Meet Jessica Knight of The Otherlings Tarot in Tempe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Knight.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Jessica. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
About four or so years ago, after a very long standing creative dam of mine broke, I experienced an outpouring of ideas and stories coming through me which I began to translate through art. What started as doodles here and there turned into what now feels like a full-fledged purpose to me. So today, through various mediums but mostly watercolor, pen/ink and acrylic, I bring form to my strange pool of formless inspiration. My work is informed by my love of nature, self-exploration, the subconscious and emotional realms, the Otherworld, and comes from a feminine perspective.

I work with a lot of darker themes, too, I think mostly because I am very interested in the entire spectrum of experience and especially the oft-ignored or repressed.

I am also working on illustrating and authoring a tarot deck called “The Otherlings Tarot”, which is my biggest current project. Learning about and working with the tarot has been just as important a passion as creating is for me, and The Otherlings is my love note to a practice I have grown to love so much.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Not always! I think any person who finds themselves in the creative process (which all of us do at some time or another, I believe!) would say that there can be intense highs and lows. A lot of my art comes through working through my emotions about what I’ve experienced in life, so those struggles had to be met before I even began working with them in this way.

Once the actual creating was underway, one sort of struggle I’ve found myself in has been with self-limiting beliefs. It can be hard to put yourself out there and be vulnerable, especially when you feel as though you’re sharing such a personal part of you, and not know how it will be received. I’ve come up against a lot of fear, but that’s part of it! You find out how much you care through that, and that is what matters.

I’ve struggled with technical skill, as I’ve taught myself along the way and my actual artistic abilities have evolved (as they will continue to), and sometimes I’m not where I want to be yet, or in the case of my tarot cards from The Otherlings, I ended up feeling the need to go back and redo every card I had done so far. So, working with patience, time and commitment to getting better has been challenging- but rewarding.

Mostly, struggles just happen because it’s the only way we’ll come face to face with the things we need to learn through our process. You don’t know what you know until you do! The road is rarely smooth or straight, because if it was, it a) wouldn’t be very interesting, and b) wouldn’t have as much value in terms of offering us the wisdom, direction, courage and friction needed to shake us up and move forward.

Please tell us about your work.
I make art! I have a zodiac-themed line of shirts I am working through for sale on Etsy. I make original watercolor, pen and ink, and acrylic art for sale and offer select prints. I am working on The Otherlings Tarot project, and also have offered tarot readings at various events. I have a Patreon for The Otherlings project through which I share in depth-blog posts, collective and personal tarot readings for my patrons, and send out a hand-illustrated zine about astrology, tarot and mindfulness every other month (plus more!).

I am proud to make art that reminds people of the great Mystery. I think that is important in this world, and I hope that my art helps people to remember the unseen, and take the forgotten pieces of themselves back under their wing again.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I define success as any choice made in integrity. Whenever we move towards aligning our head, heart and body, I think we find success. If you’re working on showing up for yourself, for the things you believe in and moving towards creating a life that supports this to the best of your ability at that time- I say that is successful. Mistakes are 1000% a part of this, because they tell us where the work is, or teach us something new about ourselves. So even if, and probably especially if you are making mistakes, you can be successful. Success isn’t an end goal and is something that we can find in each moment, so I guess success is what lies right behind the choice we make in those moments when we honor our true selves.

Contact Info:

• Website: theotherlings.com, patreon.com/otherlingstarot, https://www.etsy.com/shop/cathartistaura
• Email: jessica.seedandblossom@gmail.com
• Instagram: @cathartistaura, @theotherlingstarot

Image Credit:
KJ Photography and Film

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