The Twelve - A Story of Healing, Art & Spirit

By Carmela Ruggiero

After nearly two years wrestling with printers, templates, saturations, lighting and typography, I’m finally bringing to life the most precious collection of my artwork, a project I never imagined I would create. This collection grew out of a time of intense personal struggle: years of family conflict, unmet forgiveness, and a breakdown that left me feeling lost and hopeless.

I won’t go into the painful detail’s family wounds can be private and complicated but, in that storm, I almost abandoned art altogether. My hands ached; the pain made me afraid I’d lost my ability to draw, paint or even receive messages from the spirit world. I felt stripped of purpose and wondered, “Why me? Why this gift?” It’s funny how we distrust the good and accept the bad. The ego can drown out the quiet, loving voice that really knows us.

“The Twelve” is a special Oracle Deck of Love and Light

If you are wondering what an Oracle Deck is, it is a set of cards designed to offer guidance, inspiration, and reflection. Unlike traditional tarot cards, oracle cards do not follow a fixed structure but instead carry unique meanings and messages. Each card holds energy that helps you connect with your intuition and the divine light within you.

“The Twelve” is a special Oracle Deck of Love and Light, created to guide individuals on their spiritual journeys. Each card in this deck represents a different aspect of love, healing, and wisdom. The deck was born from a deep spiritual connection and a desire to share divine messages with the world.

During the creation process, I felt guided by a higher presence of elders, spirit guides, and a team of healers and artists who helped bring this vision to life. They showed me how soul essence, colours, chakras, and energy systems intertwine, making it easier to understand and work with divine energy.

The purpose of the deck is to guide individuals on their spiritual journeys. More than just a deck, it is a tool for deep self-connection, helping you cultivate love, light, and a sense of divine alignment in your daily life.

Creating this deck has been a profound and transformative experience, channelled with the guidance of my spirit team. This process has reinforced my patience, strengthened my connection to the divine, and deepened my understanding of my life’s purpose.

In the darkest moments, I sat quietly, prayed and went into silence. I thought my connection to spirit had gone and that my gifts were gone too. But instead, I was on a pause, waiting to be invited back. I put on a mask, closed the door, and kept showing up in meditation. I purged, prayed, and asked for strength. Little by little, the inner voice returned.

What followed was a gentle, consistent practice of sitting and listening. For twelve consecutive days, I meditated and journaled, sometimes for just ten minutes but often for much longer, and slowly I began to hear voices and sense presences: ancestors, angels, archangels, my spirit team. Symbols, words and images came through me. I started to record them, and the more I recorded, the clearer the guidance became.

“The Twelve,” emerged after those meditative days and it started with downloads of intense connections during the following months. I didn’t plan it; I couldn’t force it, I allowed it. The images arrived as gentle nudges and then as a flow. Using soft French pastels (once gifted and long neglected), I worked with my fingertips, blending and building layers. The tactile practice of pastel contact on paper became healing itself. Even when gel pens, brushes and other tools were impossible to use because of pain, the pastels answered.

Creating the cards was a spiritual collaboration. The artwork became a bridge between the seen and unseen, a way to channel love, clarity and healing onto paper. As I completed each piece, I felt relief from the physical and emotional pain that had kept me from making art. The work didn’t just restore my practice, it revealed a tool others could use for self-healing and inner clarity.

This Oracle card deck “The Twelve” can be your companion for your spiritual practice: a visual prompt to meditate on, a mirror for inner questions, and a gentle guide for releasing blocked energy. The cards are designed to be simple to use and soulful in effect to help you ask better questions and receive clearer answers.

I’m so excited to share this work and its healing possibilities. If you’d like to stay connected, sign up for the waiting list to be the first to hear about the oracle deck release and workshops.

Join the waiting list for the pre-order of the deck now and be the first to experience the energy of "The Twelve".

If anything in this story resonates with you, or if you have questions about how to use the cards or the practices, please reach out. I love to hear from you and to support people on their spiritual and creative journeys.

Until next time sit, breathe, ask, and notice the little signs. They’re there to remind you that you are not alone.

With love and light,

Carmela xx

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