Blaire Porter and Brit Murphy are two soul sisters that were brought together by divine intervention to birth the Thread of Fate Oracle Deck. The deck is now live on Kickstarter and was successfully funded within the first couple of days! I was sent sample cards by Brit and Blaire, and immediately fell in love with the design, golden foil detailing and velvety feel. The deck is a work in progress and you can follow the project via Instagram. The interview with Blaire + Brit explores how the Threads of Fate was conceived, what you can expect from the guidebook, and other tidbits you won't find anywhere else!
The Interview
Me: Brit, your journey has taken you many places, including working for a NYC fashion label. Can you share your story and how you have ended up at the magical intersect of art + spirituality?
Brit: Growing up, I always had a solid connection with the elements, animals, alchemy, lost civilizations, as well as art. I had put these things down for a significant amount of time, since I was groomed to believe that my passions and talents wouldn't be prosperous . . . so instead I focused on business and fashion after college. I was working for Ralph Lauren doing Product Development, which is where you oversee the entire design process beginning to end. My creative talents were being utilized, but I was unhappy with the environment that I was in as well as worrying about products that brought zero value to people's lives. I quit and re-focused my life on health, re-discovering metaphysics, and service -- it was only until a couple years ago that I began picking up on my art after a few friends asked for customs or logos. At that point, I had been working diligently on myself and my connection with Spirit was growing stronger. The more I dabbled, the more concepts I was given, eventually I found a practice of making custom art for specific intentions where the images were channeled as opposed to created. Last year Blaire, really pushed me to pursue this and share my gifts of clairvoyance and clairsentience through my art. She's been my biggest ally during this process, so it's safe to say I wouldn't be here making these pieces without her diligent support.
Me: Blaire you are well-known for being a shadow alchemist, as share your raw truth and don’t hold back what is rising up in your heart space. You are multi-faceted, as you are also a medium, teacher, and healer. How has your journey unfolded and brought you to where you are now?
Blaire: I think I have always been destined to do deep shadow work, and walk with people as they go on their own journey's of death and rebirth. From a young age, I was drawn to the underbelly of society too, spending a lot of my late teens/early 20s in that space, which I view not as a rebellious phase, but as a genuine interest in all things that society rejects - whether personal traits, interests, behaviors, etc. I am a medium and can do various intuitive work, but my heart is most definitely in working with people in shadow, trauma, family of origin, etc.
Me: I love to read about how magical joint ventures like creating an oracle deck happen. How did you two meet? What ignited the spark to create The Threads of Fate?
Brit + Blaire: We originally met in Brooklyn in 2006. We were both on athletic softball scholarships in college and we initially bonded in your typical college girl way - which included lots of dramz. After we both graduated however, we got super into metaphysics and transformational work. After many years of inquiry and deepening our practice, we both felt the call to bring something into the world that held some of the wisdom that we had gained and could serve others. In a weird turn of events, we ended up living under the same roof, which gave us lots of time to work on the deck and also watch the Lizzie McGuire movie. Cuz, why not?
Me: True! How was the name of the oracle deck, “The Threads of Fate” conceived? It feels like there is a deep spiritual connection to the name!
Blaire: I am a practitioner of Seidr (Northern Traditions magic – think Odin and Freyja) and was doing some self-study one night. I get pretty into etymology and got curious about the Norns. The Norns are similar to the fates (past, present and future) but the Northern tradition teachings around the fates is that humans have autonomy – they are not without power or choice in making their own reality. So, I looked up the word “Norn” and it said: “it may derive from a word meaning "to twine" and which would refer to their twining the thread of fate.” And, I just fucking fell in love with that – and to me, it perfectly expressed what it means to use an Oracle or Tarot deck.
Me: The name makes total sense! The back of the decks features a feminine hand holding a dagger. How did that symbol manifest? What does it represent for you?
Brit: Hands came up for me multiple times, as Blaire and I began manifesting the deck -- physically and symbolically. Our hands are our physical connection from our inner landscapes to our reality, they facilitate daily activities, but also harbor otherworldly powers. They can heal, destroy, give, take, and have the ability to dramatically shift our lives with minute movements. The juxtaposition of the delicate looking hand with the dagger combines the elements of light and shadow, life and death. The dagger is a reminder that we continuously have ample opportunity to cut ties with what doesn't work and re-string a path towards our desires. On another level - the dagger can cut thread. Sometimes we need to twine, and sometimes we need to cut.
