Eternity © D. Yael Bernhard
This illustration was created for one of 58 cards that make up The Power of the Yin Oracle Deck, written and published in 2023 by Daven Lee – illustrated and designed by yours truly. The text for this card, titled Eternity, reads:
Vastness
far beyond even the bird’s eye view.
The spacious realm of ultimate understanding;
the wisdom of perspective and forgiveness.
Everything
no matter how small
no matter how enormous
fits deep inside this grand context.
The final and everlasting container:
inexhaustible.
How does one illustrate such a concept? I walked around with Daven’s words in my head for weeks, pondering what images could express them in visual form. It was the spring of 2022, and this was on my mind as I hiked up Westkill Mountain, one of the higher peaks in the Catskills that forms one side of the valley where I live. Shaped like the gently curved back of a great forested whale, the summit is a rarefied environment of fragrant balsam firs, wind-sculpted spruce, sinuous wild cherry trees, and lightning-struck bare trunks that made perches for hawks. Beside a mossy boulder, I came upon the elegant black moth shown above. With a wingspan as wide as my hand, it was striking and beautiful, resting on the forest floor, slowly moving its wings up and down, open and closed, open and closed. I was entranced.
Elsewhere in the deck, a butterfly lands on a woman’s fingertip as a symbol of beauty and grace. Butterflies and moths represent metamorphosis, the powerful transformation from one form to another. Given that these cards are meant to inspire transformation, I wanted to include both somewhere in the deck. In folklore, moths may appear as messengers of the dead. The black moth seemed like a perfect symbol for the liberation from life into the realm of the eternal. That it had shown itself to me on top of the mountain was a synchronicity I could not dismiss.
My goal was to convey a sense of comfort in a safe space – not a creepy or haunting depiction of the afterlife. I transposed the colors on the wings of this moth into the background and the scalloped borders that emanate from the woman. These decorative vibrations surround her as she transforms, emerging from the chrysalis of her body to the transcendent flight of her soul, embodied as the moth. She curls up in a container that opens to the sky, where the moth rises toward the light.
Just as poetry uses words to point beyond words, an image such as this can only suggest what is beyond knowing. That’s sufficient. These cards are meant to evoke whatever is meaningful to the user, not to dictate answers.
The original painting of Eternity is for sale here, along with the other illustrations that comprise The Power of the Yin. It’s painted in acrylics on canvas, and measures 9”x12”.
A good week to all!
D Yael Bernhard
http://dyaelbernhard.com
children's books • fine art • illustration
posters • cards • calendars
Have you seen my other Substack, The Art of Health? In addition to being a visual artist, I’m also a certified integrative health & nutrition coach with a lifelong passion for natural food cooking and herbal medicine. Now in its second year, this illustrated newsletter explores cutting-edge concepts of nutrition. I strive to make relevant information clear and accessible, and to anchor essential health concepts in unique images. Check it out, and if you like it, please subscribe and help spread the word. Your support keeps my work going!