The original prototype for The 64 CARDS ◊ Ecological Strategies for All Ages & Abilities was developed in 2017. While the final system has been complete and available for many years, this page marks the first time the prototype itself is being publicly documented. In time, this space will be expanded to include deeper reflections on the development and long-term significance of the work.
The project emerged during a period of hands-on ecological education, where I was closely observing how children engaged with the Permaculture Principles Design Deck I had previously designed as part of the ecological design collective GAIACRAFT. Through this experience, it became clear that many children were interpreting the illustrations on the cards as literal depictions of the principles, rather than as symbolic or conceptual prompts.
This observation raised a fundamental design question : how might ecological principles be communicated in a way that is intuitive, embodied, and accessible — without relying on literal imagery or written and/or verbal explanation?
The initial prototype for The 64 CARDS was created in response to that question. Working within tight constraints, my focus as the combined ecological educator and visual artist shifted toward using geometry, spatial logic, and visual relationships to convey meaning directly. My intention was that even without reading titles or descriptions, the underlying principles (or strategies as they are now called through UNITY LIFE) could be understood through form, pattern, and interaction — making the set usable across all ages and abilities.
Although the prototype was developed rapidly, the process itself was deeply immersive. It became an exploration of how visual language can function as a form of communication beyond words, and how learning tools might support understanding through presence and intuitive interaction rather than instruction alone.
The finished version of The 64 CARDS fully finally realized this intention. This early prototype, however, remains an important artifact : a record of the conceptual, artistic and spiritual foundations from which the final system emerged.
About the Writing On the Card Backs
Originally, this prototype was created in a collaborative effort with Delvin Solkinson (a member of our Permaculture collective, GAIACRAFT) to co-create a new version of The Permaculture Principles Design Deck specifically geared towards children. His role was to write the backs of the cards, and mine was to design the imagery on the fronts. The written material I created for the backs (as seen by paging through the slideshows) was drafted quickly as a conceptual proposal rather than as finalized copy.
At the time, the focus was on testing how visual language could interact with Delvin Solkinson's role as the writer for the cards. This writing model conveyed my suggestions of how his written components and ordering of the card numbers and format might ideally be developed. Certain written elements were intentionally left minimal, repetitive or underdeveloped to clarify which aspects of the writing structure were central to the proposal and which were not. The text is presented here in its original form to preserve the context and design logic of the prototype’s creation.
At the core of the proposal was a shift away from continually expanding the deck through ongoing additions or “booster” cards. Instead, the intention was to identify underlying relationships between many similar principles and to synergize them into multiply applicable cards which integrate holistically within the whole card set.
This approach aimed to arrive at a complete 64-card system, corresponding with the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching. Within this framework, the proposal also called for simple, one-word titles and the omission of direct and rewritten quotations from various Permaculture teachers (as Delvin had been writing it so far). The goal was not to diminish their contributions, but to express the shared, universal wisdom of nature itself — something those teachers had each sought to articulate through Permaculture at its root.
Prototype Gallery
Click the arrows at the top right of each image to expand to full screen.
Use the right arrow on the side of each image to view the backs of the cards.
As you'll find by browsing the gallery for The 64 CARDS in its final version, some of these images, titles and descriptions correspond with final works. I look forward to adding blurbs to these images which draw those connections for the viewer, when possible.
Spiritual Influence Behind This Prototype
The process of creation of these works was done in deep meditative contemplation. As someone with a rich spiritual background, I was very adept with the practice of chaneling — a process of spiritual information gathering, similar to mediumship, which often involves contact with divine beings such as Archangels. I had been avidly teaching workshops on channeling, specializing myself in bringing through the wisdom of the messenger Archangel Michael, who is associated with divine communication, protection and many other beautiful, benevolent qualities.
Using special, advanced channeling techniques, I first brought through a series of teachings from Michael about several themes and approaches that would remain true to The 64 CARDS in its final version, and followed that by the drawing process. After priming and preparing conceptually, I allowed Michael to spiritually guide my hands in the movement of drawing (using a ruler), similar to a ouija board. As I drew the shapes, I received rich insight from the Archangel into their meanings, in such a way as to foster the interpretation guidelines of the set.
Archangel Michael was very careful not to simply deliver the finished product. His prototype artform was to present me with a vast series of concepts, some of which I would use, but most of which I would creatively remodel to form my own original ideas. This was designed as a way to support and foster my own creatively sovereign educational and artistic skills, rather than overshadow them — while deeply enriching my art with his spiritual protection and benevolent higher intelligence and wisdom.
Primary Teachings of Archangel Michael for The 64 CARDS
Aside from supporting me in my planned endeavours with the cards, Michael provided a number of specific teachings.
Here they are in point form :
The 64 CARDS should be geometrically based on the Fibonacci Golden Ratio aka The Golden Mean. I found this particularly fitting, as the classical painter Leonardo DaVinci was well known to have been in spiritual contact with Archangel Michael, and also prominently used the Fibonacci Golden Ratio in his artwork.
Michael brought through the importance of greyscale, low contrast designs, as a method of fostering undistracted focus upon the geometries.
The rhombus or diamond shape of the cards ◊ was decided by Michael. Not only does it fit the Fibonacci Golden Ratio but it also symbolizes Archangel Michael's prophecy of the future of the planet Earth. As he proposes, the Earth's axis and wobble will slightly tilt in order to provide the world with longer springs and autumns — as well as shorter winters and summers. The alternating tilt of the diamond's angles symbolizes these proportions.
Archangel Michael is well known as protector of "the weak and the lame" in ancient Christian terms. He asserts that this is true, and therefore he proposed that the set should be directed not only towards children, as a top down mentality, but towards all ages and abilities. This is not only inclusive, but protective, as the set would be geared for shared multi-level learning spaces in which everyone is both student and teacher — an equalizing and co-empowering setting. Michael indoctrinated several complex methods for fostering safety for the weak and vulnerable within educational settings by how the instructions for the cards were developed under his guidance and in many other ways.
Michael indoctrinated the clear and simple way that The 64 CARDS are promoted. The phrasing reads : "These cards foster ecological mindset, strategic mindset and pattern language recognition aka pattern literacy". This was in correspondence with my own knowledge of ecological education but was specifically adapted into this elegantly simple and strong minded approach to the advertising.
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