speaker-0: This week on the Mainly Moonology podcast, I'm doing something I've been wanting to do for a very long time, which is speaking to an artist called Lindsay Kokoska, who's over in Canada, who actually did the illustrations for my incredibly beautiful Dark Moon Oracle cards, which have just come out. And the reaction to the art Lindsay has been amazing. So it's great that actually the deck has come out and I've got a chance to sort of see how people are responding. So you describe yourself as a multimedia artist exploring perception and consciousness through traditional and digital art, which is amazing. So we had a quick chat, but I want to know when I, when Hey House first approached you about illustrating this dark moon deck, what was your honest reaction? I know you said you don't necessarily work with the feminine or the dark moon or dark feminine archetypes. it, did you think, ⁓ my gosh, or yes or no?

speaker-1: Yeah, I know it's not that I'm not familiar with it. I'm familiar with it, but personally, my work, like, outside of doing the artwork for the deck, my work is mostly on consciousness, more of a oneness where it's like integration of like both energies. it's because I just feel like my work is oneness. So it was interesting to do the work for this because it made me think more in depth about these energies that, you know, maybe I'm inherent. in invertedly working with, but not knowing if that makes sense.

speaker-0: Right. So when you say oneness, you're alluding to, for example, male and female, yin and yang, dark and light, rather than focusing on one or the other. Right. Yeah. And what about shadow work? Is that something that you've ever delved into?

speaker-1: Mm-hmm, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and also the energy was about the dark moon. I thought that was really cool because I was born on a balsamic moon. for me, I love the moon phases, so I thought it would be very interesting to kind go through that kind of shadow side. So yeah, I have, and I think it's really interesting.

speaker-0: Yeah. So, okay. So thinking about the deck, which I know you've got the deck on your desk over there in Canada, was there a particular card or archetype ⁓ that really affected you emotionally or that you really enjoyed doing or that you found really, really difficult or that stayed with you for longer than expected?

speaker-1: Definitely some difficult ones.

speaker-0: Which was the most difficult ones?

speaker-1: I think the most difficult ones might have been like 100%. I know that Ninks, Nicks, I say it wrong. This one was my favorite to do. It's so dark, but like the abstract of it really was like what I love, the fluidness of it. Let's see.

speaker-0: Next is the goddess of the night. One of the really foremost primo dark goddess archetypes that we have. So it's interesting that you really liked her. I'm just pulling out a few that I love. I do love your Budra Kali.

speaker-1: Well maybe, maybe I resonate with- actually, there you go, that was the hardest one of them. There was a lot of like, you know, with the hands and like holding different things, it was really hard to perfect and get it right. Like the conceptually doing the deck was easy, but then fine tuning every little thing in each card, that took a lot of time. But you know, it's, it was a great learning experience. I love doing that one. I have a lot of

speaker-0: ⁓ really? Yeah. I love the Black Madonna.

speaker-1: When I do figurative work in my own work, a lot of the work is kind of similar to the Black Madonna. I kind of do a lot of faceless veiled women when I do figurative work. Yeah, I love that one. I love this bypassing is one of my favorites too in terms of art. Yeah. And I think this this one inner critic that might've been one of the first ones I did. I did.

speaker-0: So, yeah. Yeah. I also really love, I actually think my favorite card in the entire deck is that one. Fine Balance. It's not quite in focus in the camera, but it's so, I am a fan of black and white as you can see. I think that's my favorite of all. So for a really practical thing for anyone who's listening, if anyone has ever thought, ⁓ gosh, I'd love to do my own deck of cards.

speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah.

speaker-0: Did you learn anything that you could kind of share with people about, this is where I've learned? Is this your first deck of cards that you've done?

speaker-1: No, my first deck of cards is when I published myself. Yeah. It's like, it's quite large. ⁓ it's as my head and I have a big head. Yeah. Yeah. So this, this had a lot of, this taught me a lot going into your deck and like knowing how you have to fine tune so much. Editing is really important and going in, especially when you're working with other people, like some artists have

speaker-0: Let's have a look.

speaker-1: might have a hard time taking critiques from others. For me, I'm okay with taking critiques, especially when I'm doing commissions, ⁓ especially at such a scale. If somebody's asking me for like a one-off piece, you know, it's a little different. But for this, I was, you know, very prepared to go in knowing that I'd have to go back and iterate several times. And yeah, that really prepared, my first deck prepared me for that. Luckily, I didn't have to do the book design. The book design is actually the hardest part because it's very tedious getting a book together.

speaker-0: Yeah, right. So when you're illustrating something like, I don't know, the Black Madonna or NYX, how do you begin? Do you research? you go for a walk in nature? Do you meditate? Do you sketch intuitively? What does that first step look like for an artist trying to get into someone else's head?

