A Spectral Message
In August of 2025, two friends sat down to discuss facing demons. Our backgrounds, our beliefs, how we viewed ourselves while dealing with our vulnerabilities. That conversation set the foundations for Hauntings: The Oracle Deck, an accessible medium for people to learn about themselves and others. After all, we all have our monsters.
What do yours say?
The Fext, 2026
Oil on MDF 120 cm x 70cm
An Oracle Deck?
Oracle cards are the cousins of the more commonly known Tarot cards. To understand the Oracle, we need to establish an understanding about Tarot Cards.
Made of 78 cards, the Tarot follows a structural tradition: 22 Major Arcana cards and 56 Minor Arcana. The major arcana parallels “the journey from foolishness to wisdom,” also can be alternatively understood as the hero’s journey, while the minor arcana centers on themes related to their suits:
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Wands refer to intuition and creativity
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Cups refer to emotions
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Swords with mental and intellectual themes
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Pentacles/Coins to physical or financial ideas
Card imagery and numerical significance of the card also serves to represent the meaning of the card. These structural ideas lend themselves to understanding the art an a more guided way with concepts that not only stem from a single piece but can work cohesively as part of a whole.
The main difference between a tarot and oracle deck. Oracle decks have no specific traditional structure to be adhered to, but function off of similar concepts in order to keep that cohesion. Hauntings: Oracle consists of 60 cards covering 20 schemas in a structure similar to a three act play.
Art and Schemas and Folklore, Oh My!
Much like the structure of the cards, the structure of the project focuses on three elements. The first involved the cards themselves and their associations with symbology. But two more still need to be examined to understand the scope of the project.
Monsters:
Hauntings: The Oracle Deck was born from my desire to explore the stories of my own monsters. They are the manifestations of all that I tried to repress; anxieties born from my complex traumas. I discovered them in my mental backrooms, whispering my worst fears, and judging my every move. I met my own inner draugr: a rage that wanted to tear apart everything that I felt betrayed by. The cost I would pay included myself.
Initially, I despised my monsters; I hated and feared my draugr, the first monster I painted. I wanted them exorcized completely. But as I started to heal, I realized that these monsters weren’t “evils” to be rid of. They were functions from a youthful mind trying to protect me.
Negative beliefs and habits are all part of a clever system trying to survive, especially with little recourse to escape. My draugr was merely an overzealous protector; a part of me that only wanted my safety. Instead of villainizing my monsters, the key to recovery was to understand them.
Schemas:
The word “schema” (σχήμα - schima) in of itself existed before the founding of Schema Therapy. Originally Greek, schemas referred to a “structure, framework, or outline.”
The psychological application of the word was pioneered by Jean Piaget, renowned child psychologist, defining schemas as “fundamental building blocks of [child]cognitive development. They are constantly being created, modified, and reorganized as we interact with the world.”
Our experiences dictate the beliefs we form. Though Jean Piaget referred to the plasticity of schemas in reference to children, Schema Therapy approaches with the mindset that any of our core beliefs can be changed at any age.
Apathy, 2026
Oil on MDF 120 cm x 70cm
Trippin' on Triptychs
Curiosity, 2026
Oil on MDF 120 cm x 70cm
The three images on this pages are examples of one of the triptychs, a three part painting journey, usually presented together.
The Fext Triptych tells the ancient story of an obscure Czech undead being featuring impenetrable skin, and, supposedly, an impenetrable heart.
The schema for the Fext is Emotional Deprivation. In this case, the Fext’s internalized beliefs materialize into their own self-imposed exile. Their schema is materialized in its impenetrable frozen skin, and their bullet-proof attributes shows their willingness to protect others, but the ice and exposed skeleton exemplify a struggle to connect. Thus, the second piece is named Apathy, since that lack of connection and feeling is championed by those with this schema.
This is the very trait that easily becomes self-sabotage.
In Manifestation: Apathy, the Fext places themselves around connection; they act as observers of community, their presence hinting at their innate interest to take part but seemingly unable to do so.
The opposite action, a concept most known about from CBT therapy, is approaching with curiosity. It is only by opening themselves up in a free manner that mimics child-like wonder that a Fext can begin to connect to the world. In Healing: Curiosity, the Fext can cautiously recognize their presence is welcome, and learn that emotions are not the enemy.
This triptych is a glimpse into a more extensive exploration of the monsters that haunt each of us. Hauntings: The Oracle Deck delves into the deeper perspectives of ourselves and others, asking us how innate beliefs of the world dictate actions, fears, and opinions through fantastical, monstrous, and most importantly honest stories.
Together, let’s explore what haunts us.