FNL_INSPIRED Vol 2_Spring

22 INSPIRED VOL 2 What if I am just faking all of this and I have not even admitted it to myself? What if I fail? Schiffer is trusting me to do this. What if I can’t do it? What if no one likes them? What if . . . what if . . . what if? I may or may not have had a minor crisis of faith around this time. You see, when creating Oracle cards, it is pretty loos- ey-goosey in terms of themes, meanings, symbols, etc. Everything is based upon the author’s or artist’s unique vision. That worked for me. I could get my healing mes- sages across. At the beginning of this new Tarot project, I was offered the chance to focus solely on creating the images themselves and not worry about writing the ac- companying booklet, which the publisher would pro- vide. Oh yes, please and thank you. But now I found myself in an entirely new position wherein neither the images nor the words were mine. I struggled to connect with my own creativity, confined within the ideas of others. I never want to feel that way again. I made the executive decision to do what I do best: Earth-centered with specifically animal-based messages (this was a few years before the Wild Elemental Oracle ). Now, my research began in earnest. I pored over the traditional meanings of each of the seventy-eight Tar- ot cards and tried my best to match each up with the message of a certain animal. While one animal will not encompass all that a Tarot card can represent, the ani- mal world is a universal beginning point for readers to resonate with animal spirits. As I drew each image, I found myself realizing that this Tarot deck would be a very interesting deck to have and use, indeed. I grew excited about the project and managed to finish it on the day it was due. (I had also just started a new job, had a flood in my condo, and was in the process of moving—I am kind of extreme that way!) The night before the deck was due to my editor (do you see a pattern here?), I was bringing the whole package together on my laptop since I had digitalized the imag- es. I thought it was going to be a snap! A few clicks of the mouse, hit enter, and POOF! Done. That’s when my laptop decided to crash. I moved to my son’s desktop. Ten minutes later, my son’s computer crashed too, as did the graphic program I had used. I became convinced that some energy out there did not want me to succeed in doing this! I took a deep breath and went to bed. It was just going to have to be one day late. (Fail!) The next day I was able to submit it successfully.