00:00 Episode Preview

00:35 Opening

01:11 Introduction

02:14 Special Announcement

03:03 Interview Begins with Jennifer Hawkyard

07:39 Discovering Resonance in Graphic Design

10:32 From Angelic Artwork to Tarot Decks

14:06 Integrating Spirit into the Creative Process

16:20 Facing Imposter Syndrome as an Artist

19:56 Challenging the Starving Artist Archetype

23:52 The Role of AI as a Creative Tool

27:34 AD – Download the Mystic Mondays App https://www.mysticmondays.com/pages/app

27:57 Balancing Individuality and Group Consciousness

31:22 The Magic of Co-Creation with Spiritual Beings

35:19 Translating Divine Light

38:37 Evoking Emotions Through Color and Structure

42:36 Encouragement for Aspiring Creators

45:21 Igniting the Inner Child in Art

47:57 Fast Five Questions

49:57 Collective Reading from the 22 Archangels Oracle by Kyle Gray and Jennifer Hawkyard

52:20 Reflecting on Life Choices

55:53 Closing Statements

56:25 End of Episode – Make Sure to Leave a Podcast Review!

57:16 End Card

Welcome to the GRACED Podcast! A space for everyday magic for your everyday life. We do this through rituals, aligning yourself to your soul’s purpose, and creating Alchemy to heal our mind, body, and spirits so that you can bring in more love and joy, manifest your desires, and believe in your dreams. Listen and watch over at graceduong.com/podcast and on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Instagram, TikTok and all the places you can find me on social media.

Now let’s dive into today’s episode.

💖 Introduction

Grace: Welcome to the GRACED Podcast, a space where we talk about everyday magic for your everyday life.

Today’s guest is Jenny Hawkyard, a multidisciplinary artist and designer who channels and creates intuitively led artwork. You may have seen some of her channeled art on Oracle Decks with Hay House, collaborating on multiple decks with Kyle Gray, who is the author, and Jenny as the artist.

Today, we get the artist’s perspective on creating an Oracle Deck, especially what it’s like to channel spiritual beings during the creation process, taking the leap, and doing the work, and showing off for yourself so that you are prepared for the right opportunities to come.

And we are doing a giveaway of Jenny’s Journal, imaginary, an inspirational art journal over on Instagram, YouTube, and all the socials. More details on how to enter this giveaway on the @grace.duong and @mysticmondays Instagram.

💖 Special Announcement

Grace: And another update before the episode gets started – the GRACED podcast will be taking a podcast break and will be back on October 7 of this year.

But don’t worry – that doesn’t mean I’m going AWOL during this time. I will be hosting a 22 day Tarot Challenge and the weekly Monday newsletter will still be going out during this break about other updates, podcast episodes to catch up on, and a release that I have not revealed yet.

So make sure you’re subscribed to the Mystic Mondays newsletter for more updates during this podcast break. And most importantly, to take part in the 22 Day Tarot Challenge that could transform your life!

Alright, so let’s dive into this episode!

✨ Interview Begins with Jennifer Hawkyard

Grace: Hi Jenny, welcome to the GRACED Podcast.

Jennifer: Thank you, thanks for having me.

Grace: Yeah, so I’ve got your beautiful creations here beside me, your Imaginarium Journal, an inspirational art journal, and also the 22 Archangels Oracle deck, which you are the artist on, and they’re so beautiful, I’ve been using them regularly since I’ve received the deck.

So I’d love to hear more about you and what was the journey like becoming the artist that you are now as a multidisciplinary artist and also you work with a lot of channeled beings or you channel your creations and so I’d love to hear more about your journey.

Jennifer: So, well it’s definitely been a lifelong journey, for sure. I’ve always been an artist, been drawing for as long as I can remember. And probably one of my earliest memories was like, I don’t want to go to school, I just want to draw pictures all day. So I’m delighted that I now get to do that. And I think probably the first 30 years of my life were really learning the craft, going through the process of learning how to make your hands draw what you see in your head.

And a lot of creatives stop at that point because it is a very frustrating journey when you can’t get out what’s in your head onto paper and make it look good. But certainly a worthwhile journey if you can stick with it. So, I was practicing art in all manners throughout my life.

And then I actually am in the UK right now. I moved to Canada where I had family, basically to experience being in another country. And also, I took a foundational program there, which then led into graphic design. So, I studied graphic design for three years and then got hired right away out in Canada.

So, I worked as a professional designer for seven years, I think it was, and worked my way up the company whilst also doing my creative work on the side, my illustration work on the side. And really the catalyst for me was actually going through, I suppose people would call it the Dark Night of the Soul, where I lost a couple of family members to cancer within the space of about five years.

And it really made me stop and go, what am I doing? Do I love what I’m doing? Am I following my joy, so to speak? And as much as I loved my job and the people that I worked with and for, it made me realize that I wasn’t doing what I needed to be doing. I wasn’t doing that artwork, I wasn’t drawing pictures all day.

At that point, I was managing a team of designers as an art director, so didn’t really have much hands on work, so I stopped, I decided I needed to return back to England, and actually back to Wales, closer to where my family were, and I went with the attitude of, well, I’m going to try this thing, because I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t try, I don’t want to get to the end of my life, and regret this, and not trying, so I went with the attitude of failure’s not an option, I’ll make it work.

And actually, the learning of being a designer was amazing. It’s been such an amazing tool for me because I have a design background. I can, I mean, I designed the cover of the 22 Archangels Oracle deck, I designed my whole journal, the layout and everything, I do my own web work. So it’s been massively important for my career and also helps me do the logical design type stuff that you got to do as a professional, quoting for work and sticking to a deadline and all that thing.

