Today I am so excited to be talking to Grace Duong, graphic artist and creator of the Mystic Mondays tarot deck. In this episode we talk about Grace’s creative process, what drove her to create her own tarot deck, and how she overcame production issues.

Join us as we discuss how supporting your intuition, allowing yourself to experiment, and even some failure, can lead to success in business!

Please leave us a review on iTunes so that Grace’s message can reach more people.

SHOW NOTES

0:43 – How did you come to art?

Knew from a young age I wanted to be involved in art somehow as it gave me a voice for the things I wasn’t able to say.

2:12 – How did you come to realize you loved color so much?

Color immediately elicits emotions which allows us to better express ourselves. Similarly, tarot can help take us to moments we felt deep emotions.

4:20 – Where does your love of art and tarot intersect?

It started with wanting to get some sort of external validation which lead to the realization that I already had the answers I was looking for. This empowered me to create my own relationship to tarot and making my own deck.

13:30 – How has reading tarot for others add to your understanding of it?

After creating the deck, I now have a very special connection to tarot. I have a better sense of the cards and their meanings, and a strengthened ability to tell a story and see their connection in spreads.

20:19 – How has your intuition supported you in growing your business?

It wasn’t easy. A lot of uncomfortable fears came up, but you have to face them head on to get to the next level.

23:02 – Did you know you wanted to sell your deck when you started making it?

I definitely did! I envisioned it being sold at Urban Outfitters and it is now being sold there.

28:02 – What gave you the push to overcome the production problems that seem to be so common when creating your own deck?

I just saw my vision so clearly, and felt it was missing from the marketplace and knew it needed to be made.

30:10 – Now that you’ve expanded your product offerings, what does your business look like?

It’s an experiment! When making the deck I saw the cards as individual pieces of art that also worked together as a collection, so they work great as standalone prints or pins, and so on.

31:35 – How did you have the idea for a tarot app?

I was thinking about how our current generation is so connected to smartphones and thought it would be another great way to advertise the deck, as well as to give folks a chance to see if the cards resonate with them before purchasing.

33:34 – What is an upcoming project you can share with us?

I’m actually working on a crystal deck that comes out next year!

34:58 – How did you figure out your work style?

By doing a lot of different projects, as well as by being a freelancer beforehand. You have to be able to rely on yourself or else nothing will get done, and accept a bit of failure.

37:41 – Why crystals? Is that something you have been working with?

I love learning, and part of design is learning about the topic you are working with. I learned so much about tarot from making this deck that I wanted to expand to other areas I was interested in, like crystals!

43:07 – Where can people find you?

You can book a session with me and find the tarot deck at www.mysticmondays.com. The free app is available on the iTunes and Andriod store. You can also find me at @mysticmondays and @grace.duong on Instagram.

Follow the Holistic Business Academy on Instagram and slide into the DMs to let me know what you think of the episode!

Intro and outro music from bensound.com

“Episode 57: Making a Tarot Deck with Grace Duong”