagna

Curry mac and cheese

Tofu ribs

Cauliflower buffalo wings

Spanakopita

Wellington

Mushroom quesadillas

Loaded baked potatoes

Cauliflower and butternut squash gratin

Mushroom lentil loaf

Corn Pone

Hard tacos with beyond meat

Lentils and mushrooms on mashed potatoes

Quiche

Fish and chips

Mexican rice

shepherd's pie

Sandwiches

Tempeh Reuben Sandwich

Banh mi

Jerk wrap

Chicken ceasar wrap

Desserts

Depression cake

Cinnamon rolls

Brownies

Banana bread

Fruit cake

Tofu chocolate mousse

Pumpkin cake

Butternut squash pudding

Cinnamon rolls

Welsh cakes

Oatmeal raisin cookies

Peanut butter cookies

Choco chips cookies

Gingersnaps

Vegan cheese

Cashew camembert

Vegan camembert

cheese making supplies

Sauces

Marinara sauce

Mushroom ketchup

Peanut sauce

Alfredo Sauce

Dips and butters

Vegan nutella

Bread

Sourdough starter

Breakfast sausage bread

Borodinski bread

Apple crisp oats

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 00:00:00 EST

Ingredients

1/2 cup of rolled oats
1 cup of water
2 tbsp of plant-based milk
2 tbsp of brown sugar
half an apple or 2 tbsp of applesauce
1/2 tsp of plant-based butter (if using apples)
small handful of granola
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Steps

If using apples, cut half an apple in small squares and put in a pan with 1/2 tsp of plant-based butter, cook until sligthly browned.
In a small pot combine 1/2 cup of rolled oats and 1 cup of water
Cook on medium/high until it boils, around 7 min while stirring.
Turn of the heat and add 2 tbsp of plant-based milk, mix well.
Once the oats and apples are ready, transfer them both to a bowl, then measure all the other ingredients and add them on top, stir well before eating and enjoy!

Wassail

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 22 Jan 2022 00:00:00 EST

Illustration for a small game made by James Chip inspired by the folk tradition of wassailing.

Cover illustration showing a tree, apples, and a playing card

Page frame with trees

Small detail illustration showing a ribbon connecting a tree, a mug of hot drink, a playing card and the setting sun

Glaive of Mars

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 00:00:00 EST

One of the magical items found in my chtonic travels, a symbolic glaive associated with the god Mars.

Pencil and acrylic on paper, 5" x 9" - 2022

Painting of a small glaive with a wolf guard, a pommel representing two snakes eating each others tails and a tip from which a flame rises

Detail of the pommel with two gold snakes

Detail of the tip of the glaive, coated with gold

Detail of the wolf that ornates the guard

Black Tongue Silver

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 00:00:00 EST

Hand-drawn lettering for the jeweller Black Tongue silver , who makes medieval weapon inspired silver jewelry.

Logo in black

Logo in white

Hex Ritual

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 00:00:00 EST

All the variants of the logo and sigil

Logo in black with texture

Logo in white, alone

Sketching process

Fantômes Zine - issue 1

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 00:00:00 EST

Fantômes was my first zine project, one that started very small when I realized that I could regroup in a zine my obsession with ghosts, the drawings I made of them and the photos of ghostly places I took. Then I asked around to see if other people would be interested in creating or writing pieces about ghosts, and got an incredible response. I then spent the next 6 months collecting, assembling, laying out and illustrating all that material to form what became the first issue of this little zine. This project regroups all of the drawings I made for the zine, from my personal standalone pieces to the more illustrative page frames and fillers to accompany the different stories and written pieces.

Cover illustration and lettering

The cover illustration'

The frame for the introduction page of the zine

Small illustrations for the bookmark

Page details and border illustrations

Page fillers for 'The Solitary Tree' story

Illustrations in context of the pages

Candelabra illustration on the right hand side printed on velum paper

A page frame for 'practised hands, doubtful eyes'

The page frame illustration for 'Ghosts'

Small page filler

Page accents for the story by Michael Wolf

More page frames for the 'minous' story

Introduction page illustration in process

A hand-drawn sigil on an edited photograph

Frame for the mixtape page

A dark souls inspired illustration spanning a small spread

Small accent for the 'ghost hospitality' story

Mundaun

Lizbeth Poirier — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 00:00:00 EST

A pencil drawing inspired by the alpine folk-horror game Mundaun . I was really fascinated by it’s locations, characters, objects and beautiful hand-pencilled textures that blend the whole world of the game into a morphing and moving drawing.

Detail of the headless goat

Close-up photo of the drawing, showing the pencilled textures

Detail of the chapel

The finished drawing on my work table

Sickle of the Sun

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:00:00 EST

One of the magical items found in my chtonic travels, a symbolic sickle connected with the sun.

Pencil and acrylic on paper, 5" x 9" - 2022

Painting of a bronze sickle with a pommel featuring a solar symbol

Close up of the handle, wrapped with leather strips and the pommel

Detail of the tip of the blade

Detail of the pencil and acrylic textures on the blade and the background

Vampire Lock

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 00:00:00 EST

I sculpted this vampiric lock on top of a real steel padlock and kept it functional. The inspiration for it was a drawing I made last year which you can find in my Sketchbook of December 2020 . My intent was to make something that feels old and a bit out of time and slightly threatening, something you think twice before unlocking.

The completed and painted vampiric lock

We used this lock in a recent photoshoot for our band Blood and dust .

The lock in a photoshoot

Basing myself on the initial drawing, I made a more precise drawing of how I saw the lock. Then I used it as a pattern to cut multiple layers of styrene to shape which were then glued to form the face of the lock.

