Mysticism by design: How a new generation of creatives is approaching the unknown - Friends of Friends / Freunde von Freunden (FvF)

Mysticism by design: How a new generation of creatives is approaching the unknown

Advertisement

Astrology and fortune-telling may be ancient practices but their frameworks continue to enjoy enormous popularity. What lies behind their timeless charm? In this Deep Dive, we explore how four designers are keeping these frameworks alive and relevant.

From tarot decks to star reading apps, most mystical practices rely on material objects inspired by celestial bodies and their cycles. Often overlooked in this connection, artists and designers play a profound role in shaping these objects and their use. Over the centuries, their visual interpretations have provided an important link between the power of ancient symbology and people’s questions at a certain time, revealing much about society’s changing needs. Today, their work suggests that mystical practices are being stripped of their fortune-telling roles and repurposed as a means for building self-awareness and articulating personal narratives.

Olivia Healy explores the richness of gender expression in Tarot 

For Olivia M Healy, a London-based illustrator, breathing new life into esoteric rituals is about defying exclusivity. During her studies, Healy became interested in Tarot and decided to create a deck of her own. The result was a whimsical re-interpretation of Hermits and Pentacle cards. Six years in the making, the colorful deck was inspired by the drag and nightlife scene she frequented during this time and designed to empower feminine identities while exploring the richness of gender expression within tarot symbology. There are devils with hairy legs and feminine figures in bold thigh-high boots. “I wanted to create a deck so I could easily interpret the cards and feel a deeper connection to them. For my deck I used the traditional Rider-Waite system with iconography and symbolism inspired by my own life and artistic influences,” she explains.

But the characters of the Omni deck also reveal a wider shift in the context of fortune telling. A shift towards a plurality of aesthetics and visual languages enables its owners to feel more represented in the cards.

“Modern mysticism allows for so much exploration and the creation of personal rituals and practices that suit the individual”

  • What is the significance of mystical practices in this time and age? How can design and technology contribute to the maintenance and renewal of these practices?

    I think that both spirituality and art have become much more personal, they are no longer defined by big overarching movements or the need for exclusivity. Modern mysticism allows for so much exploration and the creation of personal rituals and practices that suit the individual. For Tarot, there are thousands of decks with incredibly unique visuals, so people can really find something that suits.

Co–Star founder Banu Guler blends astrology and technology  

Banu Guler takes a more technological approach. 26 at the time, in 2017 she launched Co-Star, the notorious app that put astrology back on her generation’s radar. In Banu’s own words, “Astrology, […] helps us grapple with the impermanence and irrationality of existence. It helps us understand ourselves and our place in the world.” 

Unlike more classic horoscope columns, Co-Star is highly personalized, delivering evocative predictions as well as mysterious hints, and bite-size wisdom (based on your time and place of birth) directly to your phone screen. Artificial intelligence plays a huge role in compiling the guidance. “Everything is based on planetary movement, using data from NASA” Banu explains. But design is just as important. “We try to honor that emptiness of space with stark surfaces and negative space, and the richness of all that punctuates that darkness with delicate features, tactile textures, and abstract graphics. There’s a tension between old and new, showing the hand but operating within the slick and technocratic.” 

While technology might seem at odds with mysticism, it is perhaps in this tension that astrology is given new expression.

“There’s a tension between old and new, showing the hand but operating within the slick and technocratic.” 

  • What is the significance of mystical practices in this time and age? How can design and technology contribute to the maintenance and renewal of these practices?

    Over the past decade, we have been experiencing a crisis of rationalism. Consensus reality has collapsed entirely. As the state of things becomes increasingly chaotic, absurd, and unpredictable, we see a trend of people rejecting modern forms of logic and turning towards ancient frameworks of understanding the world. These frameworks give an enduring sense of certainty that acts as ballast during increasingly uncertain times. Design and technology are tools, in this case, for the Promethean task of stealing fire from the gods and bringing it down to Earth.

Leigh Patterson invites self-reflection through writing and list-making 

Anyone who has kept a journal knows that organizing thoughts on paper allows those thoughts to rest and breathe, ultimately freeing up space in the mind. Leigh Patterson’s Moon Lists, a guided workbook series for self-reflection, takes the magic of these small acts to the next level.

Unlike the team behind Co-Star, Leigh Patterson holds little knowledge of astrology and the moon’s power. In her workbooks, over 160 pages of questions and tools for thinking about life, the moon becomes a metaphor for vantage and observing things from a distance. The repetitive nature of its cycles provides a frame for self-reflection “a method for coming up with a more specific language and better stories to explain our experiences and inner lives, ” she notes.

Most prompts are simple and open for interpretation—In which direction are you moving? What was in your bubble?—and reflect Patterson’s deep-rooted interest in “the narratives that people construct to make sense of life.” The design is minimalist and manual-like, inspired by “instructional notebooks, 1960s Nasa pamphlets, utilitarian French & Italian school supplies and folders, and other qualitative displays of abstract material,” that Patterson kept from working in archives.

“I tend to find all guided journals and categorical self-reflection to be insufferably corny and wanted to push myself to try to understand this thing that repelled me”

  • What is the significance of rituals and mystical practices in this time and age? How can art and design contribute to the maintenance and renewal of these practices?

     I can’t really think of anything more humbling than the repeat realization that people have been asking these same questions for millennia … and as we’re all just bumbling around trying to make some sense of it, maybe none (or all) means anything but you get to be the one who chooses. I find the universality of that pretty comforting. 

Barbarianflower’s horoscope illustrations show cool women with normal bodies

Even with astrology apps on the market, horoscope columns continue to attract millions of readers monthly.  Dating back all the way to the 1930s, this editorial response to astrology is perhaps the most popular and prolific divinatory tradition of the past century. 

Editorial horoscopes vary greatly in style, and writers play a huge role in keeping the cult alive. But what about the visual artists behind those beautiful illustrations? According to the illustrator Tan Sze Yan (also known as barbarianflower), the images accompanying these short essays, typically human-like representations of each sign, play an important role in conveying the signs’ characteristics and the writer’s vision. According to the illustrator Tan Sze Yan, the images accompanying these short essays, typically human-like representations of each sign, play an important role in conveying the signs’ characteristics and the writer’s vision. In her illustrations for Refinery29’s 2022 horoscope, women of all sizes replace too-often idealized bodies. What’s best, everything is wrapped in a glossy Y2K palette.

“People usually look at horoscopes either by sign or by personality. Everyone is proud of their own horoscope and curious about others.”

  • What is the significance of mystical practices in this time and age? How can art and design contribute to the maintenance and renewal of these practices?

    People want to find answers within their horoscope, worship themselves, and understand others through these. We all need some images to express words or claims, yet beautiful illustration and art will allow you to engage more with what it says and have more imagination.

This Deep Dive explores the role of design and visual art in the context of modern-day mysticism. If you are interested in reading more about creativity’s intersection with the occult, head over to our cosmic reading list.

Text: Amelie Varzi
Images courtesy of Olivia Healy, Banu Guler, Leigh Patterson, Justin Chung, Refinery29, and Tan Sze Yan.

Advertisement