Gentle reminders
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I made and posted this drawing on Instagram the other day, mainly as a reminder while I emotionally and physically recover from the last few months of 2022. A reminder to myself as I started physical therapy this week. I like drawing reminders for myself, and I always become very fascinated by how others tend to connect to the reminders I choose to share online.
I’ve been taking deep breaths and trying to move forward from what occurred and then a new year showed up in the flux of emotions that I have been feeling. I feel conflicted. I think part of that is that I am still in the process of moving forward from last year. I am still picking up pieces and processing them. It’s been strange seeing others talk about moving forward from what 2022 was to them while I really don’t feel a clean slate, and I know others may not as well.
Don’t get me wrong, I am excited about 2023, even with the new things I need to work through. During 2022, in between other client projects, I spent most of the year illustrating and writing an oracle deck that’ll be released this year! While I was creating greeting cards for “Em & Friends,” Emily and her team approached me with the idea of creating an oracle deck which I enthusiastically responded to. I was then commissioned to create the deck and decided the deck should be one that contained “reminders.” I wanted to create a cohesive “world” that the deck existed in and for the deck to be very Non-binary in regards to the characters that are shown.
In the past several years, I have loved using tarot & oracle decks as tools. I remember when my friend Tash first introduced me to tarot decks, having frequent hangs in the park with my friend Meredith over card readings, and having many different moments with various other loved ones over reading cards together. I love that reading cards can be both personal & community oriented. That we have the potential to learn more about each other, as well as ourselves, through the tools of a card deck. I also love that art is so involved in reading cards, thus creating a process of deeper connection, something that I strive to create with my own work frequently.
The “Gentle Reminders” oracle deck will be out in the world this year, and I’ll give more details, such as a specific release date, etc., very soon. The inside of the box reads my intentions for the deck, “Sometimes we just need a reminder. A reminder of our humanity. A reminder we aren’t alone in this. This Oracle deck is here to support you & your loved ones with reminders to help you move through the day. Take a moment to get yourself comfortable, shuffle the deck and pull out a card. Maybe the reminder you pull is meant for you, or maybe it’s for you to share with a loved one in your life! Reminders aren’t always easy, but they have the potential to make us feel nudges of ease.”
I really want this deck to be a connector, a way to share stories based on the reminders we pull with each other. I’m so excited to share this deck with you, and there will be a few ways of me doing so! I’ll be writing a bit about the deck, sharing stories behind some of the cards, as well as sharing more of the process of creating the deck. I’ll also be hosting a little podcast to highlight some cards and do some readings for some people that really inspire me artistically and personally. Both the podcast and writings will be featured in these newsletters and will also be including transcripts of the podcasts!
On new years day, my partner and I pulled some cards for 2023, including cards from my test copy of the oracle deck. The card I pulled for this year felt very true to where I am currently.