This post is an excerpt from Power of the Yin Oracle Deck Illustrator D. Yael Bernhard's recent newsletter.
I so love hearing Yael's perspective on this project, on our collaboration, and how her images are inspired by and dance with my words. As you'll see, she's a beautiful writer as well.
We are such a good match for the Power of the Yin!
******************************
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.
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.
Mushrooms I’ve discovered during my travels this summer in England and Scotland.
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.
The Power of the Yin Oracle Deck is now live on Kickstarter. Support this project and pre-order the deck with a pledge. Pledge for three decks—one for you and two for friends—and save $27.
Illustrations ©D. Yael Bernhard. Visit and subscribe to Yael’s Image-of-the Week newsletters here.