Jewelry is about enhancing appearance. In ancient times jewelry was designed to be magical and emblematic. Jewelry allows me a channel to express my creativity and earn a living.
My wife began GypsyMoonDesigns in 1995 in Taos, New Mexico. She developed an online presence in 2008. We worked separately and together to further our goals while doing different things. Thanks to a supportive community in Missoula, Montana we were able to fully consolidate our effort to make GypsyMoonDesigns a full time gig.
In 2012 I joined GypsyMoonDesigns and in 2018 I started experimenting with torch fire enamel. Making objects of beauty for women has been a healthy avenue for me. I’m in the background while my wife does the public relations end. This works well for me being backstage making jewelry.
Portal to the Eleusinian Mysteries Necklace Mitchell Pluto
Our range of choices include conventional, original and limited edition designs. I enjoy making original designs are because they follow an idea I have been researching. These designs being more exploratory and avant-garde take more time to find the right person out of our customer base than the conventional designs.
Assortment of GypsyMoonDesign Patina and Copper Enamel Jewelry
Our name Gypsy Moon Designs refers to a nomadic and artisan sensibility. My wife used her Sagittarius Moon from her own astrological chart to add to the name. A further interpretation would describe the lunar aspect guiding our inspirations at different phases on the road.
Moon with branches
Our two main primary choices we offer is Patina Jewelry and Copper Enamel Jewelry. The Patina Jewelry is a process of antiquing a variety of charms. Some examples of these themes include animal totems, goddesses and Moroccan inspired designs.
The Copper Enamel Jewelry is hand cut and processed entirely by hand. The colors are layered and painted by torch fire. Some themes include a limited edition line I call Tribal Space earrings that share a collective pattern found in all ethnicities. Other motifs are more natural and universal like our tear drop and leaf earrings.
Copper EnamelLimited Edition Leaf Earrings with Tribal Space Earrings
The painting called The Geomantic Knight considers the mystical qualities of Chess, Ley lines and Planets as radio waves
The moon is a well spring of inspiration in my life. We watch each other grow. I can see the rhythm through eight phases. This is enough to make me believe the moon is an oracle.
The first detail features the knight on the chess board as a kinetic right angle. Multiple views of potential moves reveal a propelling Whirling log symbol that lifts the center point of a square into a pyramid.
This facet embodies man as sharing a autoscopic experience with an animal self. The body becomes a map. A place where the legend holds the keys as conscious locations are surveyed by Chakras, spinning wells of energy. Another step back culminates planetary radio stations broadcasting patterns on earth in subtle ways.
July lunar eclipse full moon Capricorn. Heliacal rising of Sirius. Lifting of the Sol, Solar, soul. Guru Purnima July 1, 2020(Vever of Agwe)Mitchell Pluto
July lunar eclipse full moon Capricorn is a cosmogram that integrates the ingredients of both astrological signs of Cancer and Capricorn. Earth and Water with a preview of the future month Leo in the center. Cancer takes center stage as a keystone in the summit of the solstice arch. Cancer locks the whole together as archetypical mother. The shell is a sort of contained frame in a spinning spiral. This shield regenerates as a protective skeletal surface upholding the design of the all healing star fish.
The foundation, the astrological fourth house (home and family) is seen encased within the center crab while the last legs become endoskeletal ovaries. The 4 is also a right angle. The rising figure represents aspirants being lifted by the light. Within the landscape of the body are sapient patterns in relation to spatial travel. A Cancer woman, who is my anima, meditates on a dandelion pappus as a mandala.
ecliptic cosmogram of self initiation to healing, wakefulness and love. June 14, 2020Mitchell Pluto
Completed on June 14, 2020 this painting subconsciously prepared me for the trance I took while painting the July lunar eclipse full moon Capricorn painting. Immediately in front of the viewer is dandelion pappus as a mandala leading through a hallway of wings. In the corner within an intersection of lines is an astral figure that shares a harmonious proportion with a leaf. The scaffolding of this painting relied heavily on the research I did on the vèvès and the religion of Vodun.
Ayizan Vèvès
Vèvès are a hospitable signs that transmit signals between earth and other planets. The vèvès that most appealed to me was Ayizan, a root Loa. The hexagram is hard not to notice in the example. The monumental shape has a trustworthy reputation in nature as being a stable pattern. Other lines in the painting that don’t have any obligation to any geometric shape are loose radio waves in space.
As a man the woman portrays a doorway in my art. I think interior guides are always the opposite sex of the frontiersman. They are referred generally as Dākinīs in Vajrayana Buddhisma, Valkyries in Norse mythology and Mami Wata in many parts of Africa. More recently called the anima by Swiss psychologist Carl Gustv Jung, these female advocates help facilitate man’s launch into the other hemisphere of the brain.
