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I wake in the dark of winter.
Sunlight runs in my veins and lives in my being.
I tend the gardens of the Dead and await the promise of new life.

I am the Angel of January, The Shining One.
11x17 in., Line work in Color Pencil and painted in Photoshop.

(Many thanks to Sam Hogg and Stephanie Reeves for all their critique and encouragement on this image!)

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On January: Named for Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, endings and gateways, January is a time of hope, purification and the promise of a new beginning.

January's Flowers: January's flowers are the Snowdrop and the Carnation. Snowdrops were a peculiar flower seen as a portent of death by the Victorians for their propensity for blooming from beneath thin layers of snow in graveyards.

Carnations also have an association as flowers of the dead to the Mexican Indians and are piled beside the bodies of the recently deceased before they are buried. In Korean lore, three carnations are placed on the forehead to divine what phase of a person's life will be unfortunate. The flower that withers first will tell.

January's Birthstone: January's birthstone is the Garnet which can be found in clusters and is often equated to pomegranate seeds which are in turn associated with the damnation of Persephone to the Underworld.