It all starts with sketches

Then began the cutting and carving of the styrene parts.

Cutting the gothic arches

Shaping the wings

Once the styrene parts were sculpted and sanded, I started working the the vampire’s face with green stuff (a type of epoxy putty).

Sculpting the vampire face with green stuff

Adding the wings

All parts that needed to be sculpted that way are now done

The final step once I was happy with the overall sculpt and the details of it was painting. The whole thing was painted with acrylics, then weathered with oil paints and finally some metallic accents were added to simulate chipped paint.

Basecoat done, starting to define the shading and tones

I also made a box to contain the lock out of an old toy box I had around that I covered with heavy black paper and then distressed using my usual techniques: sanding, painting with acrylics, rubbing with a dirty cloth and just generally mistreating it.

The distressed box made to contain the lock

Sun Invocation

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 00:00:00 EST

A singular flame, borrowed from the sun, captured in paint on wood, enshrined in a sigil.

Acrylic on wood, 6" x 6" - 2021

Final painting, an oil lamp lit with a sigil to the son overlaid over it

On winter solstice of this year 2021, I had the feeling that I should take painting back again, after more than 10 years. For a year now I’ve been going on personal and artistic journeys on the solstices and equinoxes, looking for insights and inspiration. It started with a walk through the neighbouring park, feeling the cold wind on my face and absorbed by the bright setting sun.

The sun through some branches

I knew the sun and warmth would come back but I also knew that dark, cold and lonely days and months were coming, especially with the plague looming over the city. I made an offering to the sun god that day, and asked in return if I could carry a single flame of it’s fire for the coming months. This painting is that flame, captured in paint on wood, enshrined in a sigil.

First layer done, the lantern containing a single flame of the sun

Drafting the sigil

Transferring the points on the surface

Faint reference lines

Underworld I

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 00:00:00 EST

This small painting is the first in an ongoing series of depictions of chtonic travels, or katabasis, spiritual descent to the underworld in search of knowledge, lost souls or magical items.

Acrylic on wood, 6" x 8" - 2021

Small painting representing a large cave with fire coming from below it, large bonfires are lit inside of it surrounded by tiny figures

Detail of the lower part of the painting, showing a ledge, some rising smoke and fire

Extreme close up of the painting showing tiny figures with torches assembled around a bonfire

Details of the ceiling of the cave, covered with stalactites

Irish Potato Soup

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 26 Dec 2021 00:00:00 EST

Ingredients

4 large potatoes
2 large onions
1/2 cup kale
3 garlic cloves
1 seitan sausage
2 tsp of oil
3 plant-based bacon slices
4 tbsp of vegan butter
2 cups of vegetable broth
4 cups of plant-based milk
1 tsp dried sage
2 tsp dried parsley
salt and pepper
1/3 cup vegan parmesan

Steps

Cut 4 large potatoes and 2 large onions and 3 garlic cloves in thin slices and put them into a large pot along with 4 tbsp of vegan butter.
Add 2 cups of vegetable broth to the pot along with 1 tsp dried sage , 2 tsp dried parsley, salt and pepper, cover and turn the heat to medium, letting it cook until the potatoes are soft.
While the soup cooks, cut 1 seitan sausage and 3 plant-based bacon slices into small cubes and and to a frying pan along with 2 tsp of oil.
When the potatoes are soft (approx. 30 min) add 4 cups of plant-based milk to the pot, taste and adjust the level of spices and salt and keep cooking for 15 min.
While the soup is cooking, turn the heat to high under the frying pan and cook the sausages and bacon well until browned and crispy.
When everything is ready, use a potato masher and break down the potatoes in the soup, you don’t have to make it super smooth, keeping some chunks is nice.
Serve with freshly cut kale, sausages, bacon and some parmesan on top, enjoy!

Magical Correspondences

Lizbeth Poirier — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 00:00:00 EST

Correspondences are links between different symbolic ideas, objects, moments and ingredients. These are useful in different magical and alchemical practices to enhance the effect of a spell or ritual. I also find them useful as reference to create symbolic artworks , create sigils or to be used as a guide and tool for introspection and self-discovery.

Day correspondences

Day	Intent	Planet	Astrological sign	Element	Colors	Deities
Monday	Emotions, dreams, clairvoyance	Moon	Cancer	Water	White and greys	Selene, Luna, Diana, and Artemis
Tuesday	intent	Mars	Scorpio	Fire	Red and warm shades	Mars, Ares
Wednesday	Communication, writing, art, creativity, mental activities	Mercury	Gemini, Virgo	Air	Yellow, grey and mixed hues	Mercury, Hermes
Thursday	Intentions, abondance, goals, opportunities	Jupiter	Sagittarius, Pisces	Fire	Blue and purple	Zeus and Thor
Friday	Love, friendship, emotions, beauty, sex	Venus	Libra, Taurus	Air, Water	Green, light blue, pink and copper	Venus, Aphrodite
Saturday	Retribution, banishment, protection	Saturn	Capricorn	Earth	Black and dark shades	Saturn, Hecate
Sunday	intent	Sun	Leo	Fire	Gold and orange	Helios, Apollo, Lugh, and Bel

Planetary magic

Lizbeth Poirier — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 00:00:00 EST

Classical planets
Modern planets
Links and references

The seven classical planets

The Sun ☉

Representative of the ego, the self, the identity. Strong and powerful.
The modern symbol of the sun, the circumpunct, was first used during the Renaissance, it represents Apollo’s golden shield with a boss. The older medieval symbol (and alchemical symbol of gold) was a disk with a ray 🜚. In alchemy, the sun is the supreme light, the cyclical nature of the process and is associated with the conscious, energy and the ego.

