Part of my Thesis, 'Unfamiliar Familiars' is a series of illustrations that imagines and considers the presence and energy of national animals as familiars that assist witches in magic for good and selfless purposes.

“Up in the Mountains of Sichuan” features a glimpse of Giant Panda familiars as Wu shamans that gently perform cupping therapy on humans in the mountain ranges of Sichuan, China. Plum blossoms blow in the wind bringing calming and uplifting energy to the bamboo forest. 

Today, the giant pandas live in a few mountain ranges in south central China, most of the remaining wild pandas live in the Minshan (in Sichuan) and Qinling mountains. I chose to represent Sichuan because I am a proud Sichuanese. In China, to counteract black magic, Taoist and Buddhists were employed, Wu shamans/ witch doctors healed by using divination, exorcism, and prayer to doctors who used herbal medicine, moxibustion, and acupuncture. They are diviners of the future, interpreters of dreams and healers of diseases. In many cases, they were accorded great political and social respect, which is to say that, as in lots of other cultures, Shaman were and are the good guys.

The national animal of China: Giant Panda
The national flower of China: Plum Blossoms

Procreate, 2021