speaker-1: I like with in general with with because of who I am I always I always walk walking meditations or something I Consistently do and if I'm stuck if I can't get some get to a place with my work I have to like go into the forest walk exercise do yoga meditate usually, you know Like I'm walking into work being like into my work being very clear And if I notice I can't get the iterations I have to walk away I have to you always have to step back and look move away from it for a few hours and come back. So I never push myself to kind of like force myself to finish it correctly in that moment because if I can't see it happening, like I have to go like leave and come back. But usually I'll start with the research and then like pulling things together and kind of making a mood board of those pieces and the elements I want. And then I just kind of dive in and start putting it together.

speaker-0: Yeah. And I think something that's interesting for me and for probably a lot of people is, you live on this, you know, this island of Nova Scotia. You live, it's sort of near the forest, you said. So it's an interesting balance to have to strike between your commercial pursuits where you've, you know, taken on this commission with a big company like Hay House and they've given you this. quite rigid structure and deadlines and requirements and all that. How do you then balance that with the fact that you are obviously not just hugely creative, but like you say, you're working with perception and consciousness and all those much more high-falutin things. How do you balance that? that like saying, how do you balance motherhood and working? it just like that?

speaker-1: It's just like that. guess, you know, everybody is so different. I can like switch into like, for example, just parenting. I can switch from being in mom mode to wife mode to like artist mode to business mode fairly quickly. I think that takes, I mean, that takes a lot of practice. A long time ago might've been a lot harder, but I've had a lot of great support with family. My husband's really supportive. You know, when I work working with, Hey, host, I was Like I said before, I'm just prepared. Like if things have to cut away and like I set boundaries really well for myself with people, I cut things out if they don't work. I stay away from people that maybe bring me down. just have eliminated a lot of things so I can focus on my family, my art and myself. that's, cause if I'm not creating, like creating art is my meditation. Just like meditation is my meditation. It's all one and I want to stay in that place. It doesn't make me ignorant to what's happening in the world or anything like that. for me, if this is my path in life, I need to keep it clear. Just like you would drink water. You need to keep the channel clear. So I do everything in my power to keep it clear. And I know that sometimes work can be difficult. People can be difficult. Companies can be difficult. But if... I go in knowing that I never really get angry if someone asks me to change something, you know, because that's just the way it is.

speaker-0: mean, when you're doing cards, you know, I know because this is my fourth deck of cards with Hay House. You know, we have meetings where there's the art director, the commissioning editor and me. So you've got three people looking at your cards saying, what about that? ⁓ I think that's a bit funny. ⁓ we should make that bigger. So you're getting like feedback from all directions. So yeah, it must be pretty intense. Working with images. Okay, so I'm a writer and that's, know, writing for me is something really powerful and it's probably something to do with how I, you know, I mean, it's definitely how I express myself. It's probably how I express my consciousness in a way. How do you feel about words? How do you feel about images? How, you know, how did you discover love of art? Where did it all start for you, Lindsay?

speaker-1: Well, I think it's always been like that for me. Like I've always loved creating things. ⁓ When did I know I was like an artist, I labeled myself. I thought it was grade two, art class. But then I really realized at 18 years old, painting in the forest, like my friend's place near the, this lake near the forest, we're painting. And I remember painting a few things. And I remember my friends just kind of after we're all done gathering kind of around my work. And they're like, wow, Lindsay, you, this is like, you're an artist, like you're really, and it was just abstract work, but like, I really felt strongly then and I just, it's so innate for me to create. Like, and I've tried and I do everything like that I possibly can. I used to make clothes, like I designed tattoos. I don't do tattoos, I design tattoos. I've done, you know, making jewelry. I went to Bali and studied abstract art. I moved to South Korea. at one point and it was so tech heavy that I started to get into digital art. So I, I range from like, you know, doing digital art on a daily to doing like this, you know, like every morning or, you know, so I just have my hands in things. So I do a lot of ink, like meditative ink work. So I don't like to, I don't want to be perfect in my work. You know, sometimes you have to be with the deck I had to be. There's, there's perfection and like trying to get things right in a specific way. But then There's fluid art, which you'll see in my normal work. It's very fluid. It's very experimental. And so I showed Yasmin this picture of a blue ink drop with water. It's just, you know, lots of fluid motion because I feel like it's just an expression of the soul. And I feel like you don't have to draw a portrait to be a perfect artist. And you don't have to be use a certain this or certain that to be an artist, like photography is an art. You know, technology is a great integration. Now, like, it's amazing. Everything that I use is a tool because I've been an artist my entire life. You know, like, I've done everything. So, yeah, I can't imagine life without it. And like, I did write poetry a lot, and I still do. I do a lot of, like, more reflective writing. And a lot of it is seen, like, in my captions on my posts on Instagram or if you are looking at any of my... artworks on my website, they'll have like, you know, it's thoughtful. It's more about insight, but I'm a very logical person at the same time. like to, you know, maybe I compartmentalize things a lot, but I like to, you know, kind of explore different things and, but also be logical about everything too. I'm a dreamer that's logical.