Associated metal: Gold
Associated day: Sunday
Associated color: Gold Associated organ: Heart

“The Days and Hours of the Sun are very good for perfecting experiments regarding temporal wealth, hope, gain, fortune, divination, the favour of princes, to dissolve hostile feeling, and to make friends.”
- the Key of Solomon

6	32	3	34	35	1
7	11	27	28	8	30
19	14	16	15	23	24
18	20	22	21	17	13
25	29	10	9	26	12
36	5	33	4	2	31

The Planetary Square of the Sun

The Moon ☾

Mysterious and divinatory, intuition and emotions.
The crescent as been used to represent the moon since the earliest time, first with it’s horns pointing upwards, then pointing to the side. It is linked with silver in alchemy and rules over emotions, intuition and imagination.
Associated metal: Silver
Associated day: Monday
Associated color: Purple
Associated organ: Brain

“The Days and Hours of the Moon are good for embassies; voyages; envoys; messages; navigation; reconciliation; love, and the acquisition of merchandise by water.”
- the Key of Solomon

37	78	29	70	21	62	13	54	5
6	38	79	30	71	22	63	14	46
47	7	39	80	31	72	23	55	15
16	48	8	40	81	32	64	24	56
57	17	49	9	41	73	33	65	25
26	58	18	50	1	42	74	34	66
67	27	59	10	51	2	43	75	35
36	68	19	60	11	52	3	44	76
77	28	69	20	61	12	53	4	45

The Planetary Square of the Moon

Mars ♂

Aggression and war The symbol of mars is an arrow emerging from a circle, it represents the spear and shield of the god Mars and was used as the symbol of iron in alchemy.
Associated metal: Iron
Associated day: Tuesday
Associated color: Red
Associated organ: Gall blader

“In the Days and Hours of Mars thou canst make experiments regarding War; to arrive at military honour; to acquire courage; to overthrow enemies; and further to cause ruin, slaughter, cruelty, discord; to wound and to give death.”
- the Key of Solomon

11	24	7	20	3
4	12	25	8	16
17	5	13	21	9
10	18	1	14	22
23	6	19	2	15

The Planetary Square of Mars

Mercury ☿

Communication, deceit, trickery.
The symbol for mercury is a caduceus, a staff intertwined with two serpents carried by the god Mercury. In alchemy the symbol could be the combination of gold (sun), silver (moon) and vinegar (matter). Associated metal: Mercury
Associated day: Wednesday
Associated color: Orange
Associated organ: Lungs

“The Days and Hours of Mercury are good to operate for eloquence and intelligence; promptitude in business; science and divination; wonders; apparitions; and answers regarding the future. Thou canst also operate under this Planet for thefts; writings; deceit; and merchandise.”
- the Key of Solomon

8	58	59	5	4	62	63	1
49	15	14	52	53	11	10	56
41	23	22	44	45	19	18	48
32	34	35	29	28	38	39	25
40	26	27	37	36	30	31	33
17	47	46	20	21	43	42	24
9	55	54	12	13	51	50	16
64	2	3	61	60	6	7	57

The Planetary Square of Mercury

Jupiter ♃

Growth, expansion. The symbol for Jupiter is the greek letter Zeta with a stroke to indicate that it is used as an abbreviation for the god Zeus. In alchemy it’s symbol is the combination of silver (moon) and vinegar (matter) and is associated with tin. It rules over wisdom, justice and knowledge. Associated metal: Tin
Associated day: Thursday
Associated color: Blue
Associated organ: Liver

“The Days and Hours of Jupiter are proper for obtaining honours, acquiring riches; contracting friendships, preserving health; and arriving at all that thou canst desire.”
- the Key of Solomon

4	14	15	1
9	7	6	12
5	11	10	8
12	2	3	13

The Planetary Square of Jupiter

Venus ♀

Love, beauty and sex.
The symbol for Venus is a circle with a small cross below, representing the mirror of the goddess Venus, older versions did not have a cross at the bottom. In alchemy it’s symbol is a combination of gold (sun) and vinegar (matter) and is associated with copper.
Associated metal: Copper
Associated day: Friday
Associated color: Green
Associated organ: Kidneys

“The Days and Hours of Venus are good for forming friendships; for kindness and love; for joyous and pleasant undertakings, and for traveling.”
- the Key of Solomon

22	47	16	41	10	35	4
5	23	48	17	42	11	29
30	6	24	49	18	36	12
13	31	7	25	43	19	37
38	14	32	1	26	44	20
21	39	8	33	2	27	45
46	15	40	9	34	3	28

The Planetary Square of Venus

Saturn ♄

Discipline, limits and time.
The symbol for Saturn is based on the lower case eta greek letter with the abbreviation stroke only surviving as the curve at the bottom. It also got it’s cross like the other symbols, to appear more christian.
Associated metal: Lead
Associated day: Saturday
Associated color: Black
Associated organ: Spleen

“In the Days and Hours of Saturn, thou canst perform experiments…to cause good or ill success to business, possessions, goods, seeds, fruits and similar things, in order to acquire learning; to bring destruction and give death, and to sow hatred and discord.”
- the Key of Solomon

4	9	2
3	5	7
8	1	6

The Planetary Square of Saturn

Modern planets

Uranus ⛢

The symbol for Uranus comes from the combination of the Iron and Gold alchemical symbols, creating the one for platinum. Another symbol was proposed, an orb with the letter H over it ♅.
Associated color: Black

Earth 🜨

The symbol for Earth is a circle crossed by two lines representing the world divided by four rivers. A medieval European variant was the globus cruciger ♁ the globe surmounted by a cross. In alchemy earth is associated with vinegar (matter) and it’s symbol is a cross.