Me: Love the symbolism of the hand and dagger. Brilliant! Brit, your line art featured on each card is stunning. Can you share how each card is created? Are the backgrounds from photographs you’ve taken? What is done by hand and what is completed on the computer? What is your process like?
Brit: For this process, Blaire and I first created a map of what cards/concepts we wanted to include. We kept our processes separate until each piece was done individually, after we would compare my images to her channelled guidance as a challenge to see how our content aligned. I begin my process usually with a quiet space where I can focus on the elements involved or what I'm trying to achieve through the piece. Next, I must quiet my anxiety enough so I'm able to create space for Spirit to design for me -- if I'm too hands on, the messages aren't clear, almost like a fuzzy tv screen. Once I'm able to take myself out of the equation, deep resonating feelings and images begin to flood me and I begin scribbling down what I'm experiencing. From there, I create a clean, structured reproduction of what I've seen by hand. After this, Blaire takes my drawings and layers with pictures of animals and landscapes to create depth.
Me: What a divine process :) I love flipping through the pages of guidebooks, especially indie Tarot and Oracle ones. Are you able to share a sneak peek of what your guidebook will contain? What can we expect?
Brit + Blaire: Expect each of our elemental cards to have an overall message, and then a message for a crystal, herb and animal, as well as some practical guidance. The archetypes will have a light/shadow aspect. We felt called to include various medicines for a couple reasons, but primarily because we have noticed how people in the spiritual community Google what something means and take that for the end all, be all. We are not using traditional meanings or symbolism within the elements for each card because we want it to serve as an invitation to the user to establish a relationship with that ally on their own. Rather than telling them, its a multi-layered exploration. It may say "cedar asks you to explore the boundaries you have in place" so there is the exploration in that way, but also....go meet cedar! Hang out under a cedar tree, order some cedar tips online, but go see what it means for you because most likely what it wants to teach you is different than what you find online. So, while we will be giving messages, our main intention in the booklet is "here is some info...now go forth and figure out what it means to you." Personal wisdom > our wisdom.
Me: What is your first memory of Tarot and Oracle cards? How has your connection to cartomancy evolved since then? How do you use them in your spiritual practice?
Brit: I remember seeing oracle cards at metaphysical shops, I would force my mom to take me as a kid. I always knew and felt they were incredibly powerful, so growing up they always felt out of reach; I knew I wasn't mature enough spiritually to be using them and respected that. It wasn't until much later that I began playing and experimenting with friends decks, I often times found myself not being fully satisfied with the images, guidance or content. Creating our own deck saturated with information and rich images seemed only natural.
Me: I believe you two are also working on a planner/journal. Are you able to share more about that project?
Blaire: The planner has been on my heart for awhile, mainly because I find myself frustrated with most planners/journals! I find them too specific and not fluid enough. I am a firm believer that what we need changes second to second, minute to minute, and day to day. Therefore, a whole planner with a theme seems to rigid to me. I also recognize that we are cyclical creatures that may have an easier time showing up to our planner during certain periods and forget/neglect it at other times - I feel that can create shame and lessens the chances of continuing with the planner. So, basically we want it set up, where it serves as a tracker - you can write down what is up for you mentally, physically, spiritually, notes/your daily practice, to-do list, where the moons at, what day it is in your cycle, etc. It will be undated and also have check-ins where you can track progress.
Me: If you could spend the day with a mystic (living or dead), who would that be? And, how would you spend the day with them?
Brit: I've always had a deep fascination and fear of Nostradamus, but I'd probably be too terrified to hang out with that dude... it's kind of like when you see a giant spider and are terrified but can't stop looking at it while you're mid scream jumping on top of the tallest thing you can find. I'd probably chose to spend my time with the Virgin Mary and Frida Kahlo over anybody though; eating ALL the food, time travelling (because why not?) and asking an astronomical amount of questions (per usual) -- while they are not considered traditional mystics they have both entranced me from as far back as I can remember because well, they're bad ass.
Blaire: Either Carl Jung or Rasputin. Which is prob a pretty telling answer in and of itself. I'd literally just want to sit on a bear rug in front of the fire listening to them talk while eating dark chocolate.
Thank-you to Blaire + Brit for connecting and sharing their souls work. You can learn more about The Threads of Fate Oracle Deck via their website, Facebook, and Instagram.
Namaste,
Sharron
