Aside from my religious/spiritual activities, over the last couple months in my free time I’ve also been getting back into crochet and I started taking an improv class. I know I try a lot of different hobbies. I’m not sure if improv is going to be another all-consuming interest or if it is going to become one of the many different art forms I cycle back and forth between. It’s too early to tell, but so far I am really enjoying it and I plan on taking the next class after this one is over.
Anyway, in this post I wanted to share some of my recent crochet projects. I got a book called “Fiber Magick,” which shows how to use fiber arts, particularly crochet, as part of magickal workings. I love being able to combine my different interests together, and crochet is particularly well-suited for crafting magickal items.
My favorite project I made from that book is my prayer shawl. It was made using basic stitches and was an easy pattern, but it is the largest project I’ve crocheted so far. The pink/black/purple yarn (Lion Brand Mandala Ombré in Felicity) represents love, protection, and spirituality. The blue border (Lion Brand Mandala Ombré in Harmony) represents Inanna. I also thought I was clever using Lion Brand yarn for something representing Inanna. Its one of my favorite yarn brands I’ve tried so far anyway. I’ve been wearing my prayer shawl during my daily devotionals to Inanna since I finished it.
I also made this Goddess of Journeys poppet project from Fiber Magick. Instead of using it for protection on physical journeys, I made mine to represent Ninshubur, who I usually evoke when doing spiritual journeying work to help guide me back should I get into trouble. I gave her a staff, which I made by writing out the part of the Descent myth where Ninshubur asks for Enki’s help in rescuing Inanna from the Underworld on a piece of parchment, rolling it up like a scroll, and crocheting all around it.
I also made a bunch of the smaller projects like spell bags, drawstring storage bags for crystals/herbs/etc, and appliques (which were called “sigils” in the book, but aren’t really what I think of when I think of sigils. I’m just using these as charms and decorations).
(I’m back dating this post, because I originally wrote it weeks ago, and forgot to come back and add the pictures and publish it. 4/23/2024)
I switched from SpreadShop to Threadless Artist Shops because the company seems to be more inclusive, professional, and have greater opportunities to help artists grow their businesses. I’ve also purchased enough items from artists who use Threadless shops to know that their quality is good. I would have probably started with them if I had known they were open to artists who are just beginning their business ventures. I’m actually pretty excited about this particular sales channel! (The others I’m more cautiously optimistic about tbh). I have some ideas for more mainstream designs to try to get noticed on Threadless. Like cryptids and general magickal things. I’m not going to sell out and do mainstream things I have no interest in at all, like sports or whatever.
I also went ahead and started my Etsy shop. Currently I have items shipped by two different printers/manufacturers. I currently have listings for a few different t-shirts and art prints. I also have a welcome mat featuring the Sumerian cuneiform for “Go Away.” I call it an “unwelcome mat.” I also have a few metal cuff bracelets, which are honestly my favorite item in my Etsy shop. It seems like a lot of Etsy sellers tend to be slightly less forthcoming about the fact that they use outside manufacturing partners to print/manufacture certain items in their shops than you’d hope, but I’m trying to be as transparent about my business practices as possible. It seems kind of sketchy to me to hide how you are creating items that people are spending money on.
I also have to print providers to manage printing and shipping for my art prints. Both sites have onsite marketplaces, so I thought it might be beneficial to promote my art on both sites for now. I’ll reassess down the line to see if it actually makes sense to keep both sales channels active.
I made this painting for Nisaba, the Sumerian Goddess associated with writing, and also grain, after performing her rituals for Rod and Ring this month. I want to do something extra to honor each deity as I complete their rituals. I call is Dub Sar: Nisaba and the Invention of Writing. She was originally associated with grain, but became associated with writing after its invention due to the use of reeds as styluses. I used the most famous carved image of Nisaba as the inspiration, but switched the grain stalks she held for her lapis tablet and golden stylus to emphasis her importance as a patron goddess of scribes, know as dub sar in Sumerian.
I was originally writing articles for HubPage’s network site Exemplore (where they route all pagan-related topics, along with other, but decided to switch to paintings. I still need to go back and complete my paintings for Gibil, Ninurta, and Ishkur. I’ve realized that HubPages isn’t the best place to try to elevate the gods since they lump all things pagan in with garbage like conspiracy theories, UFOs and Aliens, New Age, etc.
I also did a painting for Nanna this month during the dark moon. I call it Udnua, which means New Moon in Sumerian. This one features Nanna seated before the dark moon. I made the initial sketch by tracing one of my favorite stone images of him. I tried to emphasize the shining gold details of the Shining One and his divine magical accoutrements.
Both of these art peices are available as prints from my various art sales channels. I particularly recommend these mini prints that come with wooded bases, available on my Threadless Artist Shop. These are perfect to use as images of the deities for your altar or shrine!
