11 Artists Explore Shapeshifting In The Queer & Trans Magic Zine Series

What if there was a place to share stories and creative works that explore, honor, and transform lineages of queer magic & resilience? What would you share, and why would you share it?

A new zine series published by Astral Cherry Healing Arts, entitled Queer/Trans Magic, seeks to cultivate such a space for LGBTQ2S+ creatives. The premise of this zine series is simple: who we are, where we come from, how we belong, and the stories we share exist in an infinite web of connection that needs tending. On top of that, artists and storytellers are uniquely poised to grapple with the ongoing impacts of colonialism, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, and other forms of cultural violence, theft, and appropriation within our communities. Or in other words, the personal is political (Audre Lorde) — even in our creative practices — and with a little bit of imagination we can illuminate those connections.

But how do we illuminate what must be seen? How do we transform what must be changed? How do we tend to our lineages and nurture justice and belonging in each other? Creativity is a powerful, alchemical form of resistance to the suppression of cultures of domination. Through our creativity, we forge space for our voices and our bodies—past, present, and future—to thrive in the process of becoming. The healing arts have a unique power to cultivate the creative, responsive community care networks we need for a world beyond domination.

Herein lies the magic of the Queer/Trans Magic zine series: from collages that draw us into the lush forests of queer Alabama, altars that support transdimensional communion with the self, and poetry that ushers us through reincarnation — the first issue, Shapeshifting, is full to the brim with creative works that illustrate the inseparable bond between our bodies, our communities, and our landscapes. The 11 featured artists will guide you through explorations of identity, of grief, of healing, of loss of ancestral connection, of (re)finding home within oneself. Each uniquely journey through the edges between the human and (in)human, nature and nurture, the arcane and the mundane.

Shapeshifting is available on Astral Cherry Healing Arts’ Store as well as the Fortuna Major Press store as both digital and printed copies. Within you will encounter creative works that are deeply personal; forging space for identities and cultural connections that are far more complex than meets the eye. Let them encourage you to consider what emerges when you shapeshift. Allow Shapeshifting to be your magical guide home to yourself and the world around you.