My name is Sarah René Kraft (@sarahrenekraft on Instagram and Twitter). I am a traditional Sacramento illustrator, living with both mental and chronic illness, working with my red and blue colored pencils to create the “Lemniscus: The Ribbon Tarot,” a hand-illustrated venture down into the shadow, featuring chthonic figures The Underworld in Greek Mythology paired with mental wellness lessons on awareness, self-love, and attachment.

This deck-in-progress is a true labor of love that combines my passions for mythic storytelling with symbolism and archetypal medicine. Although work on the deck has been slow, each card has supported and guided me through the many challenges of the past few years, including my struggles with autoimmune disease.

While battling both multiple sclerosis and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, I am also working on a series of oversized pieces—also drawn using my signature double-ended red and blue pencils—that each explore the experience of living with chronic illness during a global pandemic, as well as themes of reparenting and collective trauma. The new series is entitled “Lemniscus: Panacea,” named for the Greek Goddess of healing and daughter of Asclepius, The God of Medicine. Her name also translates to “remedy.” In these tough times, art has been my remedy.