So far I have Inanna, Marduk, Nanna, and Nisaba. I’m working on making one for Dumuzi, and will soon start painting Gibil, Ninurta, and Ishkur. Next month I will start working on one for Ningal, and then Gestinanna after I complete their rituals for Rod and Ring. I’m already working on one for Dumuzi, but I might make another one once I complete his ritual.
I’ve been wanting to get back into drawing, and finally decided to splurge and get a drawing tablet (well, I did get a pretty good deal on it. It must have been a Labor Day sale, though I didn’t even think about holiday sales when I was shopping for it). I got the XP Pen Artist 16 and I’ve been experimenting with digital painting, mainly in Adobe Fresco, but also Photoshop and Illustrator. Here are two of my favorite paintings I did so far:
Inanna Rising
Inanna Rising was inspired by Inanna’s descent to – and subsequent ascent from – the underworld.
Ama Nita
Ama Nita is a pun on the Amanita muscaria mushroom and the Sumerian word “ama” meaning “mother” (“nita” is also a word in Sumerian meaning “male,” so I supposed Ama Nita could be thought of as a fusion of the sacred feminine and masculine properties, or as a “mother of men” – interpret it as you wish!). Mushrooms have been considered sacred in numerous cultures throughout history, so an Amanita mushroom as a mother goddess seems fitting to me. I’m not sure if the Sumerians or any other Mesopotamian culture had any sacred associations with mushrooms or any other entheogens. I don’t recall reading anything (from legit sources) about such things, but who knows?
I think I’m going to have prints made of these. Would it be too narcissistic to hang my art up alongside the art I bought from “real” artists? Idk. I might offer prints once I get my etsy shop up and running too. I might not be the greatest artist of all time, but I like my digital paintings enough to want to display them, so maybe someone else out there might too.
I don’t really have much to compare the XP Pen tablet to, but I’m really enjoying using it so far. Because of the large screen and matte finish (and matte screen protector I put on it) it is a lot nicer to draw on than my iPad mini or Surface tablet (1st gen I think?). I also like it much more than Hans’s old Wacom tablet (an entry-level non-screen one), which I never got the hang of.
Anyway, I’ve been throwing around a new idea for a children’s book for a while, and now that I have a nice drawing tablet, I think I can actually execute it, so stay tuned for whenever I actually make some progress with that. I have so many different projects I want to bring to life.
I translated the phrase “Live Laugh Love” into cuneiform to make a tablet to hang on the wall. I realized that, for someone who loves pumpkin spice lattes and is just generally a “basic white girl,” I didn’t have any of the the type of artwork that is generally associated with “basic bitches” hanging up in my house. You know the type, random words just displayed on the wall for no reason. So I remedied that with my own spin.
Most of my tablets I just leave plain because I like the old-timey ancient look, but this one felt like it needed something more, being a translation of a modern-day saying, so I carved a couple hearts and painted it with some metallic paint I had left over from painting a brick to make a bookend a while ago.
I’m working on utilizing print-on-demand services to offer canvas prints and t-shirts featuring this translation.
I’d also be open to taking a few commissions here and there if anyone is interested in commissioning a similar clay tablet (or one with something less silly written on it). I’m hoping to continue improving my art skills and developing them into a viable “side hustle” in case I get sick again and have to take a break from my regular day job (apparently I’m dumb for continuing to work in a daycare throughout chemo and radiation last year, but w/e. I do what I want!).
After I made my smaller travel figurine of Inanna, I wanted to make a larger one with more iconographic details.
The clay was still a little wet in this picture, but this is the size difference between my original travel figurine and my new one.
I’m not sure where she will ultimately live in my house. I kinda want her on my main altar, but I also really like the statue I have on there already that I bought from a Ukrainian artist on Etsy. For now, I have her on top of my bookcase where I keep my pagan and magick books. It’s become a kind of secondary altar/shrine to Inanna as well as Ninshubur and Dumuzi. I place offerings of freshly cut flowers there, and light candles for those three deities. The main altar is in front of a big picture window looking out into the backyard, and is where I do my actual rituals and meditations and whatnot.
I had an idea to start an online shop to sell artwork, particularly sculptures and cuneiform tablets, which then led to the idea to make other kinds of more marketable wearable art too. Since I found a website that will print and ship items with my designs for me, I’m starting with that while I work on deciding where to sell physical artwork (as well as testing and choosing the best clay and other materials to use for my sculptures, and working on creating molds to reproduce small figurines, altar tools, etc that I make).
Anyway, since I already have my LLC that I haven’t done much with, I’m going to relaunch it for my artwork. Since in was originally for my game Petal Quest, and then I added my self-published books as part of the business, I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch to also add other types of art.