So, yeah, I plunged into freelance illustration, had no idea what I was doing in that regard, like how I was going to make it happen. I spent a couple of years doing the arts and crafts scene here in West Wales. Which is a very remote place, very beautiful place, but very remote and it was working, but not really working.

I didn’t want to do what everyone else was doing, which was landscape art. And then I was suggested to go to a local well being fair. And so I took my, I was doing animal totems at the time, took those with me. And I think I had a few angel artworks that I did. And people started to really respond to them, and also know stuff about the creative process.

I was like, how could you possibly know about that artwork? And that just made me wake up a bit and go, okay, something’s happening here, and I’m having success in this area, and this is actually what I want to do. Because I was seeking a meaning to my work, a deeper meaning.

Other than creating pretty pictures for someone to have in their holiday cottage, which is a lovely living to make, and I don’t think anyone, think badly of anyone for doing that, but for me, I needed that other meaning, that deeper meaning.

✨ Discovering Resonance in Graphic Design

Grace: So, I actually didn’t realize you had a graphic design background because so do I and I feel a lot of resonance with your story because I also felt like for me it was a sense of frustration and that was a signal for me that things aren’t working out the way that I had envisioned for myself and usually that feeling of frustration Is that sign for me to find another path or figure something else out?

And it also sounds like through the success of your angelic artwork that people were really resonating with and being drawn to, that was also a sign that you should go down that way because things are working out. So what would you say as an artist, noticing the signs within your body, whether it’s feelings or synchronicities or but how do we know how to follow that right path for us in the moment?

Jennifer: Yeah, I think artists are way more tapped into that creative flow and that intuition perhaps than they realize. And certainly for me, when I was in the early days of doing what I since discovered was channeling and intuitive work. I thought it was just being in the zone like really intensely in this creative space.

And I since really feel like it was the beginning of me doing this energetic and channeling type work. So, I think it’s paying attention to that stuff. Obviously, and making note of it. And also, I’ve always, this journey has very much been a case of following the path, like setting an intention.

I did actually set an intention of doing an angel deck. I didn’t think anyone would pay me to do it. I literally had the thought, like, who’s going to pay me to paint angels, you know? But I started doing the work, because I thought, well, I better get good at it. If I want someone to pay me to do it, I’d better get good at it.

So I started doing the work regardless, and I do really believe in showing up. And doing the work and expecting that the doors will start to open, because that’s certainly what happened for me. I mean, I was very, very lucky that Kyle actually found me. I wasn’t bashing down Hay House’s door for work.

It was him that put me forward to Hay House. So, I think it’s practicing what you want to achieve. If you want to do a tarot deck, then start doing a tarot deck. Even if you’re having to do it outside of your day job, because you’re having to earn a living to keep food coming through the door.

So, following that guidance, because I think once you start living like that, those things will start showing up. And also, when you’re in that creative flow, when you start to feel that energy, it’s undeniable, I think, when you’re really in that flow state, and it’s not something I had when I was working in design.

So, being aware when you feel amazing creating art, and when you don’t. Once you tap into that, I think you can start to feel it all a bit better.

✨ From Angelic Artwork to Tarot Decks

Grace: Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like we can be so conditioned to not feel our feelings to just keep moving forward and get through it. And sometimes the signs are all around us to listen to what is the right next step that is right in front of me.

You know, in this moment right now, because we can’t really create change if we’re not present in the moment, and I think that’s what a lot of creation is. You’re creating a vision that you’re seeing in the future, but in order to create that vision, you have to get started somehow, someway, which is, to your point, just showing up.

And I really enjoy this thought of, like, everything in life prepares you for that next moment. So, for example, like you were already creating the angelic artwork that then led you to that opportunity to be prepared to receive that opportunity. Because if you have that thought of a tarot deck, or whatever, in my case, it’s a tarot deck, so I had created a tarot deck.

But I had the seed of an idea for like a year or so before I even made any movement towards it. And a tarot reader had actually told me I was going to make my own tarot deck. But I had been the receiver of tarot readings for many, many years at that point. And having a background in design, I think for me was also an exploration in my artistic identity of What I wanted my voice to look like in the forms of what art that I want my art to look like, etc.

And I think a lot of finding yourself is like finding who you are in the world, but you can’t really find that if you don’t put the motion, take the steps to find who you are through the process of creating something. And so, what have been some significant changes you’ve noticed within yourself because it also sounds like you’re co creating with spirit during your process of creating channeled artwork and using your intuition as a navigation tool.

And I feel like what I’m also hearing is that there is absolutely a practical side to how you’re using your intuition. So, how are you navigating that balance between Spirituality and that pragmatism?

Jennifer: I’m very pragmatic. Yeah, I’m, I’m, I guess I would say I’m a very grounded spiritual person. And I do go back to that graphic design background of being, having to earn a living, having to quote my hours, having to do all of that stuff.

And that, that brought in the reality of the world that we’re living in. And then it allowed me to create the space that I’m in now. But now, being where I’m at, I can really feel the difference between when I’m connected to spirit and in tune and it’s all just flowing through, and when I’m back into that older way of creating which was, as you know, create all of the different thumbnails and try out all the different compositions.

And maybe bash your head against the wall for quite a long time before you finally finesse this piece. And it can feel, it did for me anyway, feel quite uncomfortable, the creative process, and difficult. And a lot of people give up at that point. When I’m doing channeled work, that’s not there. It is so fast, and so clear, and so simple, that I’m often sitting here going, how did this happen so fast?

