Dear friends, I have beautiful news:

My newest Art & Wisdom Card deck, Brave Joy, has arrived!!

I've been hard at work behind the scenes for the last year or two, making this new offering. I want to encourage myself and all of us in these wild days of challenge, suffering, and transformation. This deck is my intention and invitation to stay open-hearted and engaged-- even now. Especially now. 

I'm starting to ship the first decks!. You can pre-order yours, here. They'll ship by October 29. 

I brought the first hot-off-the-press copies to a conference in Oregon last week, and people loved the new deck! I'm so excited to share it now with you too.

Quoting myself from the booklet introduction:  Welcome to the Brave Joy deck.

How many conversations can this box hold? 

40 art cards and 56 booklet pages hold 5 years of my creative conversation with Spirit, Earth, climate change, illness, beauty, amazement, poetry, art-making, a snail mail community, a web of trust, my wife, friends, and me. And now, you can pull up a chair at our big kitchen table and draw a Brave Joy card to join in. 

I hope you’ll feel a welcome in these deck images and pages, a kind of home where we can risk more tenderness and courage. But let me say it now: Every single phrase in this booklet is easier said than done, and the images dare us to respond. The invitations given in the words and art are meant to get us talking, to our souls and to each other.

For myself, I intend to use this deck to help me stay awake, curious, and engaged. Clearly, we’re in for a transformative ride in coming years. As my friend Jo said, so many of us are wondering what to do and how to keep our hearts open. When there’s all this heartbreak and all this beauty, maybe art and practices can encourage us to show up and go deep.

Let’s find out.

Deep thanks to the Brave Joy Collective, who supported me to create 27 of the 40 images in this new deck. More on that later... my gratitude for that Brave Joy community is boundless. 

Thanks also for your patience, dear friends, as I took a big step back from social media and emailing. The focus I gained helped me stay more present to the deck work, to my prayer for the world, to a part-time social justice/transformation project, and to family health challenges.

I'm wondering now how to communicate enough to share this deck, while keeping good balance for myself... it's an ongoing question and practice, isn't it? If you'd like to share the word in your community, I'd be so grateful, thanks.

To close, a sample booklet page with the new format, "Let it in" and "Live it out." Also a listing of each deck card-- including several new art images. Pre-order your Brave Joy decks today, for shipment by October 29. I'm so excited for you to experience this new work!

With wide love and persistent hope, even now-- Melanie

PS, My original Deep Breath and Come Through decks are still always available. I reprinted them last fall with a new cover and booklet introduction, but the beloved art cards are just the same.