Neptune ♆

The symbol for Neptune is the trident of the god Neptune.

Pluto ♇

The symbol of Pluto is a monogram of the letters P and L. An alternative symbol is a bident surmounted by an orb. The alchemical symbol of Pluto allies vinegar (matter), coal (darkness) and alum (spirit) symbolizing revolution, quick and sudden inner / spiritual change, death and rebirth.

Asteroids and minor planets

Links and references

Research links

Lizbeth Poirier — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 00:00:00 EST

References, archives and research material on illustration and art

Essays and interviews
Archives
References

Essays and interviews

Courses and drawing practice

References

“Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void but out of chaos.” - Mary Shelley

Flail prop

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 00:00:00 EST

I made a handle for an existing chain and spiky ball that I got as a gift in order to turn them into a flail replica. The feel of the leather on the handle and the weight of the chain and ball is really nice, makes you want to fight enemies in a dank dungeon.

The flail, it's long chain and spiky ball

The whole thing in context

Symbolism in art

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 00:00:00 EST

The Three Fates by Alexander Rothaug

Overview and themes
Notable artists

Overview and themes

Symbolism was a literary and visual art movement from the late 19th century of French, Russian and Belgian origins. Literature, myth religion and poetry are it’s main sources of inspiration material, with artists drawing from old mythology, medieval poetry and more modern pieces like Les Fleurs du Mal from Charles Baudelaire as inspiration for visual pieces. Starting in 1870, in a context of great scientific and industrial development in Europe, poets initially and then painters initiated this movement in reaction to the fading of spirituality in this new era of rationality and industry.

One key aspect of symbolic works of art is their detachment from direct representation of things that exist but instead try to convey emotions, dreams and ideas through the use of symbols and codified visual language. The symbols can be integrated in the artworks in different ways, either personified through characters or animals, sometimes carved or inscribed on the architecture present in the drawing or painting or drawn on top of the image, like an overlay of meaning.

In the Symbolist Manifesto, Jean Moreas presents it as such:

“Ainsi, dans cet art, les tableaux de la nature, les actions des humains, tous les phénomènes concrets ne sauraient se manifester eux-mêmes ; ce sont là des apparences sensibles destinées à représenter leurs affinités ésotériques avec des Idées primordiales.”

(Thus, in this art movement, representations of nature, human activities and all real life events don’t stand on their own; they are rather veiled reflections of the senses pointing to archetypal meanings through their esoteric connections.)

Most of the symbolist artworks and poetry were seen by very few people, mostly amongst small circles of symbolist artists or through some petites revues (small magazines) in France. Partly because of the hermetic and occult aspect of the works but also because of the desire of the artists to stay in the margins of the art world.

Contemporary artists working in this path

Notable 19th century artists

Agnes Slott-Moller
Akseli Gallen-Kallela
Austin Osman Spare
Arnold Böcklin
Alexander Rothaug
Boleslas Biegas
Carlos Schwabe
Carlo Farneti
Cayley Robinson
Elihu Vedder
Edvard Munch
Lady Frieda Harris
Félicien Rops
Ferdynand Ruszczyc
Fernand Khnopff
Franz Von Stuck
Gaston de Latenay
George Frederick Watts
Gustav Adolf Mossa
Gustav Klimt
Gustave Moreau
Hans Thomas
Jean Delville
John Duncan
Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach
Maria Yakunchikova
Maximilian Pirner
Max Klinger
Mstislav Dobuzhinsky
Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis
Mikhail Vrubel
Odilon Redon
R. H. Ives Gammell
Sascha Schneider
Victor hugo
Viktor Vasnetsov
Hans Thoma

Pre-19th century artists that would have been at home in the movement

William Blake
Salvator Rosa
Gustave Doré
Francisco Goya
Caspar David Friedrich
John Martin

Links and reference

Wassail

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 00:00:00 EST

Ingredients

3 large baking apples, peeled and cored
4 cups of ale, beer or cider (alcohol free if desired)
1/2 cup of sugar
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half, or 1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
zest of 1 lemon

Steps

Pre-heat your oven to 400°F, cut 3 large baking apples in thick slices and arrange them in a baking dish, sprinkle a bit of sugar on top. Cover with aluminium foil and bake for 30 minutes.
While the apples are cooking, combine 4 cups of ale, beer or cider, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 cinnamon stick, or 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger and the zest of 1 lemon in a large pot. Heat slowly and bring to a simmer, be careful not to let the mixture boil.
When the apples are ready, place them in a bowl and pour the wassail on them, serve hot along with friends while partaking in wassailing

Black Metal December 2021

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:00:00 EST

As I did in 2017 , I’m making a black metal inspired typography piece every day of the month of December.

Grief

Systemic racism

Wassail

Cold

Chagrin

Fanghorn

Dungeon

Nameless dread

Summoning

Occult

Hive

Krampus

Den of evil

Stone Circle

The Return of the Repressed

Goth Resentment

Veil

Ruined Tower

Nazgul

Bog Body

Chthonien

Repainted toy scythe

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:00:00 EST

I repainted and added a wooden handle to this toy scythe we found in a thrift store. I find it has quite a Giger-esque feel to it and works wonders as a photo prop now.

