In the course of developing my own personal mythology I have acquired, or I guess canonized, a number of saints to guide and inspire me along the way. Of course, though I grew up in the Catholic Church, these are not officially sanctioned or recognized by the church, but are more among the ranks of "popular" or "folk saints" - Like those medieval folks who continue to be venerated by a local, or global, population, having died leaving a legacy of miracles and healings in their wake (My personal favorite example of this being Saint Guinefort, a 13th Century French greyhound killed by his master for supposedly devouring their baby son, until they found the baby alive and a dead snake lying nearby, having died from dog bites. When the local peasants heard of this martyrdom while saving a child, they venerated Guinefort to the Saint Protector of Children, particularly ill children, and they performed many rituals at his grave site.).
In 1995 began a protracted, arduous decade-long daily ordeal of severe panic attacks and anxiety. Only years later was I able to recognize this as my own 'shamanic illness' - The traditional life-or-death health crisis that shamans often experience as the catalyst to their shamanic awakening and acceptance of their vocation.
During this time I found myself speaking/praying to my childhood hero Davy Crockett for help and inspiration, to "Keep me ever mindful that my life is an adventure." It was amazing to me what an impactful difference this made in how I dealt with my anxiety, and I half-jokingly drew a picture of 'Saint Davy,' reminiscent of the depictions of saints in the stained-glass windows of my youth, on a comic page, later coloring and transferring the image onto a prayer candle.
After emerging from that long dark night of the soul, where I was no longer attempting to see the adventure in just surviving every day, I turned my attention to the horizon and where I wanted to go on my life's path. Thus I found myself invoking another hero from childhood, this time the explorer and trailblazer Daniel Boone, to guide me into the "unknown lands of the undiscovered country of my soul." Another comic page. Another candle. Another saint.
More recently I wished to honor the First True Love of my life - Cartooning. This side of me often takes a backseat to Shamanism, and it was time to bring it out of the shadows and to the forefront where it belongs. The best way I know to honor something is to make an altar for it. But who would be the Patron Saint of this aspect of my life? There was only ever one candidate - Charles Schulz. He once said, "All I've ever wanted to be is a cartoonist." I have said those self-same words myself.
This one stalled a little bit until one day, meditating down by the river, Charles Schulz himself gently inserted himself into my otherwise peaceful state of bliss. Another, slightly longer, comic (Which you can read here: https://drawingbreath-comic.blogspot.com/2023/08/st-charles-place-complete.html?m=0). Another candle. Another saint.
I thought I was done. Then recently I met a real, live, professional cartoonist! I got a tour of her studio, which she shares with a collective of other cartoonists, and she agreed to help answer whatever questions might come up along my own way to becoming published. Suddenly my own dreams began to come into focus, and became more believable and within reach!
I started thinking of the other cartoonists, besides Charles Schulz, who had carried me on their wings of inspiration from a young age. I realized there were at least a few more who needed to be canonized, as a way to thank them for stoking the flame of my dreams and passions, and for leading and clearing my path forward to my destiny.
The first newly recognized member to my personal sainthood is Saint George - As in George Herriman, the creator of Krazy Kat, who was arguably my 2nd most influential cartoonist after Schulz. No comic yet. No candle yet. But here's the drawing, in all its stages:
I decided to keep this one in black & white because of the era he was in, and I always sort of favored his earlier b&w work over his later color work. Additionally, there's the significance in that he was black and struggled to keep that, literally, under his hat, which he always wore to hide his curly hair.
There are a few more who are up for sainthood (So technically according to Catholicism, they would be "beatified," and referred to as ' 'Blessed' rather than 'Saint.'), so we will see what lies ahead for the likes of Blessed Walt Kelly, Blessed Windsor Mackay, and Blessed Walt Disney, who may turn out to be an archangel or some such.