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THE ORIGIN STORY

 

This deck was born from necessity. After 30+ years working with global brands, Nockwood’s founder had seen every list of archetypes, values, and traits imaginable—but no framework that truly unlocked strategic movement.

That changed after diving into Alchemy, Magick, and ancient psychology. What emerged was a behavioral toolkit grounded in 6 universal human tensions—usable for brands, creatives, and cultural strategists.

A Chance encounter with Elaine Pagel and resulting friendship identified the parallels between the Nockwood behavioral archetype framework and the 2nd century Gnostic theologian Valentinus. Valentinus had similarly identified a divine cosmology that included sacred archetypes that united material, psychological and spiritual worlds called AEONS.  It was this discovery that led to the creation of the AEON deck - the first known step to make tangible the ancient practice of Aeonology. 

 

As with all things discovered at Nag Hammadi we are seeing a global resurgence of ancient wisdom. The AEONS— 36 core archetypes drawn from Gnostic myth— are tools for introspection, hearling, archetypal integration and emergence.  Carl Jung understood these texts were as much about psychology as mythology and called these ancient writings "the writings of the first psychologists",

 

WILLIAM CHARNOCK

 

After 30+ years of working with brands I had many lists of values, behaviors, personalities and archetypes that I'd collected over the years but no systematic way of diagnosing brands or uncovering potential new strategies. Like all strategists I'd used the traditional 12 Jungian archetypes but they were too narrative, flat, familiar and unsurprising. There were no tensions that would lead to something great, fresh or exciting. It was difficult to make them inspire actions and behaviors that would differentiate a brand and propel it forward on a new trajectory.

This deck was born from necessity. After 30+ years working with global brands, Nockwood’s founder had seen every list of archetypes, values, and traits imaginable—but no framework that truly unlocked strategic movement.

That changed after diving into Alchemy, Magick, and ancient psychology. What emerged was a behavioral toolkit grounded in 6 universal human tensions—usable for brands, creatives, and cultural strategists.

THE REVELATION OF AEON

The design and creation of the Aeon deck of cards was the result of an intense spiritual revelation that happened over 7 days  in 2016.  My guide on this journey called itself Pomandres — the shepherd of Men. Disciple of Re, Guardian of the Threshold between Pneuma and the Anthropos. Its form was not words, but a lattice of gold threads, spanning the depths of being. It did not instruct. It unfolded. Pomandres revealed to me the Ladder of Aeons—a structure of 36 emanations that define the pathway to find our true nature, To discover the Pleroma. Each Aeon a face of the divine. Each one paired in Syzygy— of birth and love, silence and voice, wholeness and fracture.

THE BOOK OF AEON

This revelation led to the creation of the book of AEON and the AEON card deck that translates this ancient mysticism into a modern practice for personal reflection, archetypal mapping and ritual of meditative use. The AEON deck is a living archive — equal parts history, psychology and metaphysics. Each card in this deck is a door.  The symbols are not seen, they are felt. The shadows are not design, they are resonances whispered into the space behind meaning.  This is not a divination tool. It is not a game. It is not a metaphor. It is a living structure, drawn from the residue of ancient cosmologies. The same Aeons that Valentinus once whispered about in hidden schools. The same energies that Jung embraced in his confrontation with the unconscious.

The revival of Aeonology is happening globally and since the creation of The Book of Aeon, William Charnock has become a leading authority and practitioner of Gnostic Aeonology.   

 

 

GRAHAM WOOD

 

“Graham Wood has been one of design's leading figures for more than a decade.” Patrick Burgoyne, Creative Review

 

"What Wood has created is a kind of ambient typography comparable to the ambient music and ambient video of artist-musicians such as Brian Eno, David Sylvian and David Cunningham." Rick Poynor, Eye Magazine


In 1991, after finishing a BA and MA at Central St Martins in London, I co-founded Tomato with Steve Baker, Dirk van Dooren, Karl Hyde and Richard Smith (Underworld), Simon Taylor and John Warwicker.

In 2006, I joined JWT New York as Executive Creative Director Visual Communication.

In 2009, I joined JWT London as Head of Art.

In 2012, I began working freelance.

In 2013, I co-founded Studio Heiss with Flo Heiss and Mark Cramphorn.

In 2014, I joined The Gild as ECD.

Exhibitions include V&A and MOMA Permanent Collection, MOCA (San Francisco), BFI collection, onedotzero, The Barbican, Whitechapel Gallery, LaForet Tokyo, Moderna Museet (Stockholm), Jacobson Howard Gallery New York, LEA Gallery London, Scarlett Gallery (Stockholm), AIGA Design Archives etc

I've been interviewed by/work featured in and on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Wallpaper Magazine, The Times, Guardian, Independent, Observer, Telegraph, Vanity Fair, Wired, GQ, Idea, Creativity, Communication Arts, Shots, Campaign, Lurzers, Creative Review, Grafik, Baseline, U&LC, Print, and others.

Clients, brands and people I've made things for have included Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Scott Walker, Levis, Unilever, JBO, Shell, Malcolm McLaren, Sony, Microsoft, 4AD, Samsung, Nine Inch Nails, Orange, Ford, Porsche, Lexus, Subaru, The Cocteau Twins, Electrolux, Philips, RCA, Rough Trade, Selfridges, Sketch Bar & Restaurant, MTV, VH1, Kiss FM, The Fast Show, Procter and Gamble, Bacardi, Smirnoff, MAC Cosmetics, Dead Can Dance, the Guardian Newspaper, Macy’s, the BBC, Channel 4, the Science Museum, Reeves & Mortimer (Randall & Hopkirk), Helly Hansen, Pepsi, Sunglass Hut, Radisson Hotels, Simple Shoes, DeBeers, Tesco, Underworld, Converse etc. 

I have worked with agencies worldwide including Wieden and Kennedy, Leagas Delaney, Goodby Silverstein, Crispin Porter, Lowes, TBWA, Chiat Day, Abbot Mead Vickers, Saatchi, Dare, Cheil, SapientNitro, CHI and Dentsu.

The areas I have worked in range across strategy, creative direction, direction (live action and motion graphics), web, mobile and gaming technologies, installations, events, live motion graphic/visual performance, interior and product design, branding and identity, print art direction and design, books-design as well as publishing/authoring (tomato; process, 1996, tomato; bareback 1999, tycho’s nova, 2001, gasbook, real and imaginary flowers), exhibitions (London, New York, Tokyo, Stockholm, Munich, Milan, Paris etc) music, drawing, painting, photography, film-making, sculpture and typography, workshops, talks, performance and consultancies at colleges and institutions worldwide inc, Glastonbury, Cambridge, The RCA, Hyper Island, RISD, SVA, Cooper Union, Konstfack Stockholm, Art/Government programmes in Tokyo/Sapporo, and at events in Ireland, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, South Africa, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, South America, The US and Canada.

Awards include AICP/MOMA, D&AD Pencils, Webby (Peoples Choice & Honoree), FWA, Cannes Lions, BIMA, One Show, Tokyo Type Directors, BBC Design Awards, Charleston Film and Video Festival, Epica D’or, XYZ digital typography, Studio of the Year (numerous times) etc.

 

 

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