There are impulses that should not be underestimated, since they will probably lead you to places as adventurous as they are unexpected...
It's summer 2020, a gathering of girlfriends at home. The idea is launched: "Do you want to create our own oracle?!"
Occultism, it seems important to me to specify that for a very long time, I voluntarily left the door to the invisible worlds tightly closed, padded. And despite the "anti-leak" coatings that I had taken care to fix between each gap, they would open at key moments. Then bam, I would slam the door in their faces, reassuring myself of their non-existence as best I could! Particularly with regard to the deceased and divination.
It was a long process to agree to let go at my own pace, to let come to me what presented itself, to bring a touch of nuance to these certainties that had taken root in the very fertile soil that can be generated by unfortunate experiences mixed with modern rationalism. You see?
Peeling oneself off one's own layers is a necessarily engaging and conscious process.
Creativity, your condition as a human being means that you too are endowed with this "power". So you are not unaware of how long it takes to find your own artistic identity, to weave this common thread that will allow you to develop. What interested me in creating was of course learning techniques, but above all authenticity, sincerity, the message transmitted. I think this research goes hand in hand with our own development, with also the fact of seeking out what our own guts are made of. You pull yourself up to the heights, while rummaging, stirring, digging up your depths.
Then, over time, I found my creative anchor point: mixing beauty and death, trying to overcome taboos, prejudices, highlighting diversity (human and non-human).
Hop, let's go back to our summer 2020, to this day when we said to ourselves "ok, let's make our own oracle!" We start by agreeing on the character we want to give to this object, aesthetic like a cabinet of curiosities and on what is important for us to transmit, an oracle that is easy to use, accessible to the greatest number, that can be used as much on the side of divination, as introspection and psychology. We define together a list of words that will constitute the essence of the cards. From that moment on, it was effervescence! Very intuitively, I chained the putting into images of words. I took little break time. I did not want to miss anything that was presented to me, nor betray anything.
After 6 months spent in my cave, in a very introspective and slightly crazy energy, I looked up for 5 minutes while realizing that this project had taken strange root in me and that it was important that it succeed.
My initial colleagues being taken up with their own personal projects, I decided to go looking for a new sidekick for the writing work. I needed someone to respond, something concrete, a shared passion. Then hop, meeting with Solène, aka Nyx Tarot. After a few somewhat timid exchanges, I received her first texts and then, it was clear that I wanted to work with her! Big crush as much for her pen, her universe as her energy. It fit perfectly! I produced the illustration, she made a written interpretation flow from it. And sometimes, it was the opposite. It was as if she took care to round, polish, cut the rough stone that I transmitted to her according to its veins and roughness. She managed to add nuance to my somewhat brutal illustrations. We were on the same wavelength when it came to bringing together shadow and light, defining a musical atmosphere, rather rock for each card, proposing a tool borrowed from our styles and identities, certainly, but accessible. It was from there that I really let myself go in the choice of the patterns that I was going to propose. I felt sufficiently in harmony with Solène to let my blunt and rebellious side express itself more. I especially did not want to mince my words in what I proposed. I also did not want to worry about what would please or not, but rather about what would speak to the greatest number in authentic terms.
On a technical level, I spontaneously turned to pointillism, also called "dot". I wanted material, contrasts, precision. It is a technique that requires a lot of time and attention to detail. There is something very rhythmic in this technique, you create a flow by repeating the gesture. Which plunges you into a very particular state, which I would place between meditation and trance, you are there without really being there. You float in an in-between while being in action. Your body is static, only your hand sets the rhythm. During this process, which lasted about 9 months, I had the sensation of diving very deep into my depths while being connected to what was happening well above my head. A motionless journey, as wonderful as it was trying.
Then, there was the writing of the little introductory tale that I took great pleasure in creating and which was corrected, completed, remodeled by each of us. It was a question of immersing you in an atmosphere while introducing the three of us incognito, Solène, Geoffroy and me.
Then comes the self-publishing phase with all that entails: creating a crowdfunding campaign, finding printers, infographic montages, hazards, etc. And what a phase! A mixture of stress and satisfaction.
Finally, after 2 batches of self-publishing at a rate of 250 copies printed each time, we decided to hand our "sweet baby" over to Editions Animae (Le Duc Editions) to allow it to live its own life...