I’m using SpreadShop to sell shirts, stickers, mugs, and more. I have a few simpler designs ready to go, and a few more complex design ideas I’ve started drawing (I have a bad habit of jumping between different pieces as I think of new ideas, but they will all get done eventually). I have two different categories so far: “Fun and Memes” for silly things I think of, such as a shirt that says “Live Laugh Love” translated into Sumerian; and “Sumerian Polytheism” for designs to show your devotion to the deities of the Sumerian pantheon. I’m planning on making some designs for other pagan paths as well. My SpreadShop link is nybiru-studio.myspreadshop.com.
A few of my designs so far.
I’m waiting to promote anything on social media until the sample items I ordered arrive. I want to make sure everything is good enough quality, especially for the items bearing deities’ symbols.
For the physical artwork, I’m looking into using either Etsy or ArtPal, but I want to see what other options are out there too. Etsy is the most well-known site for selling artwork, so it’s probably the best choice for gaining exposure, but a lot of artists I know are moving away from there because of their excessive fees. I don’t know much about ArtPal, but it looks like they don’t take so much profits, and they also offer print-on-demand art prints in case I ever want to offer something like that as well.
I want to redesign my business website one of these days too. There’s a way to embed the SpreadShirt shop into my own website, so I’ll probably do that to make it more professional. I’ve started rewriting the copy for Nybiru Studio too. I’m also in the process of replacing text containing the accented ý with a normal y since it gets rendered weird sometimes, and the legal name is Nybiru Studio, LLC. This is what I put for the About page:
About Nybiru Studio
Nybiru Studio is in the processes of relaunching with a new array of Mesopotamian- and pagan-inspired artwork, altar tools, and clothing items.
The first phase of this relaunch will include wearable items and other accessories featuring my digital artwork. These items will be processed, printed, and shipped by my manufacturer.
Next, I am planning on launching a shop for handmade clay artwork, including figurines, altar tools, cuneiform tablets, and more. This is going to take more time to launch. I’m still looking into options for hosting this shop/processing payments.
I originally started this company to publish and market my game Petal Quest. Eventually I expanded it to include my books and other artistic pursuits.
About the Artist
Jennifer is an artist, writer, and Sumerian polytheist. She started working with clay to practice writing cuneiform while learning the Sumerian language and quickly discovered a love for sculpture, which she has found to be an excellent creative outlet and means of regaining fine motor strength after suffering neuropathy of the hands after chemo for breast cancer.
She began learning Sumerian as a means of connecting deeper with the Sumerian deities, particularly the goddess Inanna.
Aside from art and sculpture, Jennifer has a background in writing and graphic design for a variety of different genres and industries. She has published several books including a YA novel, a comic book, and a children’s ABC picture book.
Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Creative writing from Southern New Hampshire University, and an Associate of Applied Science in Computer Games and Simulation Design and an Associate of Arts from Lorain County Community College.
What Does the Name Nybiru Mean?
Nybiru Studio comes from Jennifer’s nickname “Ný” and the word “Nibiru.”
Nibiru is a term that appears in ancient cuneiform tablets to refer to a crossing point over a river, such as by boat or ferry. It can also be used to refer to certain astronomical phenomena involving crossing points of the planets, particularly Jupiter.
“Nibiru” may also refer to a fictional planet that conspiracy theorists claim is the home of aliens who visit Earth from time to time. These theories have no basis in reality and no scientific or archeological support, but they can be fun for science fiction writers to play with!
I made this tablet last Friday in the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep. Translated to English it says: “The strength of my god completes my own. Inanna zami.”
The first part is a Sumerian proverb. There is some debate over the authenticity of this quote, but it is listed in the CDLI. Besides, I like the quote.
usu diĝir-ĝa2 ni2-ĝa2 ba-til
𒀉𒄨𒀭𒂷𒉎𒂷𒁀 𒌀
The second part, Inanna Zami, means “Inanna be praised.”
𒀭𒈹𒍠𒊩
Then on Sunday I made a new cuneiform stylus to make smaller wedges and tried it out by making these tiny clay tokens. I made ones featuring the names of Inanna, Ninshubur, and Dumuzi. I also made a smaller version of the “Go Away” amulet that I made earlier and one that translates to “Live, Laugh, Love” for funsies. I made the new stylus from one of those sticks that comes with poly-fil stuffing and squared it off on the end. Well, it’s more of a triangle than a square.
Then I made a similarly-sized token featuring Inanna’s star to test out my new set of clay carving tools. After making all of these simple projects I felt like trying my hand at sculpting something more complex. I decided to make a small pocket-sized figurine of Inanna for a travel altar. I wanted something small and simple to practice sculpting. I posed Her arms crossed against Her body so they wouldn’t be broken as easily during travel, but She kinda just looks like She’s done with my shit, so I feel like I should carry this representation of Her with me when I know I’m about to make poor decisions.
