Doorways to Wisdom
Books, oracle cards and creative projects
I’ve always been fascinated by the different ways people seek wisdom.
For some, it’s found through nature. For others, through prayer, meditation, dreams, or ancient traditions. For me, that journey has taken many forms over the years. Wildlife, art, intuition, symbols, and oracle cards have each become different doorways into the same quiet place of inner knowing.
As a child, I was intrigued by oracle cards. While some people around me viewed them with suspicion, I never found them frightening. Instead, they seemed strangely reassuring. I loved the artwork, the symbolism, and the sense that each deck carried the distilled wisdom of countless generations.
At first, I was simply curious about what the future might hold. As my understanding deepened, however, I came to see oracle cards rather differently. They weren’t about predicting an unchangeable future. They became mirrors, gently reflecting what I already sensed but perhaps hadn’t yet recognised. Rather than telling us what will happen, they invite us to ask better questions.
“Every book, every painting, every card is simply another invitation to remember who you truly are.”
Over time, I discovered that the real gift wasn’t in the cards themselves, but in the intuition they helped awaken. As I began offering readings for friends and clients, I noticed something unexpected. Instead of searching for the right words, insights often arrived naturally, accompanied by a quiet sense of certainty that seemed to come from somewhere deeper than conscious thought. It wasn’t about performance or prediction. It felt more like stepping aside and allowing intuition to speak.
Alongside this growing interest in intuition came another lifelong fascination: symbols.
One day, I discovered one of my parents’ books, Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung. It opened an entirely new world. I was captivated by the way archetypal symbols seemed to appear across different cultures and throughout history, often carrying remarkably similar meanings despite vast distances and centuries of separation. They appeared to transcend language itself, communicating directly through image, story, and shared human experience.
That sense of wonder eventually inspired my first oracle deck, Sacred Symbols, published under the pen name Mannadia, a small tribute to my Indian heritage on my father’s side. The deck brought together symbols from many traditions, each chosen because it had endured through time and continued to speak to something universal within us.
Today, my work continues to explore that same thread through two new projects.
Animal Life Lessons
For many years, my wildlife paintings have invited people to slow down and look deeply into the eyes of another species. This book grows naturally from that work. Combining natural history, conservation, mythology, spiritual traditions, and personal reflection, Animal Life Lessons explores what animals may still have to teach us about living with greater wisdom, resilience, and compassion. A companion oracle deck is being developed alongside the book.
A Circle of Angels
My fascination with intuition has also led me towards another enduring source of inspiration: angels.
A Circle of Angels is an oracle deck that moves beyond the idea of fortune-telling. Instead, it offers a contemplative space in which timeless angelic qualities such as courage, healing, wisdom, protection, and hope serve as mirrors of our own inner experience. Each card is designed to encourage reflection, strengthen intuition, and gently reconnect us with the guidance that often becomes drowned out by the noise of everyday life.
Whether expressed through wildlife, ancient symbols, or angelic imagery, every project I create shares the same intention: to help people pause, look within, and reconnect with the quiet wisdom that has been there all along.