Detail of the head of the scythe

The whole thing in context

Dungeon Synth Covers

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 14 Nov 2021 00:00:00 EST

Cassette sleeve designs for fictional dungeon synth albums, I’m definitely interested in making real ones so if you have a dungeon synth project and are looking for some cover art contact me!

Silent Gnome - A Contemplative Stroll Through the Castle ruins

Mournful Sorcery - A Dark Conjuring of Shadows

Depressive Goblin - Into the Deep Caves of Despair

The Witches of Alicudi

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 14 Nov 2021 00:00:00 EST

Illustration inspired by the folklore of the flying witches of Alicudi made for cvstomer service zine, a folk-horror zine, you can get the zine here: https://cvstomerservice.bigcartel.com/products

The flying witches of Alicudi, transforming into animals over a grain mill and some infected wheat

Detail of the grain mill

Around Your Grave I'll Light a ring of Fire

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 13 Nov 2021 00:00:00 EST

Cover artwork for a new single by Blood and Dust, listen to it on BandCamp here: https://blood-and-dust.bandcamp.com/track/around-your-grave-ill-light-a-ring-of-fire

Personal artifacts

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 00:00:00 EST

This ongoing series documents my personal collections of artifacts, some with historical significance, some purely some stick or rock found in the woods somewhere, but all with meaning and a past of future story attached to them. In archeology, artifacts are only as precious as their well-documented provenance and context that allows them to tell a more complete story. These items that I found, unearthed or bought have a story of their own but also a story that I made for them, this is an exercise in collecting those stories so they can be shared and hopefully inspire other people to create stories of their own for their favourite found objects.

Dark Folklore illustrations for Disturbia

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 00:00:00 EST

Pencil and ink digital illustrations and lettering pieces around themes of folklore and magic made for the brand Disturbia .

First flash sheet containing mushrooms, standing stones and a witch bottle

Second flash sheet with a corn dolly, ritual dagger, green man and frog in a coffin

Last flash sheet containing a hand of glory and the head of a mari lwyd

Failed utopia

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 00:00:00 EST

Brutalist ruins of Montreal’s olympic stadium and surrounding public spaces.

Mushroom risotto

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 10 Oct 2021 00:00:00 EST

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of arborio rice
2 cups of mushrooms (wild ones are the best)
1/2 cup of vegan parmesan
4 cups of vegetable broth
1.5 cup of light beer
2 tablespoons of vegan butter
3 tsp of fresh thyme
a pinch of salt
a pinch of pepper
green onions or chives

Steps

Roughly cut the mushrooms in medium sized-chunks
Heat up 4 cups of vegetable broth in a pot until simmering, keep at that temperature throughout the cooking process, also keep a cup nearby to transfer the broth
Put 1 tablespoon of vegan butter in a pan with the cut mushrooms and cook them slowly until they are slightly browned
Put the remaining 1 tablespoon of vegan butter in a large pot and add 1 1/2 cups of arborio rice, roast the rice on high intensity for 2-3 minutes in the butter
Lower the burner of the rice to low and start adding the broth to the rice, 1 cup at a time, stirring while the rice cooks and absorbs the broth, then adding more
Once all the broth as been absorbed the rice should have doubled in size, it’s time to add 1.5 cup of light beer to the rice and cook it a bit more while stirring
Once the beer has absorbed, turn off the heat and add 3 tsp of fresh thyme, the cooked mushrooms, 1/2 cup of vegan parmesan, and some salt and pepper to taste, mix well to incorporate all the ingredients
Serve with some chopped green onions or chives and the leftover from the beer used to cook the risotto, enjoy!

Folktober 2021

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 00:00:00 EST

The green man

Jenny Greenteeth

Green childen of Woolpit

Drawing of standing stones in a forest clearing

Photo of the standing stones drawing resting on a large stone

First page of the Jabberwocky poem with the head of the creature poking out

Second page of the Jabberwocky poem with the vorpal sword

A human horse hybrid demon from scotland, the Nucklavee

The Wyvern, a bipedal dragon on a shield

Vacarme Hurlant

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 00:00:00 EST

Logo for a blackened death metal band from Quebec.

Vacarme Hurlant logo in white on black

Vacarme Hurlant logo in black on white

Hex

Lizbeth Poirier — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 00:00:00 EST

Let your demons out.

A demonic portrait of Hex with a long tongue, death stare and horns, surrounded by a crown of spikes with their name in black metal font at the bottom

The same portrait but in a monochrome red palette

The Onion Knight

Lizbeth Poirier — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 00:00:00 EST

The Onion Knight from Dark Souls one, sitting at the gate and wondering about life.

The Onion Knight from Dark Souls one, sitting at the gate and wondering about life

Foulest Witch

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 00:00:00 EST

Hand-drawn logo, sigil and illustrations for Foulest Witch, a black metal, dark ambient and ritual music label.

Complete logo with sigil and lettering

Sigil

Sigil with text

Dagger and candleholder

Wheel Skeleton

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 00:00:00 EST

One of the skeletons tied to gigantic spiked wheels from Dark Souls.

Nicole Marxen

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 00:00:00 EST

Hand-drawn band logo for the solo project of Nicole Marxen , a mix of avant-garde pop, synthwave and experimental rock. Her first album is a meditation on grief and the painful and messy process of going through these feelings, in her own words: “I often compare the experience to uncovering a crystal, digging through foundation to discover something both jagged and brilliantly beautiful.”

