Image of the Week: Guidance
© D. Yael Bernhard
Guidance is the name of this card that I recently illustrated for The Power of the Yin Oracle Deck by Daven Lee – a unique project I've been working on all year. Similar to Tarot, this is a deck you can consult for guidance, clarity, and personal growth. Daven's creation stands out from other oracle decks in its singular focus on bringing the feminine back into our lives, and into modern society as a whole.
The partnership of images and words in The Power of the Yin offers what Daven describes as "an invitation to connect to the wisdom and power we all carry inside of us." The cards are meant to inspire us "to become centered in the body rather than the mind, to open to the invisible subtle and felt-sense, and to access a knowing that is both ancient and emergent."
The 56 original concepts represented bring together Daven's years of experience as a body-centered healer and teacher of Qi Gong movement with a spiritual vision all her own. My job as her illustrator and designer is to bring this vision into form, so that others may draw upon it. The original paintings are acrylic on canvas, 9"x12", with a few exceptions. The printed cards will measure 3.5"x5".
Each card is accompanied by text on the back that's meant to spark reflection. Daven's writings are a cross between blessings, prayers, and poetry. Deliberately understated to leave space for interpretation, her words are both gentle and bold, always guiding the reader toward her own inner resources. Daven walks her talk, living by the lights she strives to kindle in others. The intuitive guidance suggested in this image of a woman foraging for wild mushrooms is exactly her style. Throughout the gestation of this project, Daven has traveled throughout the United Kingdom in a spontaneous manner, leading workshops, connecting with women, walking the coastal highlands, visiting ancient sites, listening for life's subtle input – and gathering mushrooms all the way. We've pondered her fungal photos together almost as much as we've discussed the sketches and illustrations for the deck. Thus this particular card, though it does not resemble its author visually, seems to represent her – as well as me, for I'm a forest-dweller too, with a passion for wild plants and fungi. These shared sensibilities have made our creative partnership deeply gratifying for both Daven and me – and we hope this translates into the cards, for the benefit of all whose path they cross.
Anyone who forages for mushrooms knows the uncanny feeling of finding them after first walking past them and seeing nothing. Often it's on my way back to my car that I see an elegant cap protruding from the carpet of fallen leaves, or a colorful polypore growing from the crack in a tree. Signs of bear and wild turkey, porcupine, deer and other animals also reveal themselves, as well as wild plants both familiar and strange. Beneath the woman's feet, the living mycelium penetrates the earth, just as her subtle connection to nature is woven throughout her life. The luminescent blue background seemed like the right color to convey the peaceful quietude of the forest. Is the woman being guided by the crescent moon, the bear, the bird, or the spirits watching over her?
You decide.
You can learn more about The Power of Yin, preorder a deck, purchase one of the original paintings, or support the project on Kickstarter here.
A good week to all!
D Yael Bernhard
http://dyaelbernhard.com
children's books • fine art • illustration
posters • cards • calendars