Friends of The Cosmic Mycelium Oracle Deck, welcome! I’m so excited to have this new space to share updates, outside of Meta platforms.
As I was transferring my posts from IG over into blog form yesterday, I couldn’t “ignore” how long it had been since I posted an update, so I’m here today to break the rest cycle silence and give you all an update on the deck.
First off, you may or may not know that in Sept 2024, I had some creative growth explode into this project. I created 90+ cards, with descriptions, practices, reflection questions; all categorized into sub-themes within the larger theme of the deck. I completed over 50 readings from my draft deck (where the card title is written on an index card). By the way, if you ever want to make a deck, index cards have been a great temporary solution for me — and so affordable!
Once I reached Oct 2024, I was ready to take a rest. I poured so much energy into this deck and got it to a great point for the first draft, but y’all after that I was tired!!!
I shared this in my Oct 16th update:
i’m at the threshold of making decisions that will influence the entire deck, and remainder of this project well into the post-production stage while i’m not quite ready to share those in any detail, i’m feeling renewed confidence in my direction. and i intend to use this rest cycle to integrate the work i’ve done thus far… and allow for any clarity to come through
Which brings me to today’s update, and a decision I thought I had made at this point, that I’m now going back and forth on again….
There’s a few ‘next steps’ for this larger project:
- I know I need to edit the deck, because 92 cards (and then some, because I keep having more card ideas) isn’t where I wanted this project to end, it feels large… and I’m confident I can edit down some of the overlapping messages in a way that the deck won’t lose much (if any) of it’s guidance.
- And the bigger next step that was giving me some pause (any maybe still is) is the art work.
If you don’t know me, I’m a creative & artist by nature. I briefly pursued art as a vocation, and had attended 3 separate artistically-based programs in college after high school. Whenever I thought about pursuing academics, an artistic doctorate was always something I considered. I love art, okay?!
And one of the parts of this larger desire to create a deck, was to create some beautiful artwork along with a tool that could support others in reconnecting with the larger theme of interconnectedness.
But I kept pausing at the art conversation, until October, when I had a chat with a mentor of mine and thought that I got all the clarity I needed.
When I chatted with her, I went into the conversation with the overwhelm of doing all the art myself, and this idea I’d been playing with to bring in guest artists (yes, multiple) to complete the deck, with me.
I loved the poetic reflection of having multiple artists work on the art for a deck that’s theme touches on how we’re all connected — isn’t that beautiful?!
When I left the call with my mentor, I was confident that moving forward with the artistic pursuit as a group of folks was the way I wanted to go. I started to research art styles I liked, I created some descriptions to how I envisioned the artwork to look for this project, created colour palette samples, and even put a call out on social media looking for artists.
I also considered licensing art, and separately what a compensation model for artists could look like if I decided to bring multiple artists into this project (given I’m funding this myself and through readings)…
Honestly, looking back I think I reached a point of decision paralysis and decided to wait for the excitement energy to return to working with the deck before I stepped further along the path. I tuned in to the energy of the deck too, and she was happy to wait.
My next step is indeed a redundancy review and taking some cards to the editing room to be cut. And then to make a move on the art.
I know I need to take action in one direction or another, and I continue to remind myself that I’m able and willing to change my mind if the decision stops feeling aligned.
So this is where I’m at. This has been on my mind through this project’s cycle of rest. And while I thought I had the decision made, something in me keeps wondering:
Am I leaning toward multiple artists because taking on the whole deck myself feels overwhelming?