One of the first things that I did when I set about to make an oracle deck was to really work out the system of the deck before I ever started painting. If you have followed me for very long, then you know that I really love and use oracle decks that have some sort of system of suits in place. It gives a bit of structure to a deck type that otherwise can just be a lot of concepts that are bound together by a particular art style or theme. While that is great for a card of the day, or a support energy for a reading, I don't find it to be as effective for in depth readings, and so, prefer some type of inherent system. Given that, I could hardly enter into making an oracle deck without one!
I knew that I wanted a deck that had a strong element of color and movement, similar to my Story in Color Lenormand. I knew that I wanted it to have all of the things that are important to me in reading the energy that is going on around a person or situation, and I knew that I wanted it to have an earthy, animistic feel to it as that most reflects my personal practice and worldview. What developed was a system consisting of suits or categories reflecting the Journey we are on and how we travel that journey, the Elements that make up the world, the Energy that we encounter and how we interact with that energy, the Cycles that we all move through on a continual basis, and the Natural physical and spiritual manifestations of Animals, Plants and Crystals that support us on this journey through life.
Over the course of the next couple weeks I'll be going through each of the suits in my Journey System to talk about their importance and how they function in the system and how I chose to express them in the deck.
NOTE: For those of you who have been working with the token version of my system, there is no change to the symbols or the suits, this is just a painted expression of the same symbols :)