InterView Kristall O'Neill-Richardson MARCH2013

What is your current mission, what is the vision behind your work – do you have one?

To be open to new learning experiences and connecting diverse personalities and cultures, basically just to keep evolving, and helping others to also.

What is it that you spend your time doing?

I have a casual routine. 3 - 4 nights a week I sit with clients doing Tarot Readings. The rest of the time I’m designing and making Jewelry, perfumes, incense and exploring divination techniques. I like to cook and ride my bike around lower Manhattan. Being eclectic and visual, I am always finding something new here in New York, because it’s ever changing. I’m always on the look for interesting props, tarot decks and inspirational items. I like flea markets, spice shops and independent retailers that cater to the vast number of culturally diverse communities in the city. While working I love listening to audiobooks about science, ancient history, sci-fi, horror and current affairs. These keep my hands free to create.

As a freelance artist, your work requires you to constantly adapt to changing environments, projects, needs, and objectives – what are some of the challenges and opportunities you have encountered along the way? Are there lessons you found invaluable, a state of mind, a state of being?

I am easily adaptable when I want to be. For now I’m focused on creating jewelry and potions, basically things I’d want to use and wear. I eventually found out, that you just have to follow what inspires you and the rest will come, but it’s not easy. I have had some good opportunities over the years regarding a career. But it wasn’t my path, once I realized this and let the idea of a ‘proper job’ go, I was ok. I don’t want to be a follower. I am expansive and have so many ideas; it’s hard to keep up with them, sometimes.

How would you describe your work as an artist, as a designer, as a stylist, alongside your intuitive talents reading tarot? Do you find these different aspects of your work (s) often merge together?

I find fashion, art, magic and history a natural blend. But the act of doing each is different. When I’m doing a Tarot Reading I have to quiet myself and go inward to help my clients achieve their goal. Acting as a guide, to allow them to find their inner self and truth.

When I create. The work comes from this place of intuition and dreams, but manifests differently. I see myself as an alchemist. I come from a multi cultural background and I am influenced by a wide variety of cultures. Native American, Ancient Sumerian, Egyptian, Greco-Roman, African, Indian, Berber. Which is why I work in copper, bronze and brass, bone and leather. Materials that were used in ancient times as well as now.

Do you feel as though you have tapped into a purpose, a passion or vocation?

In a roundabout way ‘yes’. Most of the creative things I have done, were hobbies to me. Activities that I loved to do, so I figured I should take it seriously and start a business. That’s what I’ve been doing more recently. Taking my hobbies and finding ways to structure my time and approach in a more business minded way.

You have a love for past civilizations, astrological happenings, those things seen, unseen, and sometimes lingering through a relic, a story, a memory – what of those aspects are you most drawn to and how are those aspects relevant to your own artistic process?

Yes, I do. Being a Tarot Reader, I pay attention to the cycles of the moon and am very aware of the world unseen. I also have a great interest in ancient lore regarding astrological happenings. I also have a telescope for stargazing. I’m intrigued by Astronomy and Astro Theology. The Religion of the Stars and the story of the heavens, where our myths and folklore come from in the form of veiled symbolism. I also admire Carl Jung and his work with the Tarot.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to be an assistant to an art restoration scientist, and was able to work on artifacts and furniture from South East Asia, China, and Italy. I found this awe-inspiring. To Be able to hold something that old in your hands. I would always imagine the person who made it and their motivations.

How did your talents for Tarot reading emerge? Did this change and/or impact your life in new ways? Did this alter your understanding of the environment around you and/or shift your perspective of your artistic and creative endeavors?

I started reading the Tarot at around 6 years old. My maternal Grandmother gave me a deck and said she thought I would likely find it most useful out of all the grandkids. I’ve been using them ever since, she also introduced me to yoga, meditation and herbal remedies around the same time, she had a great influence over my character and interests. Although the Tarot is widely known, it is an extremely mysterious Oracle, but unfortunately its commonly misunderstood and trivialized. I find that doing meditation or any type of spiritual work will open ones mind to intuition and awareness.

I come from a family of storytellers.
We like to talk about and interpret our dreams at the breakfast table.

How do you gage success throughout your endeavors, what are those things that you have found most challenging, either on personally level or professionally – so to speak?

Taking an idea and making it into something tangible, most of my ideas never get used. Having a loving family and friends also helps.

When you dream – what is the experience, where do your thoughts, your heart, gravitate? What are those thoughts, values, philosophies that have nourished you? Are there those that you continue to nourish?

I dream every night in color, my dreams are active and vibrantly clear, with some encoded message, a creative idea, prophetic vision, a conversation, or a visit from ancestors, loved ones and pets that have passed on. My dreams are thought provoking, usually telling me something I need to know or pay attention too.

In terms of your projects and process, what is it that you are most excited about at the moment?

Stargazing with my telescope, collecting more tarot decks, experimenting with mixing metals like an alchemist and travel, being in a new place helps me with the creative process.

What is the role of community in propelling your work forward, ahead, and into the world, the role of technology, of exchange, of passion, ultimately the role of being a social being?

I love the East Village, but sadly my community doesn’t attract many creative types these days. It’s become gentrified and expensive, that’s why I avidly support the local mom and pop shops. Over time, many of my closest friends have left New York. My community has become international and as a result I have had to embrace new forms of technology and communication. This has led to new ideas about business, which is why I feel comfortable and inspired by the idea and opportunities of on-line retail.

What is your current perspective on global affairs, the concept of a global community, and our future sense of ourselves, if any?

Even though we are more connected than ever by technological advances, most people are either completely unaware or uninterested in global affairs, Ive heard people say, well it's not affecting me. I find more and more the idea of community and extended family is being dissipated, and folks have forgotten how to talk and to listen one another on a basic level, people seem to be in a tech stupor. When I travel, I want to immerse myself in the culture I'm visiting, not to stay on a compound hidden.

It's really hard to gage what’s happening in the world ... if you just listen to mainstream news and never question anything,
the world is getting smaller, eventually everyone is affected by the selfish and bad decisions of others.