there are seeds we plant without knowing, paths we walk without a map and seasons we enter without realizing they have been calling us all along.

i distinctly remember sitting cross-legged on the scratchy carpet of our classroom, eagerly and anxiously waiting my turn to present my book to the class.

weeks earlier, our teacher had handed us blank, hardcover books and invited us to fill the pages with a story.

i. was. elated.

i loved to read, write, and draw - so this assignment was right up my alley. my story was about a young explorer who discovered a hidden tunnel system between the sphinx and the pyramids. i poured myself into every word and illustration, but perhaps my proudest moment came at the end.

…this is by me, stella habib, author and illustrator.

as i closed the back cover, the spine cracking with satisfaction, and peered up at my classmates - a boy’s hand shot into the air.

stella, you know you can’t be an author AND illustrator. you can only choose one.

i felt my cheeks momentarily flush with embarrassment, only to be followed by a defiant inner voice.

yes you can. you can be whatever you want to be.

little did i know that that was a vow that would carry forward into the future.

a name on a mountain

a decade later, i found myself walking up montreal’s mount royal with my then-boyfriend (now husband), talking about my dream of starting a business. i was in university at the time, disenchanted by the hustle culture and competitive mindset of business school. it all felt hollow.

i remember saying:

infusing soul into the way you live and work… it’s an art. it takes practice.

and then i heard it:

the art of soulfulness.

i didn’t know exactly what it would become, but i knew it was something i needed to protect. i pulled out my phone, stepped to the side of the trail and reserved the domain name right there.

it was a seed planted - waiting for the right season.

seasons of dormancy

for another decade, the art of soulfulness remained dormant. after graduating university, leaving a conventional job and starting my own business, i considered using it - but something in me said not yet.

instead, i launched the soulful entrepreneur, where i offered intuitive business strategy and intentional brand and website design, and continued to save this name for the future.

another few years passed and that’s when it clicked:

i’m going to design an oracle deck and this will be the name of it.

i would simply fold it into the soulful entrepreneur - another offering under the same roof.

i began working on it between client projects, watching the visual language of the deck take form. eventually, the designs were complete - and the next steps were exclusively mine: to research printers, assess the financial viability of the project and if it checked out - start writing the guidebook.

but life crept in again. navigating recurrent pregnancy loss while running a business impacted my spirit in ways i couldn’t have anticipated. 

as a passion project, the deck felt too impractical to prioritize. i told myself it wasn’t urgent or revenue-generating. there were always other deadlines, invoices and responsibilities. so i kept saying i’d get to it “when there was time.” that time never came.

i wanted to work on this creation from a place of abundance and that season was not it - so it sat on my computer, waiting patiently, while i focused on nurturing my needs (and those of my clients).

motherhood as a catalyst 

ironically, it wasn’t until i became a mother that things began to shift. my capacity changed, my mental load grew heavier and i was faced with the question of not just what i wanted to build, but what was possible within the life i now lived.

in reimagining my business, this deck resurfaced as a guide. it showed me a way of working that honours seasonality, stillness and ease.

that’s when i knew: this deck wasn’t meant to live inside my old business model. it was the beginning of something else entirely.

a promise kept 

today, i hold the fulfillment of both the classroom vow and the mountain-top seed: a gold-foiled, 52-card oracle deck and 158-page guidebook housed in a two-part rigid box that weaves together nature, symbol and story.

created and written by me. designed by juliana, because others are allowed to support you in what you wish to become.

the art of soulfulness is now the foundation of a new business and a way of being - one that honours slowness, symbolism and self-trust. it’s about crafting with care, listening inward and allowing meaning to reveal itself in its own time.

the offerings under this name are artifacts for soulful inquiry and sacred design. companions for the moments when you step away from the noise and into ritual.

this reveal is significant because it is a return - to what i felt walking up that mountain over a decade ago, to what i once postponed for practicality and to the kind of work that doesn’t rush to be seen.

work that is ready now to be shared.

from the classroom carpet to a mountain trail, from years of tending to a long-awaited return - the path has been anything but linear.

yet here we are, in our own time, ready to meet you in whatever season you find yourself in.