Logo on a project photo

Logo in grey on black

Nihtgengan

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 00:00:00 EST

Hand-drawn band logo for the oniric dungeon synth / darkambient project Nihtgengan

Nihtgengan logo in white on black

Nihtgengan logo in black on white

Research links

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 00:00:00 EST

Where I keep my references for crafting, woodworking, low-tech, permacomputing and low-bandwidth web projects.

Small web
Woodworking
Tools
Electronics
Drawing
Other crafts

Small web

Woodworking

Reproductions of early furniture

Tools

Electronics

Drawing and illustration

tool to find animal references in a specific angle

Other crafts

Tattooing

Lizbeth Poirier — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 00:00:00 EST

Terms
Tools
Supplies
Technique
Safety
Links

Terms

CYCLE

; Refers to the cycle of motion of the motor of the tattoo machine, pushing the needle out and back in the tube.

DWELL TIME

; How long the needle is staying in the skin during it's cycle.

GIVE (or SPRINGYNESS)

; The less dwell time a machine has the more springiness or give it has. This is desirable because it reduces the chances of damaging the skin by dragging needles inside the skin while tattooing.

STROKE LENGTH

; How much the needle travels in and out of the tip during the cycle, measured in mm.

THROW (or HANG)

; How much of the needle hangs out of the tip when the machine is at rest.

LINING

; Tattooing the solid lines of a tattoo.

SHADING

; Tattooing the shaded, gradient parts of a tattoo.

Tools

Needles • Needle types • Machines •

Needles

Needles come pre-packaged in a sterile package either with just the needle, the needle and a disposable tube or needle in a cartridge (for rotary machines). Needles have an expiry date so check that.

Needle codes looks like this: 9RL In which the 9 is the amount of needles and RL is the type of needle, in this case a round liner.

Needle Types

Round Liners (RL)

Needles grouped in a circle, good for lines, needles are more tightly packed together.

Flat liners (FL)

Single row of needles, used for lining and whip shading.

Round shaders (RS)

Similar to round liner needles but with the needles spread out more for easier shading.

Magnum (M1 - weaved or M2 - stacked or RM - round grouping)

Needles lined up in a row to cover more ground, there is two types of magnum needles, weaved and stacked, weaved magnums have the needle more spaced out than stacked magnums. Magnums can have a flat or round grouping, meaning that either all the needles get equally deep in the skin in the ones in the middle go deeper than the ones on the side.

Bug pin

Needles are needles made using smaller individual needles than standard needles, all types of needle stacks can come with bug pin needles.

Complete guide to tattoo needles

Machines

There is coil machines and rotary machines. Coil machines use electromagnets in a simple circuit with a spring and contact screw in order to create the reciprocating action needed to tattoo. Coil machines on the other hand use a rotary motor that drives a cam connected to the needle to make it go in and out of the skin.

More and more, tattoo artists are moving from using coil machines to using rotary machines, the main advantages being ease of setup and tuning, reduced noise and vibration and ability to use needle cartridge and change needles easily on the same machine during a session. The rest of this guide will be oriented towards rotary machines.

Machine accessories to keep in stock:

disposable grips
Rubber nipples (to connect the needle to the bar)
Machine bags
Cable bags
tape for machine bags

Machine types / configurations

when coil machines were the main type of machines used for tattooing, often artists would have multiple ones, setup differently for different tasks. Here’s a list of the different uses and what characteristics are most desirable for the task. Some newer rotary machines have adjustable configurations that allow to do most of those with a single machine.

Liner

Runs fast and has usually a longer stroke length to get the ink in in one pass.

Shader

Runs slower and has a shorter stroke length in order to make smoother gradients and transitions. Running the machine extra-slowly can be useful for techniques like whip shading.

Color-packer

Vlad Blad Avenger 2 pro stroke and voltage cheat sheet

Small lines (under 7 RL): 4.2 stroke at 7V Big lines (7 RL and up): 4.7 stroke at 7V Stipple and whip shading: 4.7 or 5.5 stroke at 3.5V Smooth shading: Color packing:

Supplies

Inks

TODO

Technique

Setting up the station

Before the client even shows up I have to setup my station with my machine and all the supplies i’ll need to tattoo, I made a tattoo station setup and teardown guide for that.

Preparing the skin and applying the stencil

Before any work can begin, the area of the skin to be tattooed has to be shaved closely and disinfected. This is to avoid pushing hairs or bacteria and viruses that could be living on the skin inside the body and potentially creating infection. It will also prepare the skin to receive the stencil.

A stencil is an image used as a reference while tattooing, it can be either drawn freehand with a skin-safe disposable marker or transferred on the skin with stencil paper. Stencil paper can be used with a thermal printer or by hand by drawing over it. I made a tattoo stencil guide that details the steps in making one and applying it.

Lining

TODO

Shading

TODO

Safety

Studio layout • Sharps disposal

General studio layout advice

Have a sink dedicated to hand washing in tattoo room
Have a separate sterilization room, don’t wash hands in contaminated sink
Have a bathroom used just for bathroom stuff
Put signs with hand washing instructions at every sink
Put “do not touch” signs and biohazard signs on all surfaces that should not be touched (workstation, garbage bin, etc.)
Make sure all surfaces are non porous in bathroom and tattoo room
Keep wall mounted liquid hand soap and wall mounted paper towel dispenser beside each sink
Keep hand sanitizer in tattoo room near workstation and in entrance
Keep all equipment in drawers until it needs to be used

Sharps and sharps disposal

Always use single use and disposable sharps (needles, razors, etc)
Inspect packaging of pre-sterilized sharps to make sure it’s not been compromised
Dispose immediately after use in a sharps container
Dispose of the full sharps container when it’s 3/4 full
Install the sharps container on a proper wall mount as close as practical to the use area
Look into service that picks up biohazard waste

Links and References

Ariel Doom

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 00:00:00 EST

A lettering piece made for the black metal-themed art project of a friend, see more over on her instagram .

