"Yesterday, I thought
Of my love for you
I remembered
The drops of honey on your lips,
I licked the sugar
Off the walls of my memory."
- Nizar Qabbani
A beautiful prince.
Some of the Fairy Friends are more masculine, while others are feminine. Still others fall in between. Each one is beautiful and unique, with their own inner worlds.
Let me kick off Pride by telling you (one of) my type(s):
Bisexual men with a tragic backstory, but they mask it with a cavalier sense of humor and becoming friends with everyone
In this Aymara folktale, Condor coveted a young woman and stole her away to be his wife, high in the mountains. Though she enjoyed his affections, he couldn't provide good food for her, and she grew weak. He saw her unhappiness, but refused to change, embodying this card well!
While many Sword cards represent physical conflict, the Eight of Swords is all about being caught up in your own insecurities. Donkeyskin disguises herself to escape a bad situation, but then has to choose whether to keep the safety of the disguise or live her life happily.
Did you know: my version of Beauty and the Beast, retold in Beneath the Moon, isn't based on the European version, but a Chinese version where the beast is a fearsome dragon! What's your favorite version of this classic tale?
So maybe my love of mermaids bleeds into the rest of my art...even when I'm supposed to be drawing fairies, I'm probably still going to add a mermaid or two.