One of the big things I've been driving at in writing my Living Ghosts reparenting story series has been working toward healing for a difficult personal past-- full of trauma, resentment, and feelings of abandonment-- and filling that space with fierce, unconditional love for my younger self.
That poor girl suffered in silence and never got to be mothered by someone who loved her fiercely and unconditionally. Who better than me to do it?
I might start crossposting the stories here-- they went up on Mastodon first-- but in the meantime, since I've been away from Cohost for a bit, it's time I shared the newest bit of art.
Painted my younger self as she should have been, at right, holding a heisoku (purification wand). At left, in the form of River from Confluence, I raise the sword Kurikara-- a weapon that appears in Japanese Buddhist iconography-- to cut away affliction. Above is the North Star, in 5 pointed form to represent the five phases, and a symbol of the Tohoku region and of all things in balance.
The text reads Freedom is a Light for Which Many Have Died in Darkness.