The Snake & Feather Card
Medium: Originally Procreate
Date: 2022
Project/Body of Work: Mayura Oracle Deck
The card image originated during a series of drawings made in art therapy in 2020, beginning as a simple circular form containing a feather and a coiled, rainbow-colored figure. Over time, through repeated iterations, the boundary around the image expanded outward, transforming what initially appeared as a contained symbol into a spatial, dimensional field. Essentially, I realized I was looking into a darkened reflective surface.
The final composition presents a suspended moment: a luminous feather above, casting light downward into darkness, where a serpentine form emerges in response. The image reads less as a fixed symbol and more as a process, something being drawn upward, illuminated, and briefly held in coherence.
While the elements carry recognizable symbolic associations, the meaning was not constructed in advance. The image developed through a combination of intuitive drawing and reflective awareness, revealing itself incrementally rather than being deliberately designed.
What remains is a study of emergence, motion, and suspension, an attempt to hold a fleeting internal experience in visual form, just before it dissolves.
Process Notes:
This image began as part of an art therapy process in 2020, initially drawn digitally in Procreate.
The earliest versions consisted of a circular composition containing a feather and a serpent-like form, surrounded by a field of chaotic marks. Over successive sessions, the boundary of the image was expanded outward, gradually shifting the composition from a contained symbol into a more open, spatial environment.
As the image evolved, the relationship between the elements became more defined. The feather began to function as a source of light, while the serpent form emerged in response to that illumination, taking on a more dimensional, dynamic presence.
The final version used for the oracle card was adapted from these drawings, refining the composition while maintaining the original structure and movement established during the therapeutic process.
The work was later incorporated into the Mayura Oracle deck (2022), where it continues to function as an open symbolic image rather than a fixed or singular meaning.