speaker-0: Again, that's the yin and the yang thing. So I just want to ask you, so anyone who's never worked with Oracle cards before, what do you feel that Oracle cards give the user, whether it's your deck that you've shown us now or our deck that we've done together, how do you feel about Oracle cards and divination and mysticalness and stuff like that?

speaker-1: Generally, I really like them. I think it's an added tool, especially when you're reflecting on things. I personally don't like it if I'm just like, should I buy this or should I not or should I marry him or should I not? I would never do it like that. I would always trust my intuition, but I love having, if I'm really trying to figure something out or I'm really kind of like wondering, what are the energies that are surrounding me that I might not know? What can help me be? guided here. So I think it's really helpful in that sense. with tarot cards, for example, I don't necessarily like tarot cards. Just as much as that is a great tool as well, I don't want to predict my life. I don't want to rely on it, but I want guidance. So that makes sense.

speaker-0: Yeah, for sure. And so in your work, aside from when you're designing cards, you know, how does it all work? You've got 400,000 followers on Instagram, which is a big, big number. How do you earn your living through art when it's not doing something like this? Is it literally creating your own pieces that people buy from your website?

speaker-1: Mostly it's licensing and commissions.

speaker-0: What does licensing mean for the uninitiated? So for someone who's listening, who's very artistic, what's licensing?

speaker-1: Well, for example, missions versus licensing, what I did for the deck is commission because there are pieces that I made for the deck and they're not, you I can't use them again to license them. So for example, when I license, it's something that I usually do non-exclusive licensing, but I have done exclusive, just not often. Exclusive licensing gives that person or that company complete ownership, which I never do. So licensing lets me her. perpetually make income off a piece of work. So whether that's somebody as small as ⁓ I've had made like ⁓ album covers to doing websites and then big commissions, I've done immersive shows for people. I have several things lined up with musicians. Like you name it, I'm doing it, trying to do it. Sometimes it's a juggle, know, like sometimes it's great. And then sometimes it's quiet, you know, like I just, I'm always looking for opportunities and like putting myself out there without, don't, I don't feel scared to put myself out there. I'm not, I don't worry. I don't care about validation. Like if people like what I do, that's great. And some seems like a lot of people do. And if people don't like it, that's fine. Like it's, it's like anything, you know, like I never really were. I just feel like the right things will come to me. but yeah, licensing, commissions. I do sell art prints. I sold a lot more art prints in the past when I really focused on art prints, but I found it's just a little bit more my style to collaborate and work with people to make a living and just to sell art prints.

speaker-0: I feel like we actually should probably sell prints from the cards actually. That would be amazing. Especially the goddesses. They're so just amazing. Right. So I feel like you live quite the alternative lifestyle though. Like you're on this little island, you're like off the coast of Canada, up the top bit. it's like remote of remote. that where you've always lived and is it true that it's quite a sort of alternative?

speaker-1: There's an airport, but it's not an international airport. So for me to drive to an international airport somewhere, I'd have to drive four hours. And like we have, I if I wanted to go, I don't even, if I wanted to go to New York, I'd have to drive to the city. I couldn't take a direct flight to New York. But yeah, no, I actually live on this island right now. I used to live in Morocco. My husband's Moroccan and I lived in Marrakesh. I'm actually living here. because there's an amazing little school here at the Montessori school and that's where my son goes. So I am kind of forgoing living in Morocco right now too for him to be at this school. He's going to be here for another year, but there's actually a really good school in Morocco that I would have put him in.

speaker-0: So you're going to go back to Morocco.

speaker-1: Yeah, eventually. Hopefully in the next two years.

speaker-0: It's amazing. Okay. And do you have any Moroccan influences in your art?

speaker-1: When I make patterns, it's funny, back in like 2018, 2017, I did a lot of pattern work, because I was like staring at tiles all the time. So I'm always influenced by what I'm surrounded by. Like when I lived in Asia, like I did a lot of ink work. I didn't necessarily do like Korean or like, you know, style, but I did, I used their ink and it's, you know, like it's very interesting. whatever is around me will influence me and how I work, whether that's like the place. And I find in the forest and like when I'm in nature, it's more conceptual, the influence. Whereas if I'm somewhere like Morocco, I find like the patterns, the actual tactile things will influence me. But there's also that like era of like Marrakesh is very like mysterious and mystical, know, so there is that era there. like that a lot. Yeah, I'm Canadian.

speaker-0: Are you actually Canadian? Yeah. Right. And so you're in Aries. Yes. So a go-get-em. Yes. And how does that affect your art? Does that make you like more spontaneous? Just get it done and get it right the first time?