You know, and actually, Kyle just sent a newsletter out today about the new deck and he said in it that he was surprised at how fast it came through. Because as a previous designer, my head’s going, oh, I should be spending this many hours on this and it’s, it, it’s finished.

✨ Integrating Spirit into the Creative Process

Grace: Yeah, so do you feel like when you’re in tune with spirit, time is but a construct?

It’s just like, You whiz through things you thought would take a month to do, and it takes a week or something like that, because you’re not just relying on your pure willpower to get it done, you’re also accessing spirit, which is like another energy source that you’re opening yourself up to, and I suppose for you, like, what was the process of integrating more of that energy into your creation process, and do you use it In any other way in your life besides your creative process.

Jennifer: Yes, all the time. So being self employed, as I’m sure you’re the same, there’s always a million things to do, right, at any given moment. A lot of it’s admin, which I’m not a huge fan of doing. And I can get into that mindset of, Oh my God, how am I going to get all this done today? And get into the mindset of doing this lovely piece of artwork for this person.

And one of the things that I have learned is going, Hang on a minute. I am the master of my own timeline. This is gonna flow easily. It’s gonna just fall into place. Everything’s gonna get done today that I need to get done. And it’ll be fine. And if I do that at the beginning of the day, before getting wound up into that state of mind, it does.

It happens. You know, and there, there’s this expansiveness that appears, the same amount of time passes, but there seems to be more work happening within that time. And time is no longer linear, and you can just vanish. And I’ve often said I have a time machine on hand to my friends. Yeah, that’s what I would say.

I use it in all aspects of my life. Definitely, and also just calling in the help of definitely angels. That’s usually my go-to the help of angels in my day-to-Day life. Often when I lose stuff, I ask them to find it for me and it shows up in some place, or simply asking for help or guidance or support.

And also one of the practices that I learned through doing this work on this journey that I’m on was I learned to do automatic writing. So, there was a time when I was doing that every single morning, meditating and writing and getting wisdom from my guides, from angels or whatever I choose to ask.

That was helping me, personally.

✨ Facing Imposter Syndrome as an Artist

Grace: Yeah, I feel like setting that intention of just calling them in, that’s usually what I do before a reading, for example, I’ll just be like, Pauline, my spiritual team, Ancestors, Guides, Higher Self, whoever wants to be here, and I feel like just having that declaration of wanting help, being able to receive the help is helpful in any practice, right?

Whether you’re about to create a piece of artwork, or maybe you’re asking for protection before you go on a trip, or maybe you’re asking for advice and I feel like that also. helps you feel less alone because it can be really daunting if you’re not good at something. And I think a lot of people who are interested in art but might not deem themselves good because they just haven’t practiced enough or just became comfortable with their style or whatever it is, I think that can be really daunting for people to not see results right away.

And it sounds like you also took the time to master your craft. Whatever that saying is, you put 10, 000 hours into your dedicated craft and then you become an expert at the end of it or you’ve mastered some aspect of it. What were some of the things you really struggled with when developing your artistic medium and I as it is now.

And what would you say to anybody that is struggling to create their art?

Jennifer: I really struggled with an Imposter Syndrome in certainly for the Angel Guide Oracle. This represents a year of Imposter Syndrome and anxiety for me. So after getting approached to do, to work with Kyle, and of course I said, yes it was a dream come true.

And then I was like, Oh my gosh, I have to do this now. And lots of people are going to see my work. And, what if it’s not good enough? What if people don’t like what I do? Or, classic Imposter Syndrome where you go, what if they realize that I’m not good at this? And, it was literally, so when the people were getting their early copies, like we sent you a copy, and they were doing their responses online, and they were responding really well, and I called my sister up crying, going, oh my god, they love it!

And I was surprised. I was really shocked, because I thought it was gonna be such a mess. So I think a lot of artists’ stuff is about Imposter Syndrome at the core. Because what we do is part of our soul. It’s part of our, you’re not just spewing out random, I mean some artists are, but most of us are creating from the soul, right?

And so we feel very seen. And then to be seen by hundreds of thousands of people who use these decks by counting the number of fingers wrong or something like that or got, I used to agonize over the facial structure and make sure that was correct. So I think it’s good for people to hear that someone who’s working in a professional capacity can be so, can be feeling that and it’s totally normal and I think it keeps you humble and it keeps you honest.

And it keeps you always looking to achieve, to do better. I think part of the journey of being an artist is constantly seeing the work of your peers and the people you look up to artistically and going, Oh my gosh, how did they do that? It’s so beautiful. And feeling like, oh, I shouldn’t even bother because they’re just doing this amazing thing.

But then inevitably that, whatever that creative engine is, makes you come back to the drawing board and go, okay, now I’m going to carry on. So using that inspiration as a tool rather than as a weapon against yourself, I suppose.

✨ Challenging the Starving Artist Archetype

Grace: Yeah, I feel like there are so many ways that we judge ourselves in the process of unfolding and evolving, and honestly, we’re creations in ourselves, right?

We’re constantly evolving, unfolding into the next version of ourselves, constantly learning, and we can even think of ourselves as canvases, right? Like, what we choose to wear whether For me, colored hair or a bright sweater or whatever, right? Like, however you choose to present yourself to the world, you can also think of yourself as a form of art too, right? I mean, that’s where beauty, makeup, industry, fashion, all of that plays into how we choose to present ourselves as art. And I feel like for anybody struggling to embody their creativity, I think creativity is just a part of life. There’s inspiration all around us, and if we didn’t have inspiration, we would never envision what we then create for the future.

What you were saying earlier about, like, if you believe it will happen, like, you saw this angelic artwork, and you’re like, I want to make a deck, but it hasn’t happened yet and I might as well get good at it because I know it’s going to happen. I feel like having that attitude of, it’s going to happen, is a really helpful attitude to have if you want to manifest something.

