Wood-Etched Victorian Oracle Cards
2023
3mm ply wood, laser etched
This project combines the Victorian era’s obsession with the occult and their love for flower language.
Similar to tarot cards, oracle cards are used for spiritual insight. The user thinks of a question or topic to meditate on, draws a card then analyzes the card’s meaning.
The process by which the deck is made also reflects the era that inspired it. Although the cards were designed by hand, they can easily be replicated and mass-produced, something the Victorians were all too familiar with.
Lily of the Valley: New beginnings
Rose: An open heart
Honeysuckle: Fate
Daisy: Enlightenment
Bluebell: Faith, an open mind
Aster: Patience
Belladonna: Silence
Edelweiss: Steadfastness
Hawthorne: Hope
Daffodil: Self respect, admiration
Poppy: Breaking cycles
Moonflower: Intuition, perception
Card back
Process
The cards were designed in Adobe Illustrator as per the laser cutter’s fabrication settings. The artboard is the exact size of the ply wood on which the laser etches. The black negative space tells the laser where to etch and the thin blue outlines tell it where to cut. Etching and cutting the front and back of all 12 cards takes around 4 hours.
Process video made for Instagram Reels