A Spiritually Enlightening Online Magazine. November Theme: "Unique Perspective"
Volume 2 Issue 1 ISSN# 1708-3265

Index Meet Our Staff Free Subscription Donations Come Shopping Advertising Archived Issues

Illuminations Aleesha Stephenson About the Cover Theo Georgina Tigger The PWOMWBFY Speech Derek Wilken Connecting the Dots David Suzuki PhD Celebrating the Season Theo Georgina Tigger E Pluribus Unum - One God, From Many Concepts Rev. Cheryl Jewett I Choose NOT to Procreate! Charlene Cloth Diaper for Less! Stell Michelsen Tarot Café Kirsty Norton The Envelope, Please... A Profile Featuring: Elizabeth Abernathy AKA Boo Magik'ly Speaking… Featuring: Elizabeth Abernathy's son - Casimir Secrist Aunty Nasty Nasturtium Blackwitt Walk Your Talk Aleesha Stephenson Tales of a Country Vet Dr. Bruce Burton DVM Lifetalks Dawn Baumann Brunke Technically Tarot Jeannette Roth Meditate a Moment Featuring: Aleesha Stephenson Poetic License Featured Poets The Keeper Many Moons Susan Seddon Boulet - Engagement Calendar Pomegranate ECOlogical Calendar Pomegranate Astrological Calendar Llewellyn's Call of the Great Spirit; The Shamanic Life and Teachings of Medicine Grizzly Bear Bobby Lake-Thom Sounds of the Chakras Harish Johari Art and Symbols of the Occult James Wasserman

"Drag King" was created by Theo Georgina Tigger, a.k.a. Changeling; and the model is Isaak, affectionately known to friends as Zaza.

As Changeling, Theo runs a healing practice, sells her artwork in various ways, does a little web design and reserves two days a week to do something really, really normal and grounding. She is a Reiki practitioner and budding Faery Shaman. Her website: www.faeryshaman.co.uk is a labour of love, and she hopes to have an online shop there soon. Zaza is just Zaza - visit his website here.

The medium and method of this image is quite straightforward, although it does combine two of my favourite media, which is rare for me. I painted Zaza first, with theatrical body paint. Then, when we were both happy with the result, I took the photos.

After development, it's straight into Photoshop for alteration and compositing - an alchemical, complex and essentially private process.

"Drag King" is an unusual image, and I guess it is intimately tied to the history of my relationship to the model. I first met a young girl called Isabelle whilst living in France many years ago. She and I shared much; love, death, laughter, friendship, and many little transformations of ourselves and our relationship.

The bond survived and grew stronger as we moved to England, broke up, watched each other run around with various unsuitable partners, moved a few times… and in my case, married my husband. In 2002, Isabelle told me she was becoming Isaak, and it was quite a shock to me.

This image is a part of my process of coming to terms with his decision. I wanted to express my understanding of how he had got to this point, and put it into a context of a gender malleability I could empathise with.

I've had a fascination with drag kings, or women who role-play as men, for some time, and I wanted to make a very protective statement - not only about the rightness of that decision, but about the beauty of the process.

This is a glorious, uncompromising image, without shame or ugliness of any kind. And I also wanted to capture that fragile and fleeting moment of androgyny, before his new hormones kicked in and changed him forever.

It is an homage, even a platonic love song, to the girl I knew and the man he would become. It's certainly a pledge to bear witness to the bravest of paths, and to help in any way I can with his transformation. Luckily, that's a pledge my darling husband and dearest friends have joined with. I think Isaak understood all that, and I know that he likes the end result.

Since this moment was captured, we have all watched Isaak change at an amazing rate. I do not believe there is a standard or ideal male template to measure his progress against. I know the hormones have dropped his voice, pushed hair out of every pore and grown muscle in all the usual places. It has been like watching adolescence in fast forward. He does think about sex and video games. A lot. And he has lost the ability to multitask.

Mostly though, I have watched him become more himself, in ways so subtle they are hard to quantify. There is more swagger in his step and more joy in his voice, and it is becoming really hard to think of him as anything other than the way he is now.

This weekend, we celebrate Isaak's first nameday, or anniversary of his change of name. This photo was taken in Spring 2004; and by the time you read this, he will have changed again. As the cover image says, evolution truly is a state of mind.

5th August 2004

Copyright (c) 2004 by Timeless Spirit Magazine. All articles are the copyright of the particular writers and cannot be reprinted without their expressed permission. All rights reserved. International copyright laws prohibit reproduction of or distribution of this page by any means whatsoever, electronic or otherwise, without first obtaining the written permission of the copyright holder. We retain legal counsel to protect our copyrights.

Any advice given is for informational purposes only.