The Wounded Healer Card
(aka The Asklepios Card)
Medium: Gouache on Cardstock
Date: 2022
Project/Body of Work: Mayura Oracle Deck
A hand-painted oracle card created in response to the prompt of “physical health.” The composition is structured around a central staff with a serpent rising toward a radiant circle above, framed within a geometric field and anchored by spiraling elements at the base.
The imagery draws from the story of Asklepios and the archetype of the wounded healer. The card was conceived as a symbolic object rather than a literal depiction, an image meant to hold the idea of healing as a process that moves through the body.
Notes written on the back of the original card read: Asklepios and his temple, The wounded healer, Honoring the body for how it keeps you alive.
While the primary structure and symbolic references were intentional, some elements—particularly the spirals at the base—emerged more intuitively and were only later recognized as part of the broader symbolic field.
At its core, the card centers on the idea of the wound as medicine. It reflects a process in which physical experience, often difficult or disruptive, becomes part of a larger movement toward strength, integration, or transformation.
In practice, the card has come to function as a signal of embodiment. When it appears, it often indicates that whatever is unfolding will not remain abstract, but will involve the physical body or experience directly. The experience may be challenging, it is understood as part of a process that carries its own form of initiation.
Process Notes:
This card was created as part of an early series of gouache paintings developed within a vision card class organized around weekly life themes.
The prompt for this piece was “physical health.” Two cards were created in response to that theme, one addressing the body more directly, and this one approaching the idea through symbolic structure.
The composition was built around an alchemical framework, beginning with a central vertical axis. From there, the imagery developed through a combination of intentional design and intuitive response. The staff and serpent were consciously drawn from the figure of Asklepios, while other elements, including the spirals at the base, emerged during the painting process and were understood more fully afterward.
Like the other cards in this series, the painting was executed in gouache on cardstock using an intentional palette. The emphasis was on clarity and symbolic coherence rather than representational detail.
The original gouache card was later adapted into a printed and foiled card as part of the Mayura Oracle deck, where it remains one of the central images within the system.
Process Images:
Below, the original painting.