And especially as an artist, because I feel like we’re Just bet a lot of stories about the starving artist archetype and not making any money as an artist and all these things that artists tend to struggle with and what is your take on the starving artist archetype?

Jennifer: That is, yeah, one of my missions, I suppose, is to prove that wrong, break that archetype.

I went into design because I thought, well, this is the only way to be paid to be creative. Right, and it was for a while, but it was pretty soul sucking, so the whatever was inside me was no longer appeased by that, so it was then that, right, well, and I’ll make it happen through whatever it is that I’ll do, I’ll do anything I’ll try anything, throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks.

And I think having that attitude and not being precious about it has helped me. I sometimes liken it to a mercenary attitude, because I think some fine artist types tend to be a bit precious about their work, and, oh no, I won’t sell it in this way, I’ll only sell it in that way. Or I only want to be represented by a gallery.

And I was like, I got bills to pay. You know, it’s just me here. I have to keep this going, so we’ll make it happen. And yeah, I think this starving artist archetype is really damaging, because it takes a value out of what we do in all areas. and yeah, I believe we are living in a renaissance at the moment, where there’s so much possibility for creatives.

Whether it’s in book cover design, or concept art, or the gaming industry, or even Tarot and Oracle Decks. There’s so much available to us, and you can do it from home. If you can afford to buy the Machinery or the materials, you can do it. That wasn’t the case a hundred years ago. It was very much not the case.

You know, you had to have a wealthy patron that was supporting you. And now people can make a living selling t-shirts online. So I think it’s possible. I think it’s just a trope that needs to die. And one thing I think is really interesting is that The advent of AI art is really forcing people who perhaps like art but never really thought about the artist to really look at what, how we value artists and the humanity behind art.

Because some people like it because it’s new and shiny and exciting and other people are offended because they’re like, I can see now that the value of the individual artist or the collective artist. And I’m going to go off and support them instead. We’re learning that. I don’t think we’re finished learning that, but we are learning that.

✨ The Role of AI as a Creative Tool

Grace: Yeah, so with the rise of AI art, I’m glad you brought that up. What is your take on AI art? Because I feel like there are very, there are a lot of opinions about it and there’s a huge landscape of how it could go, whether it’s like, oh, AI is like taking over jobs or like replacing artists or whatever it is.

What is your take on that?

Jennifer: Well, it’s funny, I have a foot in each, on each side, I would say, because I love technology. I’m a digital artist. I was in the digital art space very early on. If people know Deviant Art, I was a very early adopter of DeviantArt and doing early digital stuff. So, I’m always interested and fascinated by technology and tried mid journey out when it first started coming out.

And what I love about that thing is it felt quite playful and exciting. And I probably wouldn’t have that much of an issue with it if they hadn’t stolen a bunch of people’s artworks. I’d be fine if all of the artists that had been used to train that machine were being paid fairly.

Absolutely fine with it and I think that’s where the line is drawn for me. I have used it occasionally in my work to create things that I couldn’t find. So the way that I create my artwork is I paint in Photoshop in quite a traditional way. I literally build up layers and values and colors.

And then I often overlay photo textures to bring in this extra level of light, and that’s really seen in the Gateway of Light activation Oracle deck, and less so in the Archangels and such like that. So, in that scenario when I was struggling to find the perfect rainbow to go over an angel or whatever, AI was great, because I could create, I could ask the machine to just create me a rainbow in this way, without all this other crap that I’ve got to edit and Photoshop out.

And I’d be able to get it to do magical sparkles and things like that. So I might use that little rainbow in 5 percent of the artwork. Okay. But creating a finished composition and with AI and calling it art, I don’t know. Again, if the artists were being credited and paid, I wouldn’t, I don’t think I’d have a problem with it.

I’d just be like, oh, that’s another interesting tool and I do think we, if that was the case, having some thing that was like, this was created with AI, label, rather than, because the problem we have right now is that mid journey artists or AI artists are claiming work is artwork, like we do, but it’s not, and the general public have no idea because they can’t see the difference.

So, that’s my stance on it. And interestingly, one of the things I do with my automatic writing, when I come across something that I’m like, this is really triggering me, or this is, I don’t know how to feel about this, I ask my channel, give me a higher perspective. And when I asked that question about AI, and this was about a year or so ago, so in the early days, it was basically said, this is a reflection of humanity.

And it’s going to reflect back to you exactly what you put into it. It’s like a mirror. So the people, it’s reflecting the people who built it and the attitudes and the mindsets of the people who built it. It has amazing possibilities for the goodness of society, whether it’s in scientific realms or medical realms.

There’s already been great advancements in those areas using AI type analytics. So it’s really up to us to put the soul, I suppose, into it. into the technology and acknowledge how that technology is being fed. And I think that’s where we’ve fallen over is that we’ve not acknowledged what we fed these machines, which is the lifetime’s work of many, many artists and that’s deeply wrong.

Grace: Yeah, that’s powerful.

✨ Balancing Individuality and Group Consciousness

Grace: So, interesting what is happening with technology and the advancement of human processing, right? Because I even feel like with the younger generation, or like, even my younger cousins, the speed at which they’re able to process, like, technology and using devices and their phones is just so different from growing up and not necessarily having access to all those different types of things. I feel like there’s a lot to solve still with AI. It’s still pretty new even though it’s been around, but I think we’re getting used to using it more as a way to just manage daily life. It’s almost like asking Google a more friendly personal assistant type Google for these types of answers that you might be looking for.

