I can still remember the phone call that started the creation of our newly released Angel Quest Oracle card deck. It came early on a Sunday morning, about two years ago, from Karen Noé, renowned angel medium and author of this deck. Because of the time difference between us, I was still in bed. During that night, Karen had received an inspiration from the angels to create angel oracle cards, and her intuition told her that I had to be the artist on her team. So, she was excitedly calling me to see if I would do it. I was tickled by the invitation. Of course, I was in! This is exactly what I love doing most: working on projects inspired by Spirit. And, even better, the project itself was about getting others in touch with Spirit.
Angel Quest Oracle Deck—Your New Hotline to Spirit
by Marie Antoinette Kelley, award-winning artist and illustrator of the Angel Quest Oracle
Since I was little, I've had an interest in the world of extrasensory perception. I feel most alive when I'm in my inner world, reflecting on the meaning and the flow of life. Because of my passion, I've studied and pursued the majority of the world's religions and philosophies to get a better grasp of the place I draw my inspiration from. As a serious science student, who received one of the top scholarships in the field, I wrestled with the discrepancies between the world as science describes it (with all its rational explanations) and the way I knew it for myself, full of mysterious synchronicities. After some time, though, I was able to integrate my worldview to include both. I came to see that there's no substitute for letting Spirit play a direct role in our everyday life—a beautiful, synchronizing, intuitive, and playful role.Creating this personal hotline to Spirit for you is what Karen and I hope to accomplish with this deck. We've created a deck of 44 colorful cards with messages that confer direct communications from the angels so that you can better feel their influence in your life. As you pose your question, the Divine goes to work to respond energetically and bring you an answer through a specific card. My role was to create the artwork with images that each speak a thousand words.
Sometimes I chose to depict an angel's portrait (I am primarily a portrait artist.) Other times, I chose to paint a more archetypal image to help unlock the power of new insight—of new "angles" of your consciousness. I've found that much of the language of Spirit is symbolism, after all. I trust that the angels will use these images to move and inspire you as they see fit.
One of my favorite portraits in the deck is of Archangel Phanuel, an angel from Ethiopia whose name is mentioned in the Bible, in the Book of Enoch, as well as in Jewish manuscripts. His name literally means "the face of God" or "who turns to God," and he is said to fight evil on our behalf so we may return to the Divine. In my view, his face has such beauty, forgiveness and strength represented in it that it still moves me each time I look into his amber eyes.Among the cards, there are a few archetypal images that are especially meaningful to me. There's an image of a flower growing through the rubble to symbolize and unlock courage; one of the staff of Moses parting the waters, representing emotions, to separate the real from the unreal; and one of a lotus flower blooming within the universe to convey inner awakening. There are quite a few more—you will find the ones that speak to you.
One thing that was important to me in creating this deck was to make the angels relatable, to make them feel up close and personal. Since we all have different backgrounds, I chose to paint them with diverse ethnicities, ages, gender, and spiritual traditions. Though I took artistic license to express the angels, I always stayed true to the pure qualities of Spirit that they represent. You can intuit it for yourself, and let your heart and mind be moved directly by the energy of each card. You don't have to have a ready-made box of beliefs to apply the wisdom and the mystery of these spiritual messages. After all, before society taught us how to interpret angels, or God, or Spirit, for that matter, most of us knew that our supernatural experiences were real. The world of Spirit is always just beyond the veil, yet undeniably intertwined with all our earthly experiences.
So let the magic in.
Marie Antoinette Kelley is an award-winning artist who has done hundreds of portraits and whose work is well known throughout Montana. Her art has been featured in local magazines and newspapers, such as the Billings Gazette, Rural Montana, The Bozone, and the Montana Pioneer. In 2019, the Delaware North general stores began selling her artwork in the form of woven blankets throughout Yellowstone National Park. Learn more about Marie Antoinette and her work by visiting: makfineart.com.
