Nicole Pivirotto - Color, Form, and Magic: Use the Power of Aesthetics for Creative and Magical Work

To my dear friends, family, those who have come
before me, and the myriad of influences that have
allowed me to explore and create this book

Copyright 2021 by Nicole Pivirotto.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Names: Pivirotto, Nicole, author.
Title: Color, form, and magic : use the power of aesthetics for creative and magical work / Nicole Pivirotto.
Description: San Francisco : Chronicle Books, [2021] |
Identifiers: LCCN 2021012812 | ISBN 9781797203560 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781797208442 (epub 2)
Subjects: LCSH: Color in design. | Color--Psychic aspects. | Form (Aesthetics) | Design--Technique.
Classification: LCC NK1548 .P58 2021 | DDC 701/.85--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021012812

Art direction, design, and illustrations by Nicole Pivirotto.
Photography and prop styling by Studio HMVD.
Typesetting by Nicole Pivirotto. Typeset in Lydia, Chap, Tiempos Text, and Neue Haas Grotesk Text.

Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com

We work with the power of color and form every dayfrom how we perceive an advertisement to what we choose to wear to how we emotionally respond to artwork. Magic is an empowering practice that can help us achieve our goals and manifest our intentions. When combined, color, form, and magic are powerful methods of connecting to our creativity and to our higher selves, helping us work toward a deeper sense of self-actualization.

This book is a guide to developing your own magical or creative practice to aid you in your personal journey of healing and manifestationwhich is the act of putting intention behind your thoughts and actions to attract the energy you want. That journey might be working toward a specific goal, bringing a specific emotional resonance to a space, or deepening your own creative or spiritual practice. There are so many ways to work with the magic of color and shape, and the aim of this book is to help you discover new ways to do so. In these chapters, I will outline how color and shape are powerful ways to access emotion, intuition, and meaning, along with the basics of magic and manifestation. I also offer spell suggestions, and ways of integrating the magic of color and shape into your everyday life. The subject matter in these pages pulls from a wide range of influences, such as psychology, cultural associations, various lineages of witchcraft and esoteric thought, energy centers (also known as chakras), astrology, art and design applications, and more. You do not need to have a belief in a higher power (since, in many ways, magic is a psychological tool) to use the teachings of this book, although if you do have one, I invite you to infuse your personal practice here.

This book grew out of my work as a graphic designer and spiritual practitioner, as both have informed my relationship with color, form, and magic. As a designer, Ive always carefully chosen color palettes, drawn logos, and created various illustrations all with the psychology of color and shape in mind. What colors might best reach an audience, or what type of logo would make a brand stand out from its competitors while still making it feel relevant and approachable? What icon resonates with the feeling that the brand generates? Every design choice is made with intent and purpose.

At the same time, I also have a substantial spiritual practice. After receiving my Reiki 1 attunement, my relationship to spirituality changed, deepening on a profound level. I dove into spiritual studies, learning more about witchcraft, the tarot, breathwork meditation, and the Akashic Records. I began to notice that there was a large overlap between how designers employ color and form, and how color and form are used as tools in magic and spiritual practices. I chose every color for a spell with the same level of consideration as for a design project. Setting up an altar felt the same as styling and choosing objects for a still life photo shoot. Both the spiritual practitioner and the designer use their intuition to guide them. What I realized is that both magic and design are meant to invoke specific emotions as a means to manifest an intention or end goal. The same can be said of all creative acts and disciplines: Every creative makes specific choices for their work to produce a desired effect either for themselves or others. Creating something out of nothing is truly a magical act.

The approach to magic within this book is not based on any one type of spiritual orthodoxy; it draws on various magical lineages such as neo-paganism, color magic, and chaos magic. This is because I enjoy a more agnostic approach to spirituality and magic, as I have found that many spiritual methodologies and practices resonate and enrich me on a personal level. With that said, as you explore beyond this book, it is important to research each lineage that you are interested in to gain a deeper understanding of their teachings and to honor them as individual religions and traditions.

The information in this book is intended to be a starting point for you to enhance your own creative and spiritual practice through the magic of color and shape. But I want to acknowledge that this work is highly subjective: The language that you speak, where you live in the world, and your cultural upbringing can all inform your relationship to color, shape, and magic. If anything does not resonate with you, I encourage you to work with this material in a way that feels right. It should also be noted that there are inherent biases in how people relate to color, symbolism, and magic. These associations are not part of this book, as the intention of this work is to elevate and evolve our relationship with color, form, and magic into a space that is empowering for all people.

Moreover, while there is a wealth of information provided in these pages, it is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all associations with color, shape, and magic, but instead an overview of important connections and correspondences. If you would like to learn more, I encourage you to check Suggested Reading at the , which has additional sources on everything contained within these pages.

It is my hope that the contents of this book provide a creative spark that helps you to take your creative or spiritual practice to new places, and allows you to expand it in ways that you have not before. There are infinite ways of putting the material within these pages into practice, and I encourage you to explore. I invite you to use Color, Form, and Magic as a guide along that journey, and, of course, to have fun while doing so.