Artist and Author: Danielle Delceppo

Perfume for the Eyes: A Tarot of Dreams

Welcome to Perfume for the Eyes: A Tarot of Dreams.

This deck is the culmination of years of artistic and spiritual exploration, a visual language born from personal experience, reflecting the archetypes of the Major Arcana and the Hero's Journey. It's a testament to the transformative power of creativity and a way of seeing the world through a lens of beauty and meaning.

My childhood was steeped in the esoteric. Tarot and astrology were woven into the fabric of my life, thanks to my mother, godmother, and their friends. Growing up amidst artists, musicians, and a constant flow of intriguing strangers, I was given the freedom to explore and create, largely unsupervised. This unconventional upbringing, while challenging at times, nurtured a rich inner world, a powerful imagination, and a deep connection to the spiritual that have remained with me throughout my life.

My early life reached a devastating crescendo when my young father passed away during his Saturn Return. I was thirteen, and despite my free-range upbringing, the loss was profoundly traumatic. The following year, a gifted healer helped me navigate my grief, guiding me to channel it into my first public artwork: my father's panel for the AIDS Memorial Quilt. She also introduced me to several unconventional tarot decks, which sparked a realization that tarot could embody many aesthetics. One unique tarot deck that she gifted me was the abstract Morgan's Deck from the 1960s. Around the same time, I inherited an old Italian deck, and my collection continued to grow as I deepened my interest. Over the next 25 years I have continued to study tarot and astrology, as well as practice it professionally.

The Origin of Perfume for the Eyes

The seeds of Perfume for the Eyes were planted in 2017, while I was immersed in my design career at Nike. I began exploring the intersection of creativity and spirituality, founding a program that brought tarot and astrology to the Nike design community. This experience, coupled with the encouragement of my clients, sparked the desire to create my own deck. The journey was transformative, demanding years of creative work, shadow work, and deep self-reflection. Through the imagery of each card, my own life story unfolded, mirroring the archetypes of the Major Arcana and the Hero's Journey. Creating Perfume for the Eyes was a process of alchemizing personal experience into a visual language. From crafting the images and writing the accompanying book, to working with my printer on the fine details of production, every step was a learning experience.

Early prototypes led to group tarot events, which provided invaluable feedback for refining the book and deck. These sessions, enriched by collaborations with sound healers Emma Kingston and Michelle Reeser, and continued partnership with Kayla Hoppins of Nike and then Soho House, deepened the deck's resonance. The project also benefited immensely from the mentorship of Bob LaHatt, whose guidance shaped the book and inspired a set of musical pieces for the Major Arcana. Perfume for the Eyes became my touchstone, a way of perceiving the world, finding meaning in the ordinary and the liminal. It's an ethos expressed through my tarot practice, poetry, painting, and collaborations—each a distinct path to understanding.

I believe our lives are narratives woven from archetypes springing from an inner cosmos and inner ecology. These narratives contain a thematic resonance. We are a microcosm of the universe, a part of the natural world. Our lives express the micro and macro, this grand art of living, a celestial blueprint and palette of energies, experiences, tones, and motifs that reveal the spectrum of our potential.

More Cards from Perfume for the Eyes

I am a practicing astrologer, tarot reader and artist. I host an IRL monthly astrology talk the first Wednesday of every month, and a group tarot session the last Wednesday of each month at Soho House Portland. I am available for select events and sessions through my company Auburn Intuitive LLC, in Portland Oregon.

All images on this site are created by and copyright Danielle Delceppo 2025. Perfume for the Eyes is a registered trademark.