On a nucleus level, the painting conveys a basic subliminal fertilization theme. Sperm and egg are waves and particles. This simply reassures us that the cosmos is unbroken and always sexually active in the background.
On a larger scale the eye of the architect is the viewer who can watch other times occurring in an optical diagram. In the painting the autoscopic image of the lens is reflected in a pool, with which the curvature of the pool becomes an independent eye ball. Tracing the rays of the vèvès lines discloses a magnifying diagram that relates to the formation of the image on the retina as well as the pathway of light to the brain.
Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius, invisible Venus June 4, 2020Mitchell Pluto
In the painting a recreation of the Statue of Liberty is a melanin woman. Her first step defends and washes thoughts of the weeping dead through their own tears. Her size violates space by flooding the city streets and a star above her head divides twilight into two Venuses. A small framed figure stands alone in the hall of truth between the two pillars of growth and intelligence.
Jupiter’s influence in the painting over shadows the basal ganglia in society’s collective brain. I wanted the viewer to get an eclipsed perspective of initiated and inhibited motion within our culture. These properties could include institutions that alienate ourselves from the natural world with other passing moods. The ingress and invisible Venus shifts value and self worth changing the sequence of our neural pathways. The torch of Jupiter is a stormy light and path to liberation. Jupiter extents the limits of our awareness motivating us to evolve and improve our human condition.
Transparent overlays of anatomy under Saturn. July 26, 2020Mitchell Pluto
In a sense this painting is more about Saturnine extremes and egotism. Saturn represents discipline which is a positive quality. It is a planet that has a commitment with tested results. But there are indulgences to consider about the planet’s influence that are less than compassionate. The authority of Saturn is firmly expressed in our established institutions. It is a force best accounted for as a custodian who manages experience for us.
In the painting the X-ray of Saturn dissects a living tree to possess the birth of the main point. But only a book remains as an incidental part of looking for a vanishing point.
It’s my duty as an artist to to mention the Woodlands Medicine painting founded by Norval Morrisseau and practiced today by Duncan Neganigwane Pheasant. The style has made a very relevant impression on me. This includes practicing the ability to X-ray Dreamtime and remember the House of Invention. It would be a great misfortune not to mention this source of inspiration. I have had a correspondence with Duncan Neganigwane Pheasant since 2009 around the same time I discovered Norval Morrisseau. The coincidence is very meaningful to me. It has helped mature and guide my own artistic process. I am honored to have Duncan as a friend and brother in the fellowship of art
Duncan Neganigwane Pheasant conversation in his own words
I started to do art in public school. I always was interested in drawing and painting. In time I realized I was quite good at it and was always asked to draw for the class room I always continued to paint throughout high school where I sold my first painting, it was of the rock band KISS. I did many rock bands and then I concentrated on motorcycles..I painted them on masonite board with oil based house paint. I also did many superhero’s and comic book cover reproductions. I then spent more time painting in the woodland style created by Norval Morrisseau.
Norval Morrisseau Painting and Duncan Neganigwane Pheasant’s notation on the Shaking Tent Ceremony
Eventually I developed my own style. I’m Ojibwa on Manitoulin Island and it is here where I developed my style of Ojibwe Woodland Medicine painting. I do not follow the color wheel or any training. When I went to college for art I learned more what not to do then what I was told to do, I let the brush take control and it is like automatic writing, my backgrounds which I do before I paint any subject takes me about two to five minutes to paint, depending on the size of the canvas.
Many subjects used in my art come from the sacred scrolls and rock art painted on cliffs throughout northern Ontario. The main subject is drawn out in a few seconds, like Norval Morrisseau I draw out ten paintings at once while the spirit moves me. It can be days even weeks before paint touches the canvas the all of a sudden the spirit comes and the art pours out. All the art I paint comes from the same place as Norval Morrisseau, from the house of invention. He said some day you will visit it, I did visit it one night..I dreamed I entered a great hall full of fantastic paintings and crafts as I walked through the great hall I noticed all of the art was mine..everything I ever done and everything I will do..it was fantastic.
Nanabush at the Cliffs
I continue on with my painting and exploration of creating art and there are times I feel something some sort of presence..it’s hard to explain but I feel a connection to something really really old ..as if something or someone is here while I paint. I will do a painting and later when it’s almost finished I’ll look at it and say to myself “I know what this is !” this is so n so or something in my past or a story, legend. Many paintings come out from someplace totally unknown to me and I’ll say wholly fuck! This is so n so..or I’ll start writing about a painting, a story and it’s like automatic writing..I’ll read what I wrote..a story or song or poem that goes with the piece and can’t believe I did it..
The Owl of Springtime . The story of the first Owl to return to Manitoulin after the great Purification Fire and how the Great Manitou gave the Owl the task of replanting the Island.
