Dr. Ellie Chadwick is an interdisciplinary scholar-practitioner whose work bridges the worlds of academia, performing arts, and embodied therapeutic practice. At the core of her work is the understanding that the arts are powerful forces for change—and that through creativity, we can heal, reclaim, and reimagine our lives. Tadhg Mae is proud to stock her beautifully empowering Feminine Archetypes Deck.
Could you tell me a little about your background?
My background is in working variously as a theatre-maker, writer, creative practitioner, facilitator and academic. My PhD explored ritual arts, mythological and archetypal modes and collective wellbeing, and I later published a book based on that research. I have run a variety of creative and wellbeing focused projects in the UK, Europe, and SE Asia over the years.
After going through a traumatic experience in my life, I trained as an integrative somatic therapist and started to combine my background in creative practice for wellbeing with nervous system based tools and approaches.
In my work now with my company Wanderess, I combine creativity, mythology and nervous system work through workshops, retreats and events, alongside designing products that support personal growth and healing – including The Feminine Archetypes Deck!
Could you tell us a little about your retreats?
My retreats bring together creativity, archetypes, and somatic practice through my approach, Somatic Mythwork™. They’re designed for women who want to reconnect with themselves and their creative energy, explore personal growth, develop greater self-awareness, and discover more confidence and agency in their lives. You can find out more at www.wanderess.co.uk!
Why did you decide to create the deck?
The deck was something that grew quite naturally out of the workshops I run, and my background researching archetypal modes of storytelling. I wanted an accessible tool that women could use together during sessions and then continue working with at home. Originally, I imagined it would be a very simple set of line drawings! I started with making a few pencil sketches and thinking about how to turn them into final designs. Then, serendipitously, the Instagram algorithm brought me to Melania’s artwork (@MissPinkCoconut) and I noticed she specialised in card deck illustrations – we had a conversation and it went organically from there!
At first I had only around twenty archetypes/cards planned, but as I started writing about them and planning the guidebook and the way the deck worked as a whole, more and more emerged. It was particularly interesting to me how many shadow types naturally came to mind as I was considering all the roles and stereotypes placed upon women by society, culture and the patriarchy – types like the Good Girl, the Whore, the Bimbo, the Other Woman, the Damsel-in-Distress, the Spinster, the Girl Boss… and so many others.
I got really immersed in the project! It was wonderful to work on and became one of those creative flow states where the work almost creates itself, eventually growing into a deck of 62 archetypes.
Can you describe the deck?
The Feminine Archetypes Deck is a 62-card illustrated deck exploring the many light and shadow archetypes that women encounter throughout life, designed to support self-reflection, creativity and embodied personal growth. It is both a creative and therapeutic tool designed to help women explore the many different parts of themselves.
The deck explores both light and shadow expressions, with light and shadow types connected and working in tandem: encouraging self-reflection with compassion and acceptance, rather than judgement. Alongside each card are journal prompts, reflective questions and somatic activations, allowing you to engage not only intellectually and emotionally, but through the wisdom of the body too. Whether you’re curious about depth psychology, personal growth, creativity or simply getting to know yourself more deeply, the deck offers an accessible yet meaningful way to begin.
Can you tell us about your illustrator and why you chose to work with her?
Melania Guarnieri (aka Miss Pink Coconut!) creates beautifully empowering artwork centred around women, including Goddess portraits on commission, so her style and ethos felt like a perfect fit from the very beginning.
Her illustrations are vibrant, joyful and full of life, while also capturing the emotional depth of each archetype. She’s also an absolute joy to work with!
The illustration process was a collaborative one as I also am an artist (analogue rather than digital!) – I would send her my pencil sketches and ideas, and she’d transform them into stunning digital illustrations. We’d then collaborate on colours, details and symbolism until each card felt just right. We worked at quite a pace too – usually around five cards a week!
Which cards do you feel particularly drawn to?
The Wanderess is a definite favourite – she’s the namesake of my company. She represents adventure, exploration, self-discovery and embracing life’s many paths. She’s the woman who continually becomes: she never sits still, never stagnates. Her shadow is The Lost Girl: a powerful archetypal expression of losing one’s way, one’s sense of self, one’s security in a complex and challenging world: very relatable to many of us.
I also love The Creatress (also known as the Creatrix), who embodies pure creative life force and reminds us that creativity isn’t just about making art – it’s about how we shape our lives.
The Hermitess is another favourite. She reminds us of the importance of stepping away from the noise, withdrawing when needed, and listening to our own inner wisdom.
And finally, The Nurturess (aka the Mother). As a mum myself, this archetype feels especially close to my heart. Her shadow counterpart, The Martyr Mother, is probably one of the shadow cards that resonates with me most deeply: that sense of utter self-sacrifice, depletion, and loss of self in service to an impossible ideal of motherhood. Together they remind us that true nurturing includes ourselves as well as everyone else – something so many women struggle with, whether they have children or not.
How should we use the cards?
There really isn’t a right or wrong way! Some people use them intuitively like oracle cards. Others use them as a depth psychology tool for shadow work, journalling and self-reflection.
They also work beautifully in therapy, coaching, workshops, women’s circles and even creative writing or art projects. Because every card also includes somatic activations, they’re designed to be experienced through the body as well as the mind and emotions.
The accompanying guidebook offers lots of different ways to work with the deck, but ultimately I hope people make it their own.
What else do you have in the pipeline?
I’ve recently released two new products: The Somatic Therapy Deck, packed with practical nervous system tools, and The Heroine’s Journal, a guided journal inspired by the Heroine’s Journey – a feminine version of Joseph Campbell’s famous Hero’s Journey.
Our Italy retreat (exploring the archetype of the Mystic among others) is coming up in October, and we’ve just got back from Bali and will be returning there in June 2027.
I’m also developing a number of new workshops centred around different archetypes. One explores The Songstress and her shadow, The Quiet Girl, using singing, voice work and somatic practice to help women reconnect with and express their authentic voice. The journey of rediscovering your voice is one that is so deeply transformative (and on a personal level, I have been on a deep journey around learning to use my voice both personally and creatively as a singer). Another explores The Warrioress, combining somatics with martial arts. Around a year ago I discovered a love of self-defence, mixed martial arts and boxing! And honestly, learning how to throw a punch can be incredibly empowering! It’s also a wonderful way of safely expressing and metabolising fight-or-flight energy that many of us carry in our bodies.
Find more Ellie here
