Meet Sophie, the illustrator and designer behind A Spellbound Story. From over a decade in stationery design to creating seasonal oracle decks like Tales from the Threshold, discover how her spiritual practice, family life, and love for nature inspire her soulful artwork.
Hello, I'm Sophie, the illustrator behind A Spellbound Story, here's a little about me!
I'm an illustrator and designer based in Harrogate. I spent over a decade working in the greetings and stationery industry designing greetings cards and journals. I now work freelance for the same industry in social media management and content creation, alongside my own business and freelance projects.
My spiritual practice has always run alongside my art, but during the covid years I came back to it in a big way. I began working with the Wheel of the Year again, marking the sabbats and the turning seasons, and that's when I created a Samhain card. It was met with so much love that it grew into my sabbat deck. I couldn't print it straight away, as I was moving house (and about to have my daughter!). Once she arrived, I felt inspired to complete the rest of the deck, and it's the deck that made my business take off. I'll always be grateful to everyone who has welcomed it over the years.
Since then, I've lived through a lot of thresholds of my own: new chapters, another new baby, my older children starting school. But I'd wanted to make another deck for a long time, with more colour and a looser hand. When I started playing with new mediums, including alcohol ink, things took shape naturally, with colour bleeding wherever it wanted to go.
This became Tales from the Threshold, a 33-card oracle deck inspired by the seasons: their light, their shadow, and the thresholds in between. The card Threshold was one of the first I painted in this style, and it spoke to me instantly. I felt as though I was standing inside it, on the edge of something new. Where the sabbat deck follows the big moments of the year, this one is for everything in between. Pre-orders are open now at a reduced price before it officially launches on Samhain, which feels fitting, since that's where my story began!
Away from the desk, you'll usually find me with my three children, outdoors, or in the garden. Time in nature, watching the seasons change and things grow slowly, is part of what feeds my work.
I hope the deck finds its way to you and keeps you company at your own thresholds!
With love and magic,
Sophie x