So in that way, I think it makes it “easier” but yeah, there’s something to be said about time, too, because I think we were also talking about, like, the relationship with time. There’s generations of time and information within AI that is accessible. And it squashes it all down for us to get that clarification or answer that we might be looking for within AI.

However, in that process, doesn’t clearly acknowledge who contributed what and in what aspect and things like that. It’s hard to tell. I feel like in some ways it’s very, like, Aquarian energy, very, like, collective consciousness energy, because then we’re all kind of like, being contributed as a human collective group versus, like, the individual, which I feel like is obviously important to acknowledge ourselves as individuals, but since you work so much with the Spirit Consciousness.

How important is it to you, or what do you think of the relationship between being an individual and also working with group consciousness?

Jennifer: That’s a great question. I think we’re all our unique aspects of the divine, right? Like, some would say we’re, we’re holographs of God or all that is. So we’re representations of that.

And I think we are here to have a unique experience. Through our own lens of experience, that perhaps we are moving into a space where we have to acknowledge the collective energy, whether it’s the collective trauma or the collective joy of a society, because we will all return to that sort of, that level of the collective, I think.

I think as artists, we’re reflectors of how we exist and what inspires us and what drives us, and in some ways, we can’t stop it from coming out of us. I hope there are many people, artists out there listening to this that will be nodding their heads to that. Like, as a creative, there’s like this relentless energy that comes through and sometimes it comes through one o’clock at night and you’re just like, really?

It’s now the time for me to get inspired and do this thing when I really should be sleeping? You know, that’s a beautiful representation of our individuality. And yeah, you can, it makes me feel like an hourglass symbol. Where you’re connecting with that collective energy, it’s being focused through you as an individual and then it’s coming back out to be seen by the collective energy of everyone who’s in this space with us.

I don’t know whether that made any sense but that’s what I feel.

✨ The Magic of Co-Creation with Spiritual Beings

Grace: I’m definitely getting the visuals for sure. So you mentioned your oracle decks that you’ve collaborated with. Kyle Gray, who is the author of these decks, And I was wondering, what has the process been like, collaborating with Kyle, and what was that like with you?

Because, not just collaborating with Kyle, but also collaborating with all the Archangels, all the spiritual beings that you’re connected with, what has that been like for you? In co-creation, making these decks.

Jennifer: Yeah, so, well, Kyle and Hay House have been the perfect client. I mean, I think when you’ve worked in graphic design, for example, you always go into a new customer relationship with a bit of trepidation because you just don’t know how they’re going to be.

And certainly with a 44 card deck, if you have a client that micromanages every single card and it takes me a year to do a 44 card deck, then that’s a lot. You know, that’s a lot to deal with and at some point I’d be saying, okay, how, in what way are we miscommunicating, right? But that hasn’t been the case with Kyle and Hay House.

They’ve been absolutely amazing letting me do what I do as a creative and trusting, trusting me. Kyle likewise he’s bringing his wisdom, vast wisdom in regards to all of these divine masters and angels and whatnot. And he provides a framework. That I work within, which is what I love. Like, I love to have a framework to work within, because otherwise the possibilities are endless, right?

So we worked very collaboratively, but also quite simply. Where he would be saying, this card might be themed off of, just in regards to the Angel Guide deck, for example, is Archangel Metatron’s energy, and it’s, you, I want someone to feel like this, like they’re supported, or they’re heard.

Or they’re nurtured, or they’re feeling a sense of release. And then it’s just back and forth, me sending sketches and refining the artwork from there. It’s been a very easy flow and it’s got easier with each deck. As I mentioned with the first deck we did, I was freaking out most of the time and worrying.

And then from that I got some confidence. And then also really started to unpack what it was that I was doing. I think perhaps Kyle knew better what I was doing, and I didn’t know what I was doing at the time in regards to the intuitive side of artwork and the channeled side of it. So I did a lot of learning following that deck.

We then worked on the Gateway of Light Activation Oracle, which was a totally different creative process. But then there’s a lot of that I don’t remember. Which is really interesting because so many people have approached me and said, oh my gosh, I’ve seen this in a meditation. How am I seeing this now in a card?

You know, they’ve been to those places that came through in that deck. And I don’t know how that works, but it certainly seems to work. And then also with the Divine Masters and the Archangels, it’s partially a case of coming at them from a different way. I mean, with these decks, we’ve always had this intention of representing as accurately as possible, for example, the Ascended Masters, and in representing all genders, all body types, all skin colors so everyone feels seen or represented.

And that’s been a wonderful journey for me, because I get to play with all these different skin tones and colors. schemes and it pushes me as an artist to do that because I think prior to the Angel Guide deck it was a lot of whitewashing in angelic themed decks so.

Grace: And also in the Rider Waite too.

Jennifer: Oh absolutely and by the 22 Archangels you know we’re looking at Okay, how can we represent Archangel Michael differently than how we did in the Divine Masters?

Or what type of energy do we want to bring through for these people? And then I do honestly think it’s that collaboration between the three of us, I mean, with whoever’s choosing to come down at the same time and say hello.

✨ Translating Divine Light

Grace: Yeah. So, for example, when I was creating the Moon card for my tarot deck, I just like spaced out for, it takes me about four hours to create each artwork.

I also work digitally, mostly in Illustrator, for these cards anyway, and so I was listening to this song on repeat. That was very dreamy and I just feel like I just went somewhere else with that card and because I know you have two Angel decks, is that right? There’s an Angel deck and there’s an Archangel deck, and so, what was your experience like working with these different beings as you’re creating the artwork.