Ariel Doom logo in white on black

Ariel Doom logo in black on white

Leather belt

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 00:00:00 EST

I made this leather belt out of scraps of leather and metal rings years ago, I recently added some removable chains and straps to it. I carry on it my small sickle, a mask and sometimes I hang other useful things from the rings when I go out.

Leather belt and sickle in it's sheath

Leather belt with chains

Saguenay travel photography

Lizbeth Poirier — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 00:00:00 EST

Hiking and climing to see the fjords, riding kids bikes down construction lanes, eating risotto as breakfast, a first escape during the plague.

The fjords of Saguenay

Tall cliffs shrouded in fog

Grass-roofed cabin

Dying little jumping mouse on a bed of moss

Mushrooms on log

Hex capturing my soul

A miniature moss forest in a tiny cave

Looming cabins

Massive lead and wood religious statue hiding behind trees

Cozy spot in the woods

Endless roots growing on a boulder

Late evening car ride

More moss

Squatting forest goth

Bug-eaten stump

Sneaky ferns

Shadow-filled woods

Towering lookout

Jess standing on a boulder

Just enjoying the trees

The creepiest track marker

Empty parking lots

Very pastoral traffic cone

Suburban wilderness

The low tide under the setting sun

Make yourself a website

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 00:00:00 EST

Interesting websites
Practical knowledge

The same way as I can’t imagine living in a space designed and decorated by someone else based off a generic pattern, I can’t imagine my words and my work exist solely in the conformist and reductive spaces that are current day social media apps. When making this website I craved the freedom that I felt when I first started interacting and making stuff on the web as a kid. This place was wonderful, an infinite interconnected array of niche websites with fascinating content and stories, a true autonomous zone, containing within itself the knowledge on how to create itself.

During my early experiments in building websites and forums I spent a lot of time inspecting the code of other websites I liked, stealing little bits of html and css and mashing them together in this creative assemblage that took life on my screen.

Then came adulthood and getting a job. At that point I had been messing around on the web for quite a while and everyone was looking for a “web person” to make their small business website. I learned Wordpress, made my own theme base and started spurting out copies of it with slightly different branding applied on top for my clients. The more I made websites that way the less I could feel that sense of freedom and wonder that I use to see as a foundational part of the web as a kid. It all become hollow and meaningless.

Up until I joined the Merveilles community again and rediscovered that web. The wild web of weird personal websites, webrings and wikis . Not only did it brought back that creativity and inspiration to create on the web in a more personal manner, I also realized that this corner of the web, even if it had shrunk since my childhood, had developed some new branches: digital gardens , websites built like a flow of thoughts or list of links , free-form websites , and explored new considerations: low-bandwidth and highly accessible websites, energy-aware websites , net art , and more. I’m still discovering new interesting websites by the day through talking with people on mastodon and going down link rabbit holes and then I keep up to date with them through the use of a RSS feed reader, an old piece of technology that gives me what those social media timelines should, The latest from the websites and people I care about.

So, all that story to tell you: make yourself a website, start small, you’ll need a text editor and some knowledge of HTML and CSS . I recognize that I’m quite privileged to have known a simpler and easier to grasp web and probably a lot of the people who might read that will have trouble imagining what it looks like. I’ve included a list of interesting websites to give you ideas, I really recommend right-clicking on them and clicking on the “inspect” option, you can see the building blocks of all websites that way. Otherwise, don’t bother looking into static site builders until your website has grown enough that manually uploading your files becomes too much work. Stay away from design trends articles and the big blogs, instead spend time with yourself and the code and figure out what a website means to you. And as soon as you can, put it out there and link it to other websites.

Want to read more about this side of the web, I got you covered:
My website is a shifting house next to a river of knowledge. What could yours be? - a beautiful and inspiring essay on what website can look like

“But on a more communal level, I suspect that cultures of digital detox — in >suggesting that the online world is inherently corrupting and cannot be >improved — discourage us from seeking alternative models for what the internet >could look like.”
– Lauren Collee, from https://reallifemag.com/the-great-offline/

A list of interesting websites to get lost in:

Practical knowledge to get you started:

A cool webzine on how to make a website from scratch
Getting started with HTML
Getting started with CSS
A visual reference for CSS
HTML tips from Thomasorus
Neocities - a hosting platform for small sites with a built-in editor in the style of the geocities of yore
Host a website on glitch - a simple hosting platform for static websites, also has a built-in editor
Deploying a static site on digital ocean - i feel this is still over-complicated for beginners, i’ll try to find the equivalent of what I had as a teen: logging on my friend’s server with ftp and dumping my files
Lichen, a tiny CMS
Deux fleurx, datacenter-less hosting services using old computers in homes

Resilient computer

Lizbeth Poirier — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 00:00:00 EST

I’ve been thinking about making a portable low-power resilient computer for quite a while and have been slowly assembling the parts that i’ll use to make it. My main goal with it is to have a backup computer if my macbook crashes.

