Meet Mary Evans | Artist & Creator of Spirit Speak Tarot and Oracle Decks

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mary Evans and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mary, what is the most important factor behind your success?
What is most important to me are the relationships that people develop with my work. I find success in the feedback I receive about how my tarot and oracle cards impact other’s lives. While I appreciate any growth in my business, my primary focus remains on managing it in a way that supports my art practice and research. These cards are meant to help facilitate self-reflection and empower others to experiment with their natural sense of intuition. I believe that finding the space for my own introspection and academic research is what fosters meaningful future works.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
For the past decade, I have been studying the practice of cartomancy. I have hand-illustrated, painted, digitally collaged, and self-published seven different tarot and oracle decks starting in 2014. They have been featured in Vogue, and Oprah Magazine, and sold at the Whitney Museum as part of programming for the Agnes Pelton exhibit. Tarot is the story of life told through a narrative of symbols in the form of 78 playing cards. I have found that reading cards for others and myself provides a process of self-reflection and personal insight that can help people imagine a positive future. In the production of my divination tools, the healing that I offer is self-guided. I am not the one who performs the healing but rather I am offering an optional tool that when activated may aid in the spiritual and emotional comfort of the participant. I owe much of where I am professionally to those, friends, family, mentors, and others who have uplifted and supported my work over the years. Running a business, especially as an independent artist isn’t always easy. I am lucky to find comfort and encouragement from the many inspiring business owners and artists who are in my community.
Running a business will most likely have ups and downs, it’s important to know and be in touch with devotion. What it is that is most important to keep curious about and be kept alive by. I’ve grown a lot in the business aspects of my brand, but it’s in my commitment to my artistic path that I find fulfillment. I just spent the last three years completing my Masters of Fine Arts at the University of Oregon where I worked closely with mentors to advance my personal art practice. Developing my voice as an artist is the most important investment.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
One of my favorite places to visit is the Museum of Jurassic Technology. I would also say that if you are looking for a day trip you could drive to Salvation Mountain in the Salton Sea.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I am dedicating this shoutout to archeologist and anthropologist Marja Gimbutus whose writings about the civilization of Old Europe have influenced my creative works for the last few years. She published controversial theories about Pre-Indo-Europeans that were informed by her discovery of over 500 Goddess figurines with breasts, buttocks, and vulvas. She understood that this culture worshiped the Goddess as a birth, death, and resurrection symbol. This form was seen to mimic the cycle of life and the changing of seasons seen on Earth. According to her findings, this was an Egalitarian civilization that lived without organized violence.

Website: www.spirit-speak.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/m.a.r.y.e.v.a.n.s/?hl=en

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@maryevans8087

Image Credits
Zohn Mandel