Digital Cover: The Intelligence of Intuition: How Lissa Sévigne Reimagines Intuition as Power, Art, and Legacy

For our Roots, Rhythm, and Renaissance digital cover series, we spotlight a creative whose work lives at the intersection of ancestry, intuition, and artistic reclamation. From Montreal to the global wellness space, LISSA SÉVIGNE is redefining what tarot can look like, feel like, and ultimately mean for Black communities seeking reflection, empowerment, and beauty rooted in truth.

LISSA SÉVIGNE, founder of Ebony Tarot, is a French descendant of Haitian origins whose journey toward self discovery led her to create a tarot deck unlike anything previously available on the market. Ebony Tarot is not simply a spiritual tool. It is Black art. It is representation. It is a visual language designed to honor Afro descendant identity while inviting deeper personal awareness.

The creation of the Ebony Tarot Deck represents the convergence of Lissa Sévigne’s three core passions: photography, psychology, and quantum physics. Her entry into tarot was not through performance or prediction, but through curiosity. As someone who occasionally sought tarot readings for clarity, she initially viewed the cards as reflective tools rather than mystical devices. That understanding shifted when she encountered a deck whose imagery resonated deeply, stirring memories of Haiti and affirming Black beauty in ways she had not seen before. In that moment, a vision formed. If she were to create her own deck, it would be brighter, richer in symbolism, and deeply rooted in her community’s presence.

With more than twenty years of experience in psychosocial work, Lissa Sévigne understood the power of symbols long before she ever designed a tarot card. Working closely with individuals navigating addiction and psychiatric challenges, she often witnessed how difficult it was for people to grasp abstract concepts such as manifestation, awareness, and personal agency. Tarot offered a visual bridge. Through imagery, reflection became accessible. Growth became tangible. The cards functioned much like therapeutic tools, encouraging introspection and self guided clarity.

The road to creating Ebony Tarot was demanding both creatively and emotionally. A pivotal moment came after a painful separation from a collaborator who had been deeply involved in the project. Suddenly, the responsibility of bringing the deck to life rested solely on her shoulders. Over the course of two years, Lissa Sévigne photographed more than sixty models, constructed seventy eight elaborate scenes, conducted extensive symbolic research, and authored a bilingual guidebook. The grief she experienced during this period infused the deck with emotional depth, transforming struggle into meaning. Each card carries its own energetic imprint, shaped by perseverance, healing, and intentional design.

Her ancestral lineage plays a vital role in the deck’s foundation. Raised in a family where hard work was viewed as a form of spirituality, Lissa Sévigne was introduced as a teenager to esoteric objects from Haiti, planting early seeds of cultural curiosity. In her twenties, a growing fascination with quantum physics further expanded her understanding of consciousness and possibility. These influences eventually merged into a singular vision where science, spirituality, and art coexist. In 2025, this journey came full circle when Lissa Sévigne was invited by the Benin presidency to participate in a special military parade, a moment made even more significant by Benin’s status as a birthplace of ancestral knowledge.

Today, Ebony Tarot stands as a tool for empowerment, reflection, and aesthetic excellence. Designed for beginners, experienced readers, and art collectors alike, the deck demystifies tarot and repositions it as a practice of self discovery rather than fortune telling. Its imagery is intuitive and gentle, yet undeniably powerful, offering users a pathway back to inner wisdom while affirming Black presence in a space where it has long been absent.

Through Ebony Tarot, Lissa Sévigne invites the world to pause, reflect, and reconnect. Each card tells a story that blends heritage, imagination, and intention, encouraging users to see their lives from new perspectives while honoring the richness of culture and creativity.

Before Ebony Tarot became a brand, who were you becoming? How did your personal evolution shape the foundation of this work?

I’ve been a psychosocial worker for over twenty years, working with people struggling with addiction. Human behavior, mental health, and humanity’s capacity to manifest and transform reality have always deeply interested me. Around the time of COVID, I reconnected with an old passion for visual arts and photography. In 2022, I opened an artistic photography studio. Being in close contact with people seeking personal growth and readaptation, combined with my strong interest in visual art, created the ideal foundation for a tarot project.

You speak often about intuition as a form of intelligence. How do you see intuition functioning as power, especially for women navigating visibility and leadership?

Intuition is unique to each of us, and it’s up to us to choose to develop it. Doing so requires self confidence and self worth, having faith that what we feel is often the emotional answer we truly need. This autonomy gives our power back to us. When we listen at the right moment, intuition helps us avoid compromising situations. As women, many of us have ignored that quiet inner voice and paid the price. Tarot supports growth and opens the mind to new possibilities. A woman who no longer seeks external validation becomes more mystical, more fascinating, and more powerful when she masters intuition.

Spiritual wellness is increasingly mainstream. What distinguishes Ebony Tarot in a crowded space?

We approach tarot and spiritual work as a practice, not content. The work meets people where they are. We believe art is one of the most effective tools for accessing the subconscious mind. Our mission is to offer Afro centered representation that honors the community while delivering a high quality product that respects divination standards and provides a meaningful experience.

Your presence resonates globally. What responsibility do you feel when your voice reaches beyond borders and cultures?

I feel a strong responsibility to present work that is fair, thoughtful, and complete. One reviewer once said the deck touches all essential aspects of tarot, from artistic exploration to divination to personal development and meditation. As a minority voice in the tarot visual landscape, I wanted to create something that could stand alongside the best decks without compromise.

What misconceptions about tarot do you feel called to dismantle?

Tarot is still too often reduced to predicting the future. What we forget is that we can change the direction of a reading at any moment. Tarot reflects a moment in time, not a fixed destiny. It functions more like a personal development session than a fortune telling device. Tarot cards can be used by many practitioners in different ways, and intuitive gifts are not required. You can learn quietly on your own and read for yourself simply to gain clarity and perspective.

How do you stay energetically aligned while holding space for others as your visibility grows?

What surprised me most about the tarot world is how collaborative it is. Creators are often open and generous. I learn constantly from the community and collect decks from other artists I admire. Tarot is rich because there are decks for every need and every community. Sharing that diversity keeps the practice vibrant and grounded.

If Ebony Tarot were part of your legacy, what would you hope people say it gave them?

I hope people say the deck helped them connect deeply with their subconscious, sparked meaningful conversations, and became a true collector’s piece they cherish.