Welcome to The Feather on the Moon, where magic and creativity intertwine to bring forth a new realm of tarot design. I am thrilled to embark on this enchanting journey with you as an indie tarot deck designer, ready to share the tips and tricks I have picked up in my 30 year journey with this mystical art. My secrets and stories are woven into the cards of my unique decks.
The spark that ignited my passion for tarot design was a blend of mystical fascination, coupled with a love of artistic expression and then wrapped up with a passion for words.
The Creative Process
I have been immersed in the art world my entire life. In some form or fashion, I have always been creating. Making art consumed hours of my time as a small child. As a teen and young adult, acrylic painting became my passion. I sold my art locally in my town and I carried within me a dream to one day paint my own set of tarot cards.
Life threw me a pretty big curve ball and I took a detour into the world of academia to obtain a Master's Degree in Counselling Psychology, and to later open a highly successful private practice as a licensed psychotherapist. Part of this journey included opening and later selling a wellness centre that housed up to 11 practitioners. The artistic design of the building is what gave me the greatest joy, as did being of service to my community.
I have always felt pulled to create something beautiful that did not exist before.
Tarot has always sparked my imagination as I am fascinated by the world of symbols, colours, and archetypes. Each card becomes a canvas for storytelling, where every stroke of colour carries meaning and magic. The creation of these decks was immense and it consumed every inch of my being. The images were typically made in the dark hours of night while the world (and my household) slept. All of the images you see were made by me, not by a robot, and some cards literally took days to perfect, with hours of endless patience to create a scene that accurately portrayed the energy of the card. What I thought would take me a few months to make actually took 18 months, full time, off the side of my desk while running my therapy business. To say I was tired by the end is an understatement.
My decks are my creations and they are birthed through a labour of love.
Introducing the Starlight Tarot Oracle - where beauty, symbolism, and learning are braided into one comprehensive whole.
Together in the spirit of creativity, collaboration, truth, knowledge, and a love of tarot, this deck is my offering to you. I realized as I was making the deck that it was sad how many people want to learn tarot but are overwhelmed with where to start and are daunted by the task of learning 78 cards.
This sparked what I feel is one of my greatest ideas: put the meaning of the card, on the card, written as an oracle style message. Bingo! You don't need a guidebook (even though I made a beautiful one). You can also learn more easily, using the deck like a set of flashcards.
As I created with purpose, I realized there may be established readers out there who love my imagery but don't actually want the meaning of the card on the card. As a result, I created a companion deck called Moonlight Tarot. It is still my imagery and my art but without the meaning. To make them unique, 5 cards have unique faces, and this deck has a holographic coating to give them a little extra oomph.
Start with the Starlight Tarot Oracle but graduate with the Moonlight Tarot once your skills as a reader are established.
What's Next? Here is a glimpse into my future.
I have never felt more excited for my future. I have created something I feel is beautiful and I have overcome some pretty huge obstacles to get here. These creations also come with a story of loss. I built these decks as I was still practicing as a psychotherapist running my wellness centre. To say I was busy is an understatement.
On Friday the 13th, October 2023, I sold my clinic and was just about to launch the decks into the world via a kickstarter campaign, and then suddenly to my surprise, a car hit me.
A man texting and driving on Halloween hit me and my life exploded into fragments. Everything stopped. My health failed, my brain malfunctioned, my body crashed, my practice was closed as I was unable to practice, and I was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury.
I did not have the brain power to remember conversations and what I was supposed to do that day, let alone the brain power to draft a kickstarter campaign and suddenly learn marketing.
Life forced me to stop. I spent 6 months intensely doing a rehab program, trying to regain what I lost, and practiced staying in alignment with my future but trying to embrace gratitude and acceptance, even though a car hitting me is clearly the last thing that I wanted to happen.
I hired a company who can be my surrogate brain and for a percentage of my Kickstarter campaign, they can organize it, manage it, and run it. Great! Then, BOOM! Life forced me to stop again. My brother in law died tragically in a horrific car accident. Trauma has reared it's head again. And again, the universe has asked me to pause.
Now is not a time to celebrate, now is a time for further healing. I will ask the company running the Kickstarter campaign to delay until September so my family and I can have some time for mourning and grieving. The cards have been ready for launch for a long time, the timing is just wrong. This next little while needs to be about my sister and her two sons.
As a therapist, I know that post-traumatic stress brings post-traumatic growth. I know that one day I will be growing in leaps and bounds again, but right now, I need more healing time to recover from my injuries - both to my brain and my heart.
Roads always have twists and turns, as well as promises of new creations and connections. In the future, I will share upcoming projects I want to start, future decks I am currently daydreaming, new watercolours as I am attempting to learn this new art form, new writings, and ideas for future campaigns. I am in the dreaming phase again, cocooned in my imagination.
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With boundless gratitude and a heart full of wonder, thank you for being here. I am truly so grateful.
Love Holly xo
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