About two years ago I made an Oracle deck inspired by my work with the Fae.
And I love it! Since then I’ve been contemplating making another – improving using the lessons I learned from the first deck… but what?
Last year I went to visit my Reclaiming community in Spain (Hola!) and at the start of camp, as we have for each year I’ve been to visit, we pulled a Goddess Guidance card. The feminine divine spoke clearly to us, their voices weaving a story for the camp as well as blessing each individual with what they needed.
But where were the male voices? And where were the queer* voices?
Ours is a mixed community, open to the divine in all its faces. Open to all hearts and bodies. One big thing I adore about Reclaiming is its openness and inclusivity; there needs now to be space for all sexes and genders so that we can heal together, in relationship. (For the philosophers: we are Being-with with others, what more proof do you need that this is how we’ll heal?) I love the work that my sisters have done in bringing the Goddess back into the world and being a cis-gendered, white, female in a hetero-normative relationship, I have benefited immensely from their work. I am deeply grateful. And the wheels are turning further and now we need to make sure that we are working in relationship with each other. Men need role-models that show them how to live in the new world we want to build with them. People of all sexes and genders (and none) need space to be themselves. And each of us need to heal the divine in all its forms in our own hearts. Few of us are all male, or all female. I need to heal the relationship to both the masculine and feminine within myself, and the parts of myself that are neither, or both or other – the parts I don’t even have the language for – and I know that as a society we all do.
So where were those deities? I asked. Where are the voices of those that aren’t just feminine?
And the lady whose deck it was told me this:
I can’t find a deck that has all those voices. Why don’t you make one?
And my heart leapt: Yes, I said, I will.
It has taken a year of letting it percolate, of feeling that I should wait for a better time to make this happen. But there is never a perfect time, except now.
The week I decided to start this deck I saw several articles on violence against women and transgendered people, one after the other. There is much healing to be done and we can only do this if everyone recognises their own divinity and the divinity of others. My belief is that art is healing, and oracle decks are art that gets used, shared, handled, listened to. As such they have great capacity for healing. My hope is that this deck will show the world that many are seeking – where everyone has space to be themselves and are on equal footing regardless of sex/gender. We all need role models for how we can be healthy in our relationships and lives, and to show us how others can be too.
AND it is a good way to meet the deities that are walking our Earth again (or still). Those Gods and Goddesses and Divinities that speak to us, that wish to work with us on healing ourselves and the land – because ultimately healthy people are people that heal others too.
If this sounds like a project you want to support, you can acquire a first printing of the deck through the fundraiser! Or a reading, or art or other things. Or please share this with your communities. I hand this over into your hands and the hands of the gods.
PS: I am new to the LGBTQ* conversation. I do not intend to step on any toes, though I am aware I probably will and I ask for forgiveness in advance – please point out when I say something stupid or hurtful and I will mend my ways. Because I am not part of the Queer community I am not making this as a specifically queer deck, but I am hoping that a deck with queer voices marketed to a broader audience is likely to be helpful in creating space for everyone to relate to each other within regardless.
*I’m using Queer in its broadest sense here as it feels like the best and most inclusive option I know.
A World Enchanted 