An elder told me the feeling I get of something old is the ancestors coming to watch me paint..especially if I’m painting them..of course I’m not in control, like Norval Morrisseau I draw out the painting in a few minutes..the same with the backgrounds. I look at them (backgrounds) for a painting and wonder where in hell did that come from? backgrounds take me maybe two to five minutes to do depending on the size of the canvas. I’ll do maybe three to five backgrounds in one session. I’ll put the paint on a platter and away I go, not even cleaning the brush doing all at once..then I’ll look at them and WOW this one has clouds or sunlight here n there or maybe a mountain a lake etc 30×40 canvas 5 minutes..where did I see this before I wonder..this is so familiar..then I think..from the house of creation.
Like yourself Mitchell, we create things that never existed in this universe. anyone can paint landscapes or people and animals but the work we do is totally from another dimension. I was in AA heading to a meeting walking from my place across town. I am not living in this house at the time. As I was walking all of a sudden a hole opened up on my left side just behind me..like a window into a parallel universe..bright light shone through the window and it lit up the street. I could see everything along the road like all the detail of the grass and gravel. Then I felt hands pulling on my clothing like people trying to pull me in or trying to pull themselves through into this world. Then the window closed with a whoosh! The light reminded me of car lights. Nobody was behind me, no traffic..I think this happened in a few seconds but felt like minutes..it took place exactly in front of the house I ended up renting and then buying. I think of it from time to time.
I’m quite interested in Quantum physics, dark matter, dark energy, the idea of fuzzy stuff as to what makes a molecule move a certain way and instantaneous. Another molecule a million miles away moves the same time, moves the same way as if connected and the idea of tests done on molecules that only work if there is an observer. I try not to have a favorite painting..I don’t want to fall in love with any of my art, if I did I would have certain pieces that are still here on my walls. Each piece I do will leave my place and be put out into the world. I let it go..sometimes I will run into one of them and it’s like seeing an old friend or family member.
The bird and the stone
I do favor some pictures of pieces. I did in the past and they are in my photo collections..The bird and the stone..not just for the composition but also for the story that was shared with me.
I was told about stones along the north shore of Manitoulin island..they came from the Lacloche mountains when they were as tall as the Rockies,,the glaciers shaved them down and deposited these stones all over Manitoulin, the stones are said to be a depository for everything that happened in the stones existence, The Stone is alive and has a memory..one day a bird landed on the stone very tired and quite old..The bird spoke to himself "I am nearing the end of my life and have no one to share my experiences", the stone made itself known and told the bird "I have seen a million sunsets..many animals have brushed by my face..many sunny days and cold winters I have seen..I have heard and remembered the sweet language of the people it is all here stored in my spirit..some day I will be up on the top of the mountain and again at the bottom of the sea. I will carry inside me your memories my bird friend I carry all the memories..and when I become sand again all the memories will be released into the world!"
The painting shows the stone and inside the memories, the red spirit of its life.outside in the sky is the great Manitou spirit and the creator waiting for the bird to let go of its hold on its world and fly up in spirit. The painting shows the stone and inside the memories, the red spirit of its life.outside in the sky is the great Manitou spirit and the creator waiting for the bird, to let go of its hold on its world and fly up in spirit. It is known that rocks contain minerals and these minerals can hold onto events that happened in its presence..When the conditions are right some of these memories can be perceived and heard by people passing by or sitting near the stone…Like magnetic tape when drawn against a device it’s memories can be heard or like VHS tape it can be seen.
Repulsive gargoyle like face with powerful gorilla like arms lives a huge wild man roaming the north eastern realm of the Niagara escarpment frequenting the area of the a Green bush road and up to the cup and saucer trail and in the basin between the cliffs of Mchigeeng First Nation. One of the first white men to write about this creature was a Jesuit priest Father Rolland. Entire Odawa bands would not venture outside during a sighting..all living in great fear while the head man of each household sat with his rifle all night long he wrote. I remember my grandfather doing this one night when I was about five years old 1965, My grandmother yelling out Jimniddo and chasing us kids into the house just before sunset.These beasts are said to be quite lonesome and stealing people. Some say the beasts are full of remorse and great sadness turning into great anger.
The thing about doing Woodland Native is the color choices. We don’t plan the colors it just happens and the originator of this style of art didn’t plan on the topics he (Norval Morriseau ) just drew it out in a minute then painted it. Guided by the spirits.
The Tantra is a special connection (fusion) with a deity or geometric symbol. Meditating on this double generates a navigating map towards a sapient future self. This is traditionally similar to a Yidam in Tibetan Buddhism.