Jennifer: Yeah, I definitely get what you’re saying about getting into that, almost like a trance state. And music for me is hugely important, and there’s some songs that I’ll suddenly hook into and just be like, oh, here we go. I use music in my meditation practice. and channeling for clients. So it’s really like a hotline for me to that energy.

And you know, listening to the wrong track, I’ll just immediately know, no way, this is not the right frequency, I suppose, or not the right radio channel. Let me think, I’m just going to pop this open so I can just be reminded of the ones that really connected. I mean, Archangel Raphael is one that always, I’ve had several experiences with him, both personally and through, through the work that I do.

So it was lovely to kind of approach his energy once again and see what, what he wanted to say. Archangel Michael this was one of the first cards that I created for the deck as like a test piece that we presented to Hay House to say, this is what we want to do. Are you on board?

And the structure that came through I’m usually much looser and my colors are much more, or my blending is perhaps more fluid. And the structure that was coming through. The artwork was so different than what I normally was doing and I was like, Oh, that’s quite unusual.

And same with Orion. That was such an interesting one to approach because I hadn’t painted him before and to bring in that metatronic sphere and shape. It’s that balance between like, and maybe you had this with the moon card as well, a structure that people can read and see and also bringing in the energy of what they’re trying to show you.

I mean, I’ve often said to my clients that I work with one to one, just trying to find a card here to show you that you can’t really even see this is so white. This is Archangel Raguel and like the light coming off of him was like if I painted it accurately, it would just be a white page.

It’s ridiculous, right? So I’m often having to say, You guys need to tamp it down a bit. I’m here in reality in this dense place and I need to translate what you’re showing me into something that’s visible for people with their eyes and then hopefully that’ll work. But a lot of them come through so “brightly” that it’s hard to I’m having to turn up the contrast or turn down the light or whatever to make sure it’s being seen properly and I do think people respond to that. I’ve had people say to me that they’ve had very emotional experiences when they see my work, which is really interesting.

✨ Evoking Emotions Through Color and Structure

Grace: Yeah, so what I’m hearing about your creation process and collaborating with Kyle and Hayhouse is that there was a certain emotion that you were directed to evoke within the card, whether it was safety or comfort or release or whatnot.

And then you used your artistic expertise, whether it was like Okay, I’m going to use this deep purple because that signifies release, or I’m going to use this blue because that can communicate maybe mystery, and I’m going to put some stars in there. I’m hearing that you also put in, as you said, structure to then give the viewer a sense of what this card is, is this more a masculine figure or a feminine figure, so then the person on the other end of it can understand the card.

And you also put in some other, the stars are coming to mind because you just showed that on screen with Orion. So yeah, I feel like those little subtle things often can communicate big messages, right? Because we can see so much in Just even the shape of the jaw or the eyebrow or like eyebrows can mean so many different things in the different facets of how you decide to depict an eyebrow, right?

So all these little things are added up in tensions. To then create that final picture for the other person to experience some emotional connection to that card, which then creates an emotional connection to that being. So, I feel like that’s really beautiful, and I think that is the power of art.

Before I started Mystic Mondays and I was freelancing as a graphic designer, and I still didn’t really know who I was yet. And honestly, I still feel like I’m always on the search of who I am, but I remember this stranger coming up to me on the street and just telling me that my creations were important and that I needed to share them with the world.

And I don’t even know how that happened or why she came up to me. I don’t really remember what happened, but I do remember her saying that to me. And it has impacted me so much because at that point, I knew that within myself, I did want to create an impact through my art in some way, but I didn’t know how I was going to do it.

And if you had asked me like 10 years ago, would you be creating a tarot deck or whatever, I didn’t even think I’d be doing any of this. So it’s funny how spirit can lead you in different directions. And I’m wondering for you, like, did you have a moment where you were like, wow, my art is really impacting people on a global scale?

Jennifer: Oh, for sure, for sure. I think one of the ones that I really remember is when the Angel of the Guide deck came out, and a friend who I grew up with, who’s since moved to New Zealand, and we’re friends on Facebook, but we don’t chat all the time or anything like that, she messaged me and said, because she works in nursing, she said, I have a client who has your deck, and She just told me how much it means to her, how much it’s helped her, and I was just like, oh my gosh, it was really powerful, and thankfully, some people, not all, but some people do reach out to me they, they bother to Google my name or whatever, and they do reach out and tell me how much whether it’s helped them day to day, or whether there’s been a particular thing that’s happened, and I read everyone, and I reply to everyone that emails, because it, you do need to hear that as an artist.

Especially doing what we do, you need to hear that it is making a difference. And I don’t think from an egotistical standpoint, but from us, usually because we’re really harsh critics of ourselves, And usually we have Imposter Syndrome. So, to hear someone say, No, no, this actually really helped me, in whatever way, is huge.

And it helps us keep going, because when you’re noodling over someone’s eyebrow, because the eyebrow is making them look angry, and you’re just like, Why am I doing this? You know, I could be earning better money being a designer, or whatever it’s those types of experiences that help you go, no, no, it’s fine, let’s keep going.

✨ Encouragement for Aspiring Creators

Grace: Yes, I completely agree, and also because as a creative person, at least for me, a lot of it is alone time. A lot of it is like, you’re by yourself, on your computer, in the dark. Maybe. That’s what it’s like when I’m writing anyway. It needs to be quiet and dark and then when I’m doing art, it’s like a different part of my brain switches.

So I can relate to that in terms of even managing admin stuff, right? It’s just like a different part of your brain. But like, it does help if someone reaches out to you because you don’t really actually know. How you’re impacting somebody when you’re like in the void in the creation process.

