Bodymagic, My NEW Graphic Novel, Is HERE! And A Few Words on Turning Trauma Into Art

Hi everyone!

The lilacs are blooming, and yesterday a shipment of the hand printed, limited edition and soon-to-be talismanic edition of my new book, Bodymagic, arrived!

I successfully funded this printing of 150 copies on Kickstarter back in November, and despite the tariff drama between the states and Canada, my printer was able to get these to me and the project went off without any real hiccups other than some delays on both our parts due to illness!

I eagerly awaited the arrival of these packages all day yesterday - perched at my window, eagle eyes keen to spot the UPS truck. 

I cracked open a box of books over on YouTube - I was soooo excited to see what the books looked like I didn't even put on any makeup or change my outfit, lol! 

This project has been in the works since 2018. So, 7 years? 

I finished writing the main draft in the summer of 2019, after attending the Survivor Wealth Summit in LA. It was a transformative experience, and I was immensely grateful to receive a full scholarship to attend. It was all about how survivors of violence deserve to thrive, and furthermore, can learn business skills to support ourselves. It was about building confidence in how our stories matter, and how our art and our message of healing is important. Being there gave me the strength to push through, no matter how hard this book was to write.

I didn't touch it for a few years. 

It felt too much, too heavy - would anyone even care? Was it okay to share my dirty laundry and air out my experiences of trauma in public? Would it lead to me being attacked? I was so afraid of getting in trouble. Typical survivor stuff, of course.

And I was focusing on my own healing journey. From 2018 to 2023, I grew into a completely different person.

Do I still match the criteria for CPTSD? Actually, no, I no longer do. Which feels insane to type out; but it's true. And it was only from that kind of mental space - not triggered, not reactive - that I was able to revisit the manuscript again, and finesse it into something much stronger than it had been. I cut out A LOT of it; stuff that was clearly just trauma brain having a rampage.

And once the script felt good... I began to draw.

I spent all of last year drawing and painting this book. 

And doing so was healing in a way I didn't quite expect; in many ways, it felt like an exorcism, a shaking off of something I'd kept inside me for so long. Drawing and painting my experience - once I was finally mentally and emotionally ready to do so - felt like freedom.

And now this book is here!

This book about witchcraft, trauma, and healing. This book about how trauma kinda taught me magic, and how magic kinda healed my trauma. 

I'll be blessing this special hand printed edition under the June new moon later this month. Then, they'll be sent out to folks who snagged 'em. This printing is 50% sold out, and it WILL sell out, so if you want a special ritual edition, you'll want to get that sooner rather than later. A mass market paperback, digitally printed, will be available later in the summer, early fall.

If you liked my first book Witchbody, you won't want to miss this one.

Watch the live unboxing on YouTube here, and grab your own copy on Kickstarter here.

Thank you so much for supporting me and this project, and my work in general!

I wouldn’t be here without you.

xxoxoxo

Sabrina