I was inspired by Chögyam Trungpa’s book The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness and the metaphor of the Star in the Tarot. Tantra means weaving and is about a relationship between the projector and the projected (or programmer and program) The woman in the painting is a personal interpretation of Tara, the mother of liberation.
from my personal Tarot symbolique et maçonnique by Jean Beauchard. The Star card with it’s twin geometric blueprint below the surface of the image.
from a French Freemason Lodge
“The Star, still called pentagram, represents for the Pythagoreans, the radiant initiate. Indeed for a long time, we represent a man, arms and legs apart, registered in the Star. His five points are thus attributed to the five extremities of the man whose head occupies the summit. She can register in a circle. It is no longer about the man inscribed in the matter, but about the man who has straightened up, who has reached his Star.”
étoile flamboyante: Love when it is sufficiently intense, is source of light and knowledge, in this respect we can say that the blaze associates with the star is Love.
“If we manage to register in the Flaming Star, to use this magnificent template which is offered to us we will have, found our balance, realized our own unit and we will have found this spark of divinity in us which will allow us to blaze. The Star, under the Delta, receives its influence as it receives that of the Sun and the Moon. She is the Great Architect of the Universe in Man in general and in the companion in particular. It blazes in addition to the radiation of the Delta, it completes the Knowledge by Love.”
This is the place I share the mysterious things I research for my art. My central aim is to connect with artists and open minded people. I enjoy painting as a way to explore the mind. When I’m not painting my mission is to bring more beauty into the world by making jewelry.
The Kykeon and Icon of Hygeia Acrylic painting Mitchell Pluto
Metaphors like the star, cup and snake of Hygieia are keys that exist within the universal mind.
The Kykeon and Icon of Hygeia is a gentle painting for a harsh transit. not unpleasantly rough for most people but maybe for a few
Hygiene, Hygieia, Hugieia
As a medical personification of health, Hygeia was daughter of Asklepios, the god of medicine. Traditionally Asklepios is known for his staff with a serpent which integrates similar details with the Caduceus of Hermes. I selected the Greek goddess in this painting in favor of other deities because of her relationship between three symbols.
The first being the molting snake going through various phases in an immutable soulful way-a vehicle or vehiculum
mixed media relief Mitchell Pluto another study in sacred geometry. the serpent clock. time is a serpent, maybe a wave or particle. maybe an opening, drain, tunnel or fountain. the inner scale has 12 petals. the outer 24 all under the influence of what matters is happening now as we molt
Second, the amuletic badge ‘the Pythagorean pentagram’ belonging naturally to an order that expresses health, inspiration and harmony.
Star of “Hugieia” (ύγιεία: health)
“In the pentagram, the Pythagoreans found all proportions well-known in antiquity: arithmetic, geometric, harmonic, and also the well-known golden proportion, or the golden ratio. … Probably owing to the perfect form and the wealth of mathematical forms, the pentagram was chosen by the Pythagoreans as their secret symbol and a symbol of health. Alexander Voloshinov
Ace of Pentacles Pendent Mitchell Pluto
The third is the cup that contains the passage into the circle with which the diameter or chord passes through everlasting life and the hidden order of natural geometry.
Master of Reflections From my series The Hidden Folk, 12inx15in mixed media. Investigates suggestibility and sympathetic magic.
The Master has a forehead of mirrors that captures the on looker. Whatever the master says changes the shape of the viewers reflection. The warden of petals regulates and enhances scent and can influence specific moods of an entire group. The Prophet of mu is the last representative of mu. a close encounter with the medium has made people become more conducive to psychic waves.
The Poet Guillaume Apollinaire described a hidden world as Surreal. Although Surrealism became popular in the 1920’s there has always been an omnipresent clue among all cultures of a hidden world. The Icelandic phrase, huldufólk is a substitution for a name what would otherwise disrupt the hidden world and cause an encounter with it. While most of us are usually not suggestively affected by taboos there is a unique percentage of people in Iceland who do believe the hidden world is possible.
This is not far from asking someone if they believe in people from another space.
The Surrealist’s methods of accessing the subconscious were not new. Many of the techniques of surrealism rely on animism, pareidolia and apophenia.
These three special effects of our consciousness influence our beliefs and attitudes subconsciously. Animism is our oldest built in belief system. Under the suggestibility of the animistic brain every person. place or thing has spirit. This would also include power and expression as an ability to change events in an environment. As simple as sanctifying a successful hunt/crop by painting a picture of the future in the present. As animism believes that everything is an agent of expression or spirit, pareidolina impacts how one perceives this channel.
There is a symbiotic relationship between the faerie realm and what we would consider inanimate or motionless objects. Like seeing a face in a tree. Apophenia impresses upon how we organize what we perceive during pareidolina. Where as an abnormal encounter with a face in the tree that could be nothing at all, apophenia insists, sometimes obsessively, that this experience, seeing a face in the tree, means something more than it does. Apophenia places most people at risk because it can be dogmatic and unquenchable under a false conclusion.
Mitchell Pluto 