The Sun is often read as success, blessings and good fortune, but I've never quite read it that way. For me, The Sun isn't about winning. It's joy that isn't dependent on outside factors. It's the simple desire to draw silly pictures when you're stuck indoors on a dreary day, or the song that gets stuck in your head when you're bored. It's happiness for the sake of happiness, play, and freedom.

Last September, I got a crash course in what that actually means.

I had blood clots in my lungs and spent a few days in hospital, just me and my clots, and a shitload of painkillers. My condition wasn't life threatening, luckily, but it meant I had to stay put in Australia for the foreseeable future. Tests, scans, and being prodded with tiny cameras everywhere...EVERYWHERE. At one stage, the level of surveillance in my body would have rivalled Fort Knox.

This could have been a lot worse than it was. But the frustrating part wasn't the pain. It was being held, against my will, in one place. I'm someone who pisses off overseas at any opportunity. Feeling stuck is the worst feeling in the world for me.

I was in the rough sketch stage of my second tarot deck, Concertina Tarot, when the blood clots rudely interrupted my free spirited lifestyle. This meant no travelling, just the same routine of check ups and hospital appointments, for a year.

At first, that sounds like a pretty dull time. But it gave me something I didn't know I needed: the chance to actually focus without lugging suitcases and navigating airports. Just 78 illustrations and the time to chip away at them, little by little.

Concertina Tarot, and the process of making art by hand, became a place for my imagination to run wild. A colourful little world on paper, built one card at a time.

And that steady process, surprisingly, reminded me of The Sun. It's the joy you make for yourself, even when you're stuck indoors, even when you can't go anywhere at all.

Concertina Tarot is currently being printed. She is due to arrive in early November, 2026. In the meantime, check out my first hand illustrated tarot deck, The Falling Card Tarot.