speaker-1: I was born here. being online and assist this guy and he's like, just do it. Just, and I'm that type of person. like, I just have to produce to it. Like I have to create. yes, I do like my Aries keeps me kind of going forward and schedule. have my North note in Virgo. So that keeps me scheduled and like my Venus is in Aquarius. So I think that has a lot to do with like, you know, the way I love worldly thing, the perception and everything. mixed with the Aries. And if I do Vedic, my Vedic astrology, I'm an Aries sun and an Aquarius moon is all shifted.

speaker-0: Venus in Aquarius is interesting as well because that is digital art, which you said you're delving into.

speaker-1: Yeah, it's really interesting. It's funny, my husband has the same Aquarius placement with his Venus at the same degree.

speaker-0: very interesting. And you said you're into the moon a bit as well.

speaker-1: Yeah, I don't like the Gregorian calendar. think the lunar calendar makes much more sense. Obviously, as a woman, syncing with the moon, that happens. That's real. Obviously, feel like when I see that right after a dark moon and you see the crack of the waxing coming, I'm like, okay, now all those intentions I thought I'll actually put into place when I see the light coming forward. I have my little rituals with the moon. I know. She's there kind of like pushing, helping the gravity.

speaker-0: Yeah, she totally is. I couldn't agree more. Yeah. Yeah. And so did working with this deck teach you anything about the dark moon and about the lunar cycle?

speaker-1: Yeah, actually it did. I think it gave me a more well-rounded understanding of the moon, like more than what I... Maybe mine was more technical of what actually the cycles were, even though I did know the energies of it and what it meant. Obviously I knew with my cycle, but with... It's interesting to see your perspective, because really it's you. It's like how you perceived it, and I thought that was really, really cool. Really, really interesting.

speaker-0: Thank you. And what about, we sort of touched on goddesses at the start of this chat, cause I'm slightly goddess obsessed. How did you feel about with all the goddesses?

speaker-1: At first, it was interesting because I hadn't done that too much. In my work, personal work, it kept being like the similar or same archetype. So to explore other goddesses was really interesting for me so I could see who else was out there because I wasn't really exploring that. So I was really grateful to kind of learn a little bit more. I did know and hear of them, but I wasn't diving into them like I did when I did your deck. So I'm really fascinated to learn. was cool. Aren't I? Yes. It has my name on it. Yes. Right.

speaker-0: And I think as well, if I could just be so bold as to say, you're probably being called by the goddess, you know, to have been asked to do this deck because it is, the goddess is all the way through every single card, even though there's only 12 goddess cards. So who knows, maybe it will take you down a goddess path even more so, who knows.

speaker-1: Well, I think so. never know. Like, when I do, it's really interesting because I do a lot of abstract work, but I do a lot of figurative work too, but I release it less because I'm 100 % a little bit more thoughtful of those figurative works because I want them to embody certain things and I want to perfect them a little bit because they, with a lot of my other abstract works or like just, I wouldn't say landscape, but more cosmic type of work, it's a little bit more open. explained in the beginning, like it's a bit more conceptual. But when I do like figurative work, I try to embody like a feminine that I just, it's like I'm studying her. Like there's two pieces that I'm working on. There's three more in the series and I've been working on them for three months. But I take my time with them because they just, they are into the human figure, you know? Like they're faceless. Every woman I work with, I don't like to give her a face. And that's another kind of thing I liked about the deck kind of. the parallels of like my personal work, I don't like to give her a face because I don't like to give her a face color or a face, like a race or an age or whatever it is or size. And I like that about the deck too. really explored different women, different people around the world, like size is everything we explored. It was very diverse with me and my personal work. just, I do it with doing it. I kind of take, remove it so the energy has to come through, which is really interesting. So I've learned a lot from. doing this. It taught me a lot about the goddesses and how I can integrate. I'd love to integrate them more into my work, it's just how I have to do it in a different way when I do it personally.

speaker-0: Yeah. Well, let's look into trying to release some those prints off the art. Yeah, that'd be amazing. So Lindsay, for people who want to track you down and find out more about what you do and see more of your art, because people are loving the art. I've had plenty of people say, you ⁓ my God, the artwork's amazing. So where do they find you?

speaker-1: They can find me on Instagram at infinite, infinite underscore mantra or my website, which is just, which is just infinite mantra.ca. But yeah, that's where they can write my name, Lynn Kostka in Google and they'll find me in a lot of places.

speaker-0: They'll find you exactly. right. Amazing. Lindsay, thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for doing such a beautiful job on the cards. I hope we didn't get you to do too many versions of everything.

speaker-1: No, I think it was adequate. We did what we did.

speaker-0: Perfect. Well, I love the results. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

speaker-1: Thank you so much.