Kelli "AURIEL" Lynn Overby: Artist, Mystic, Polymath, Autodidact 

Since I was a child, I had the spirit of a Bohemian- a real "daughter of the revolution". In fact, Kelli means “warrior woman”.  If that is who I am then AURIEL is how I fight, but more importantly, why I do. For I always valued the tenets of truth, beauty, freedom, and love as cornerstones of the world in which I wanted to live my life. Whether I was old enough to understand how these elements were so fundamental at the time of my youth or not I do not know, however over time I did learn to see just how much they were not only lacking, but had been corrupted. So much so that I was living in a world that I wanted but did not yet exist but for in my heart and mind. 

 

I witnessed how those that told the truth were punished for it.  I saw beautiful people cover up their light and watched their bodies follow suit.  I saw freedom sacrificed for temporary survival.  And mostly, I saw people forget that love is an action that is inclusive and all-encompassing.  It was not a self-sacrificing habit, but a calling to consider others as part of you.  A symbiosis of all things.  The Native Americans understood so much of these universal truths and they were called “savages”- they were the true warriors.  As are many that have been outcast, labeled different, and disagreeable, for they act like mirrors to what is lacking and distorted.  They are the healers and the sages. The witches we burned, and whistleblowers we call traitors.

 

​I saw this disconnect early on and have spent years being paralyzed by it (externally and internally).  I always saw the world as interconnected and wondered why so many were blind to this. Many held back by pain caused by intergenerational trauma: A world full of hurt people hurting each other- of people judging themselves for struggling in a world that had not figured out any other way to be (at least enough in the aggregate to make a big enough difference in the masses). 

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It broke my child's heart that was full of possibility.  Hope felt like an illusion.  And it is a heaviness I carry to this day and I know that I am not alone in this struggle.  In trying to undo what has been done and feeling overwhelmed by the task- by the calling.

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 I see good people suffering.  I see plants, animals, and our earth unappreciated.  I see distractions of the most banal nature being given the utmost importance.  And in my disgust, I have chosen to do what I can with what I have to build a better world.  To revive that child’s broken heart.  Even if I die trying, I will have left a seed of hope other than a rotting root. ​

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I do this by loving what is broken while inviting it to heal through creative avenues.  This can be people, or thoughts that shape the way we live.   I use the years I spent observing human nature, and trying to understand the reasons behind the way people act (especially myself) in order to do this.  This psychological, logical, and philosophical approach along with my Bohemian values are the cornerstones of my Great Work. A Spiritual alchemical process.

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For this is what the real Occult Magick is.  It is ritual (action-based) intentions rooted in the knowledge of the self and its relation to others and how this union creates the world in which we live.  

 

I have had many "other-worldly" experiences such as astral travel and the like, but they are not a main focus, but a type of flavoring to the possibility of how outside-the-box we are capable of being.  I know I have an ancient wisdom that I have tapped into, but it has been accessed for me to ground it into a practical form:  One that heals and one that creates.  A true blend of masculine and feminine energies. 

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At the end of the day, my mission is to share my story through my gifts and redefine what Spirituality means through Art and Ritual.  In doing so, it is my sincere hope that it inspires whomever comes across my work to feel seen in all their complexity and possibility - to find their own unique way to plant seeds for the future.  For we are all needed and it is time.