Oracle Decks and Ritual Objects

I was a part of Elke Ullmer-Strempke, LMFT's process group on women, creativity, and myth. We talked about archetypes and created artwork based on those archetypes. I made a variety of ritual objects in this group, ranging from my own interpretation of the four of cups from tarot to a paper doll of myself as Inanna the Sumerian goddess to a Vasilisa doll. These objects can often be found on my altar at home.

Kristen of Over the Moon Academy wrote a guest post for the Little Red Tarot blog in 2017, inviting folks to create their own oracle deck. I hadn't done a project like this before, so I bought some card blanks and got started. I found the project very satisfying. I liked working on the cards each day and writing interpretations for them. I usually use these cards as a supplement to a tarot reading to consider how my own personal attributes impact my response to a situation.

I made a set of three ceramic discs. During a raku fire, I used pieces of my own hair to burn carbon patterns onto the surface. The dots are errant sugar from a careless neighbor's work on her piece, a reminder that processes are impacted by circumstances beyond my control. The triptych grows increasingly busy and full from the first to the third piece, and is meant to be a reminder of how ritual and magic open up over time. These pieces live on my altar. When I do a 3-card draw, I often leave the three cards leaned against the discs.