You know, in the mystery of it all. Not really knowing what’s gonna come out on the other side. And you know, I’ve had some of those messages too. It’s been really awesome to hear how Mystic Mondays has impacted people and has positively impacted them in their lives. And I think for me, that’s probably like my favorite part of the creation process is the impact.

That you never knew, at least for me, like I never knew that I could have for somebody else in their life through a card deck or multiple card decks or just like the ability to be able to help somebody’s life in a positive way, I think is probably the biggest gift of being able to create something, being able to birth something.

And for anyone that’s thinking about doing that creative project, just do it! Because you’ll feel so much better you never know whose life you can impact, change, transform, and oftentimes you’re transformed through that process of creation too.

Jennifer: Absolutely. I think as artists and creatives we completely, so often get in our own way.

This is what I did with, in my journal actually was, I have a page, the front, one of the earliest pages in the journal says, you can ruin this page, because we’re so precious about journaling, for example, and we’re like, oh no, I don’t want to ruin this perfectly clean, perfect journal that’s full of possibilities.

And I think a lot of artists have that attitude of like, the moment I start creating art, I’m going to start ruining it. It’s not going to come out of me in the way that I want it to. I would love for people to start returning to that childlike way that we used to create in preschool or whatever, when we would just create, and there was no like, oh, I’ve got to sell it, or people have to like it.

You just were creating for the sake of creating. And I think that was, that’s really beautiful. And at some point that gets hammered out of us for some reason. A few of us are allowed to keep it, or we find it again. But giving yourself permission to just play and see what happens, I think that’s what Spirit wants as well.

It wants us to just play with them and go, hey, let’s write a poem together or whatever.

✨ Igniting the Inner Child in Art

Grace: Yeah, so I’d love to hear more about your inspiration behind creating your journal. I believe this is a self published journal, so please tell us more about it. I was looking through it and I feel like you are really embodying this intention of just becoming an artist and messing up or not being perfect and igniting that Inner Child.

So we’d love to hear more about the journal and what it was like creating it and also your inspiration behind it.

Jennifer: Yeah, so it’s something, again, it’s one of those things that just came through very quickly where I kind of, last year I went, I really want to do this, I want to put a book together. A lot of artists have these books that collect their artwork together, and certainly in America there’s a lot of these conventions where you can illustrated conventions, often in the fantasy realm, spiritual fantasy artwork, that they have these collections of their artworks within there, and they might have work in progress and things like that.

And I thought, oh, I could do that, and then I thought, no, actually, I really want other people to be involved. I don’t want to just have a coffee table book where they look through my work and then that’s great and they never look back at it ever again. I want them to come to my work and then be prompted to try something themselves, whether they think they’re creative or not.

Because I do believe so many of us have had our creativity quashed by someone. It’s often a teacher at a young age that said to someone, you’re not good. Stop doing art. And it just snuffed the flame out. The amount of people that have said to me over the years, Oh, your art’s lovely. I can’t even draw a stick figure.

Or I was told by a teacher that my art was terrible. So I stopped at 12. And I think that’s so sad. I wonder where society would be if we hadn’t had that destroyed in the vast majority of society, right? So that’s why my lofty goal with the journal was to encourage people. To see my work, hear a bit about behind the scenes of it, there’s a channeled message with each artwork and then the following page has a creative prompt that hooks into the art and the message and it encourages people to either color in or consider what this creative prompt is asking them and just try start showing up for their creativity.

So Yeah, it was real, I’m not going to say it was a labor of love, because it actually came together really quickly. But it was lovely to choose all the pieces that were really important to me. It’s all my personal work, there’s nothing from the decks in here. To show people what, the other stuff that I’m doing, that’s integral to my creative practice.

✨ Fast Five Questions

Grace: Yeah, thank you for sharing. So we’re going to wrap up our interview with fast five questions. What is your sun, moon, and rising?

Jennifer: I am Aquarius in both sun and moon, and I always forget my rising. I think it’s Pisces, I think. But I always forget it. So that’s what that is.

Grace: Does that resonate with you?

Jennifer: Definitely the Sun and Moon, it doesn’t surprise me at all. I’ve always been an incredibly Aquarius type person. So, yeah, a family member of mine actually did a proper star chart reading on me and I was like, okay, that’s cool.

Grace: Nice. What advice would you give to your younger self?

Jennifer: Keep going, keep going, keep showing up, keep trying.

Grace: How would you define everyday magic?

Jennifer: Opening your eyes to it. If you’re not willing to see magic or believe in magic, you’re not going to see it, you know. So start hoping that it’ll be there, expecting it to be there, and it’ll be there.

Grace: What are some of your favorite rituals?

Jennifer: I think for me, I have quite a ritual of, it’s like bath time. It sounds ridiculous, but that’s probably my most ritualistic thing is lighting the candles. in the bath and putting salts in and resetting my energy field in the bath, in the water. I’ll be that Aquarius thing and also grounding out in nature. Like I often will know when I need to go and do that and that might be gardening or it might be just going for a walk in the woods. That helps me a lot.

Grace: What are you looking forward to in the near future?

Jennifer: Gosh, so many things. Obviously the launch of this deck. I’m always looking forward to that. That’s amazing when a deck happens and people start. Interacting with them and I start hearing from people the experiences they’re having.

But also I’m always excited about what’s coming next. I don’t know what’s coming next, whether it’s another publishing deal or, or whether every person that I connect with individually. to create artworks for is a new adventure they’re all they all come through very differently so that’s always fun.

✨ Collective Reading from the 22 Archangels Oracle

Grace: All right, so let’s end the interview with a collective reading. Jenny here is gonna pull a card from one of her decks. Which deck is it?

Jennifer: The Archangel deck of course.

