When I moved into my current apartment, I was not in a good shape mentally. However, this place had good energy. The windows on one end faced the West and the other faced the East. The way the neighboring buildings were located, it directed wind into my home and there's always nice fresh air inside. There was always this comforting and peaceful energy about this place.
There was a wall art at the backstreets nearby, and it was of a wayang (see below image, artist unknown). Wayang is a shadow puppet art form that originated from Java. It made me smile whenever I walk past as it was very fitting, especially after a difficult chapter in my life, that I have a constant reminder of who I am, my cultural background. I was blessed enough to live in a home that was healing.
I've always wanted to create my own oracle deck. But I've struggled to come up with a simple idea. I had way too many. My illustrations have always been inspired by wayang, but it never occur to me that I could go back to my roots in full swing and create an oracle that is based on Indonesian folklore. The wayang art was the sign!
The first drawing from Mystic Islands was Batari Durga, the ruler of the underworld. Then I created Rangda, the Balinese demon witch. Afterwards, the project was in hiatus for a year. Until I finally gather my wits and pitched the idea to Rockpool Publishing. I was adamant that this deck needed to happen no matter what ... and it did!
The oracle deck was not just created for a simple reading. It is also created with the intention of longevity. I wanted this deck to provide guidance, as part of someone's spiritual practice. In the guidebook, which I encourage for everyone to read, there is a visualisation practice as well as offering suggestions. This all ties sweetly with the Javanese philosophy of memayu hayuning bawana, which is the foundation of Mystic Islands oracle. It means to beautify this beautiful world. The suggested visualisation practice and offerings are simply that, a suggestion. It was something that I believe would help people who seek for balance in their lives. The visualisation gives you time with yourself while the offering is a form of connecting with your surrounding.
There are 44 cards and they're divided into 5 elements. The division of these elements help with finding out which offerings are suggested, which you can refer back to the beginning of the guidebook. Each elements has its own offering suggestions. Some of the cards in this deck can be quite confronting, and this is all part of the mysteries. If you find the card meanings unrelatable, take your time with the original folklore of the card. You may find hidden messages! Within each card, there is a sigil. These sigils are meant for you to continue your connection with the card throughout the day, which you can redraw anywhere (your notebook, the soles of your shoes, your house entrance, etc). Of course these are only suggestions, I'll leave it all up to you to decide how involved you would like to be with this oracle deck.
My hope is that this deck somehow allow yourself to slow down, escape, and take a short moment from your busy life and imagine you're far away from the daily grind to reconnect with yourself and the magic of this world.
