I Ching Oracle Deck - The Card Back

My art for the I Ching Oracle deck created in collaboration with Mei Jin Lu is finished. The final card text and box design spearheaded by Jeff Burne is still in the works. It's all coming along beautifully, just not certain when the actual launch will be. Mei is looking for the right publishers and distributers around the world, because this is an incredibly powerful, one of a kind deck. 

Closer to actual size.

When it comes to divination decks it is usually the card front that receives all the glory because each one has a unique story to tell. However, the card back also has a story, but it must be universal and encompass the vision of the entire deck. Most of the time the card back is geometrical, ambiguous, or abstract so as not to make to much of a statement unto itself. It is suppose to support the deck as a whole, but not bring to much attention to itself.

The card back for my Divine Nature Oracle is an example of a geometric design that I felt was successful. I imbued it with underlying symbolism, but it is still mainly an abstract design.

This I Ching card back represents a departure from the geometric and moves into the realm of symbolic narrative. There are many esoteric facets to be explored within all the various motifs in this image as Chinese iconography is very complex! This art alone has upwards of 20 symbolic references, some which can only be seen with a magnifying glass! Some questions arise when viewing this image– is it a landscape or not, is it a building or not, what are those descending circles?

A few hints– all of the elements represent parts of the I Ching and Chinese historical lore.

Heaven and Earth- the qi of earth ascends, the qi of heaven descends. In this fashion, yin and yang dance with each other, and heaven and earth merge in an undulating embrace.

Peony Flower- known as the “king of flowers” in China, the peony symbolizes opulence, beauty and honor.

Clock at 4:00- symbolizes the truth of time passing by. It is a reminder that all relationships and eventually life have an end. Even though 4 has a derogatory connotation in Chinese, it is still popular in the culture. For example, Four Greatness (the greatest natural power that human should abide by) in Buddhism refers to Earth, Water, Fire and Wind, while Tao, Heaven, Earth and Human are the Four Greatness of Taoism. Furthermore, the ancient Chinese people took benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom as Four Moral Criterions.

See if you can figure out some of the others!

There are many more mysteries within the image, all to say that the I Ching is an infinite source of knowledge and wisdom. I can say from my own experience that the I Ching works! Mei has that ancestral DNA from her lineage and she has imbued every card with that wonder and power. I pulled up all my resources to create the art that would match the vibration. It was a long, hard journey, and Mei and I almost gave up a few times! So it is my hope and prayer that even the card back emanates I Ching's 5000 year power of divination.