Rooted in Chinese oracle poetry, celestial imagery, and the discipline of ink and paper, ASTRAEY explores the meeting of personal effort, chance, and destiny.
To give life your all is to meet each moment with attention, effort, and courage. To listen to destiny is to recognize that effort and outcome do not always move together. To honor your heart is to choose a path you can remain faithful to.
Fortune and adversity turn upon one another. Through the chance of a draw, we contemplate the patterns in life; through those patterns, we remain open to the unexpected. An encounter with an oracle can become an encounter with your own question.
ASTRAEY brings traditional Guanyin oracle poetry into English conversation and pairs seven talisman designs with seven personal intentions. The Ritual, the reading, and the object each hold a place in that experience; the path ahead is lived through your own choices.
In ancient China, observing the heavens helped people mark seasons and reckon time. Celestial patterns also entered traditions of interpretation that connected the sky with human affairs. Historical star charts, including the Dunhuang atlas, record this long attention to the heavens. ASTRAEY draws from that cultural background in its own contemporary practice.
The Big Dipper’s seven stars are Tian Shu, Tian Xuan, Tian Ji, Tian Quan, Yu Heng, Kai Yang and Yao Guang. Its changing orientation offers a seasonal guide; two of its stars point toward the North Star. For ASTRAEY, the Seven evoke direction, rhythm and the search for a steady heart amid change.
Guanyin is the Chinese name for Avalokiteshvara, the Buddhist bodhisattva associated with compassion. Devotion to Guanyin has taken many forms in Chinese culture. ASTRAEY takes the Big Dipper as its guide and venerates Guanyin, bringing attentiveness and compassion into the reading, the Ritual and the intention held by each talisman.
Historical references: NASA · Dunhuang star atlas · Hong Kong Space Museum · Big Dipper · The Met · Guanyin · British Library / IDP