The cover and logo
I have to thank Julia Passamonti Colamartino for help with the logo. When I was trying to come up with an idea for the cover, I basically knew what I wanted. The idea of talismans, and the use of various types of pentacles has a long history in magical arts. I wished to create a pentacle / talisman for the cover of this book. Sketching it out was one thing, but creating a graphic of that design was something else entirely. Julia is an amazing artist, and is the one who took my design and made it print-ready.
The design consists of the Pagan Pentacle - a pentagram inscribed within a circle. This is the emblem of faith for many Pagan paths. Intertwined within the pentagram is a triangle. The triangle within a circle has been an emblem of recovery programs for a number of years, and it is used in magic and alchemy. Together, they represent the spirituality of transformation, an alchemical process that we can undertake within us.
The words at the top of the circle, "Let none but thyself be thy master" remind us that we choose our own path, and that we put ourselves in peril the moment we relinquish control to another. That "other" may be a substance, another person, a compulsive behavior or a habit.
At the bottom we read "to serve others is to serve oneself".
Initially, these two phrases might seem contradictory, but like much in magic, contradictions are only contradictions until we understand them on a deeper level. One of the foundational principles of the Twelve Steps is that we are able to achieve true recovery only through helping others. We can attain our goals by helping others reach that same goal.