Meet Nolan: A Sacred Ritual Friend

Nolan introduced himself to me as I listened to early Tori Amos, rocking out with my (dead) bio dad who also loves Tori Amos.

The symbolism runs deep on this fellow. He’s a 6-inch by 6-inch canvas board that can either go on your wall as a pretty artifact, on your altar to bring transformation and divine ascent, or as a divination tool.

I started with a copper-patina-inspired circular background. Copper is conductive and turquoise represents the bridge between heaven and earth, as well as protection. The merkabah, meaning “chariot” (first used in Jewish mysticism) is a powerful symbol of protection and movement between dimensions. Nolan would love to help you time-walk (aka astral travel). I used gold for the merkabah, as gold was the final form alchemists were after: Nolan wants to help you transform.

You can place a crystal grid or candle on him on your altar, or you can just have him present.

To work with him for divination, you have a number of options! Here are a few I’ve thought of:

Gather a set of trinkets (bones, dice, charms, anything!) to use for cleromancy. Determine what symbolism you’ll tap into: Perhaps the central triangle represents your soul, or middle earth, or something else. Perhaps the triangles in different directions point to the upper and lower realms. The beauty is YOU get to decide what each symbol means and how to interpret it. Literally no one else on earth will have the same divination tool as you. Use a pendulum. Determine where yes/no/maybe live on the image. Or assign different outcomes to different points of the merkabah and see where the pendulum points. Pull a Tarot card and place it on Nolan. Contemplate how the merkabah symbolism works with the Tarot card and provides additional context. Maybe you ask “How can I ascend?” Or “How can I reach the next level?”

Nolan was made using a canvas board, acrylic paint, posca pens, azteca markers, and a lot of Tori Amos.

Fun fact: Nolan also means “chariot.”