Grace: Okay. Yes, of course.

Jennifer: All right. Oh…

So we got Archangel Jeremiel. I’m never sure how to say that name. So I have painted this angel a few times in the masculine form in the Angel Guide and now in the feminine form in the 22 Archangels. And her message is about personal responsibility. Take responsibility for your choices. This is an opportunity for inner growth.

And I find that so interesting that we got that because this is exactly what we started the conversation with, which was like, if you want to achieve something or create a tarot deck or create a journal, then it’s time to start taking responsibility for that, doing everything that you can do to show up and do the things, do the work that’s one of my favorite cards from the Angel Guide deck, is the Do The Work card.

Do everything that you can do to show up for that intention and then expect that the universe will come back and start, start reacting to your thoughts become things, you know. Your intention, and from that the growth comes. You, you’ll grow because you’ll start to see how it works, you’ll start to trust in that, and you need that breadcrumb trail, right?

I think we all need that breadcrumb trail of those little memories that we go, oh yeah, that time, that worked, and then that worked, and now I understand how that worked. But you’ve got to start moving. I think there’s a lot of attitude in the spiritual world about manifestation and just waiting for something to drop from the heavens.

But you’ve got to start making, moving the energy bringing in the energy or shifting some of the old stuff out of you in order to get this stuff to happen. And I think part of the artwork that shows this is this lovely, she’s a bit like Archangel Michael, she’s got this structure to her. It’s like a seriousness, like, a friend going, calling you out on your bullshit at the end of the day and going, you gotta do, you gotta start doing this.

And then from there, the energy will flow.

✨ Reflecting on Life Choices

Grace: Yeah. You know, it’s so funny because obviously I’ve pulled some cards from the 22 Archangels Oracle deck and I have them in front of my computer as I’m working, they’re all staring at me with their, So much love in their eyes, but also some of them are stern, some of them are like, come on.

Some of them have a certain glint in their eye, a certain feeling, and for me, when I’m like pulling out all these Archangels, it’s just nice to have the company of these Archangels staring at me as I’m doing this. You know, my work or whatever it is. And it’s funny that you pulled out the personal responsibility card because I was literally thinking about that this morning.

I was thinking about how all the choices you’ve made led you up to a certain point. And it’s a collection of decisions, which is personal responsibility. You know, taking responsibility and accountability for those decisions and choices that you’ve made that has led you to a certain point. And if you don’t like where you’re at, then make different decisions.

And that’s part of reflecting on where you are right now. Are you happy with the choices that you’ve made? Are you wanting to make changes? What can you change? Because the decision of staying the same is probably more harmful than making changes, right? And I think sometimes you know, a lot of us, and me too, right, like a lot of us can be fearful of making changes because we can be so comfortable with where we’re at, but sometimes what is required of us does require us to change habits, behaviors whatever it is to get us to that next point so that we are proud of the decisions and choices that we’ve made for that personal responsibility.

Because at the end of the day, you’ve got you, right? for the rest of your life. You know, there’s no one else holding your hands, maybe an archangel or two, but ultimately you’re making that choice. So, I think this is also guidance for anybody that’s looking to make changes. Look at themselves, right, more clearly.

And I think that’s part of this process of just becoming more truthful with yourself.

Jennifer: Absolutely. At some point in your life, you have to take that jump off the cliff, right? And I certainly did that leaving Canada. I was very comfortable there. I had a good job. I was doing everything that society said I should be doing.

I was spiritually bereft and so to take that leap that seemed so illogical in every way and it was difficult. It was really difficult. It was a lot to move countries and, you know. Just go through all of that bureaucracy and whatnot. But looking back and even the difficulty of losing family members, I see it as like a massive catalyst for change.

And one of the angels in the journal, it’s called Trust Your Wings. And there’s a really lovely message in there about how we often think that when you take the leap of faith that you’re falling. And plummeting, when actually you’re rising, right? You have the opportunity to rise. So, there’s so much opportunity, I think, to, as you said, have a hard look at yourself and go, Do I have a life that I need to constantly have a vacation from?

Like, I received an email from someone and that was their tagline, build a life that you don’t need a vacation from. And I was like, that’s it in a nutshell. Because if you’re constantly ruining yourself, insane and into the ground. Your life is running you and all this stuff. It’s time to change something, even if it’s just a little thing.

And start to shift away from that. Shift to what you do want.

Grace: Lovely. And inspiring.

✨ Closing Statements

Grace: Yeah. So thank you so much, Jenny, for being here, for sharing your wisdom, your journey of not just your artistry but also your spiritual essence and you know what the process is like for you because I feel like often as creative beings the behind the scenes isn’t shown as much and so I’m very appreciative that you were willing to share that with us today.

So thank you.

Jennifer: My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.

Grace: Yeah, definitely. Okay, bye.

Jennifer: Bye.

✨ End of Episode – Make Sure to Leave a Podcast Review!

Grace: Thanks so much for tuning in to today’s episode with Jennifer Hawkyard. I’m so glad we were able to talk about behind the scenes of what it’s like to be a spiritual artist with Jenny and debunking myths around the starving artist archetype.

If you knew you couldn’t fail, what would you do and how would you express your creativity? Share with me on the socials because I wanna know. 

And as a reminder, we will be doing a giveaway of Jenny’s Journal, Imaginarium over on Instagram, YouTube, and all the socials. So make sure to check it out over there.

Until next time my dear creatives. Allow yourself to be imperfect, to be messy, and to take a chance on yourself. Sending you grace today and every day.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode. Remember to subscribe and check out more GRACED Podcast episodes on how to apply everyday magic to your everyday life.

See you next time!

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