I already want to make a larger similar statue with more details representing more of Her iconography, including Her 8-point star, and the rod and ring symbol that frequently appears in images of deities in Mesopotamian art.
I wanted to practice my cuneiform writing on smaller projects before attempting a larger tablet I want to make soon, so I made a couple smaller things over the weekend.
𒆠𒋫 𒁺𒈾 – kita ĝena
The first is a “magickal” amulet meant to keep people (by “people” I mean my husband) out of the room while I’m doing ritual work. Or if I just feel like being alone. It has many uses! The cuneiform says “kita ĝena,” 𒆠𒋫 𒁺𒈾, which means “go away” (lit. “leave from here!”). I found this translation on a Tumblr blog called Sumerian Language. I put a hole with a ribbon through it so it can be hanged on the door.
I didn’t actually do any type of magickal working on it. It’s really more of a “privacy please” sign. If you need magick to keep the people you live with out when you need alone time, you should probably find new people…
𒁲𒄳 – Hello World
The second tablet says 𒁲𒄳, “Hello world!” I made it for my husband, who is a programmer. I just thought it was amusing to use the world’s first written language to make a representation of the first program everyone ever makes when learning a new programming language because I’m a dork. It is transliterated as “silim gulkin.” Silim, 𒁲, was used as a greeting, and literally means “to be healthy.” Gulkin, 𒄳, means “inhabited world.”
I found the “Hello World” translation on the same Tumblr blog as above. That blog seems really good for finding translations of things that are useful in the modern world. It appears that the author there frequently takes translation requests from other Tumblr users.
While making these tablets, I also figured out that this particular clay I am using requires about 3600 times more water than I think I should use while forming the tablets to prevent cracking (the air in my house is very dry). I’m still working on my technique, but I’m confident I can get them to actually look nice eventually. I’ll probably try a different brand of clay that someone recommended to me on FaceBook after I run out of my current supply, however.
A few months ago, I wanted to make a figurine of Inanna using some colored stone-esque Sculpey clay I found in my hoard of craft supplies. I’m not great at art, so I didn’t want to attempt anything too ambitious. I’ve always been drawn to the eye idol figurines that were uncovered in Tell Brak in what was once Northern Mesopotamia. They are cute and simple to make. I still have a few reproductions that I made about 20 years ago when I first got interested in Mesopotamian history/mythology as a teenager (I was a weird kid, which is probably why I’m now a weird adult). So I had the idea to combine imagery from the Burney Relief (aka Queen of the Night), an ancient relief sculpture that most archaeologists believe to represent Inanna/Ishtar.
I was originally going to make it all pink, but I didn’t have enough pink, so I used light blue for the details an accessories. I think the blue eyes work very well, considering blue eyes, typically made from lapis lazuli (considered a sacred stone), are seen in a lot of Mesopotamian art.
The original eye idols were mainly found in what is now Tell Brak in modern-day Syria. A smaller number of these sculptures were also later found in Tell Hamoukar. They are probably meant to be abstract representations of human worshipers meant as votive offerings to an as-of-yet unidentified deity or deities. The large, prominent eyes likely represent attentiveness to the gods, as do the large eyes seen throughout Mesopotamian art. They are NOT supposed to be “grey aliens” as the “ancient astronauts” conspiracy theorists claim. For more information than you probably want about these figurines, see The Eyes Have It: An In-Depth Study of the Tell Brak Eye Idols in the 4th Millennium BCE: with a primary focus on function and meaning (Honors Thesis by Arabella Cooper from the University of Syndey).
Example of a Tell Brak “eye idol,” Metropolitan Museum of Art. Gift of The Institute of Archaeology, The University of London, 1951
The Burney Relief, also known as Queen of the Night, is the best known image of Inanna/Ishtar, though there is some debate by archaeologist over exactly which goddess it is meant to represent. Most believe it is meant to be Inanna/Ishtar, though there are some who argue that it may be Ereshkigal or Lilith (Lilith is NOT a Mesopotamian deity. She is a figure from Semitic folklore). It is unknown where exactly this ancient work of art was actually discovered, as it wasn’t excavated archaeologically. It most likely originates from Southern Mesopotamia, but the exact site location is unknown. The relief features iconography commonly associated with Inanna/Ishtar, including the rod and ring symbol, lions, wings, and the horned headdress.
Burney Relief (Queen of the Night). Mesopotamian terracotta plaque depicting a winged, nude, goddess-like figure with bird’s talons, flanked by owls, and perched upon two lions. Height: 49.5 cm. Old-Babylonian, 19th-18th cent. BCE. British Museum
