The Work Card
Medium: Gouache on Cardstock
Date: 2022
Project/Body of Work: Mayura Oracle Deck
A hand-painted oracle card built around the prompt “Work.” The composition centers on a vessel-like form rendered in white and gold against a black field, structured symmetrically and contained within a thin border. The image reads as both container and instrument.
The card originated as part of a small early series created before the Mayura Oracle deck formally existed. Notes written on its reverse read: Sacred Container. Flow and Harmony. Facilitate and Navigate Rebalancing. Reciprocity in Process. Alchemy. “The Great Work.”
Over time, the image has become the structural emblem of the Mayura Oracle deck, a visual distillation of its underlying philosophy.
Process Notes:
The card was created in a vision card class organized around weekly life themes such as health, family, and work. Participants were invited to produce literal or aspirational imagery for the year ahead. Rather than approach the theme narratively, this card (and a series of others) emerged symbolically.
Across this early set of gouache cards, white and gold were used to articulate an internal divide that was seeking integration. Each card introduced a third stabilizing color (blue, green, or deep brick red) while this piece functioned as the black anchor within the series.
The alchemical vessel form became increasingly significant. It began to represent a “sacred container,” a structured space capable of holding tension, imbalance, and transformation without collapse. The Mayura Oracle deck itself later took on this role for me, not so much as a predictive tool, but as a constructed interior space where opposites could be observed and slowly reconciled.
In this context, the card does not represent productivity. It represents the conditions under which meaningful work becomes possible.
The painted gouache card eventually became a printed, foiled addition to my current Mayura Oracle deck.