Inspirations:

https://back7.co/home/the-raspberry-pi-quick-kit
http://opacity.ru/cyberdeck
https://cyberdeck.cafe/build
https://alternativebit.fr/posts/ultimate-writer/

It needs to

run all the software tools I need to daily and creative tasks
work offline and connect to the internet
run on battery power, grid power or solar power
is easy to repair and upgrade if needed

Parts acquired so far

Raspberry Pi 4 (dimensions 4” x 2.75” x 0.75”)
Anker external battery
Used pelican case
Old bluetooth apple keyboard (will be retrofitted to run without batteries)
Switch for power source
old wireless mac keyboard

Parts to get

Connector for external power (usb C):
Display port to hdmi adapter: https://cablexpert.com/item.aspx?id=8204
3 x Usb panel mount: https://elmwoodelectronics.ca/products/panel-mount-usb-cable-a-male-to-a-female
1 x Audio jack, panel mount: https://elmwoodelectronics.ca/products/panel-mount-stereo-audio-extension-cable-18-3_5mm
1 x Panel mount ethernet: https://elmwoodelectronics.ca/products/panel-mount-ethernet-extension-cable
1 x Panel mount hdmi: https://elmwoodelectronics.ca/products/panel-mount-hdmi-cable-40-cm
1 x cdmi adapter: https://elmwoodelectronics.ca/products/odseven-raspberry-pi-4-micro-hdmi-adapter-4k-compatible
Sd card extender: https://elmwoodelectronics.ca/products/3687-adafruit-sd-card-extender-68cm-26-inch-long-cable
Screen: https://elmwoodelectronics.ca/products/10-1-display-audio-1280x800-ips-hdmi-vga-ntsc-pal (10” x 6.45” x 1.1”) or https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B076GZVCP2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?dchild=1&keywords=Elecrow+11.6+Inch+1920X1080+HDMI+VGA+1080P+LED+Display+Moniter+Compatible+for+Raspberry+Pi+Win+PC+Game+Consoles&language=en_US&sr=8-5&linkCode=gs2&linkId=9e7633a4831e2e948553bb1fc24f5d18&tag=ehca05-20
Usb Battery replacement: https://www.amazon.ca/Lenink-Battery-Eliminator-Supply-Replace/dp/B07ZGF6BMM
Speakers: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077MKQJW2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?smid=AFHAE9RJVUMB&psc=1&linkCode=sl1&tag=ilumi03-20&linkId=5ae6dc1f8e06aa4d0fdb5213b0876283&language=en_US , https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0822YZPR9/ref=as_li_ss_tl?smid=A31G33MT63S07E&psc=1&linkCode=sl1&tag=ilumi03-20&linkId=12ffa08281384cb3daf621b5272bfc1c&language=en_US
Touchpad: https://www.newegg.com/perixx-ppd-504-11572-peripad-504/p/173-000H-00021?Description=touchpad&cm_re=touchpad-_-173-000H-00021-_-Product

Treecrets cards

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 11 Jul 2021 00:00:00 EST

Basing myself on a game by James Chip , I created a series of cards with illustrations for the different steps of this meditative and introspective game about listening and talking to trees with your friends.

Treecrets cards

Set of 12 cards guiding you and a through this meditative game to be played alone or with a friend in a quiet spot of forest.

20$ CAD

Marinated veggies

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 00:00:00 EST

Ingredients

3 carrots
1 small cucumber
1 jalapeno pepper
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 tsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of salt

Steps

These are really good in banh mi sandwiches but could also be added to a lot of recipes like bowls or as a side or entrée.

Chop 3 carrots and 1 small cucumber into sticks
Cut 1 jalapeno pepper into thin slices, removing the seeds
Put the veggies in a mason jar and pour 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/3 cup rice vinegar and 1/2 cup white vinegar into it, fill the remaining space with cold water to cover the veggies
Add 1/2 tsp of sugar and 1/2 tsp of salt and close the lid
Put in the fridge overnight

Summer chickpea sesame salad

Lizbeth Poirier — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 00:00:00 EST

Ingredients

1/4 of a garden cucumber
2 handfuls of mixed salad greens
1/4 of a red onion
1/2 cup of grilled and seasoned chickpeas
2 tsp of plain sesame oil or olive oil
1 tsp of toasted sesame oil
1 tsp of soy sauce
2 tsp of rice vinegar
sesame seeds

Steps

Follow this recipe to make the chickpeas but replace the tofu with chickpeas, I made this salad with leftovers chickpeas from a breakfast.

Slice the 1/4 of a red onion in thin half-circles
Cut 1/4 of garden cucumbers in thin half slices
In a small bowl combine 2 tsp of plain sesame oil or olive oil, the 1 tsp of toasted sesame oil, 1 tsp of soy sauce and 2 tsp of rice vinegar to make the dressing
In the serving bowl, add 2 handfuls of mixed salad greens, the cucumber slices, the chopped red onion and the 1/2 cup of grilled and seasoned chickpeas and pour the dressing on top.
Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top and enjoy!

Summer Solstice 2021

Lizbeth Poirier — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 00:00:00 EST

Pausing and listening to the rhythm of the earth while the burning wheel tumbles down the hill.

A single leaf on the ground

May the sun shine warm upon your face

Ripples in the water

A dead branch floating in water, on it's cycle to fee new life

A spire poking through the trees

Playing the irish bones to the rhythm of the earth

Vambit conversion

Lizbeth Poirier — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 00:00:00 EST

The original vambits were a small run of laser cut acrylic toys designed by the folks at Hundred Rabbits , I had it laying around on my desk for years and it always had a missing art and antler. Since it was already a bit damaged it gave me the idea of making it really rough looking while practicing my miniature painting skills at the same time.

The final vambit with its new look

A Girl Walks Home Alone at night