Found Oracles: An Interactive Storytelling Art Project Told Through Oracle Cards

Found Oracles by Bailey Lewis is not a traditional oracle deck. It is an evolving storytelling art project where cards act as entry points into deeper personal reflection, symbolism, and connection.

Participants are invited to choose the card that calls to them and discover the story attached to it. Sometimes the connection is funny, sometimes strangely on point, and sometimes unexpectedly emotional. The experience is designed to feel personal, as though the card found you exactly when it was supposed to.

As Bailey describes it, each card “has a story to share with you in the time and space it has found you.”

How Found Oracles Began

The project originally existed entirely online. Bailey created intuitive storytelling videos on social media where she connected everyday objects to larger emotional truths and human experiences.

“I realized I kept drawing bizarre and humorous comparisons between collective human experiences and objects from the everyday world,” she explains.

One day, while working on a collage piece, she created an image of a pickle with wings. Immediately, the story behind it became clear. “I looked at this pickle with wings I had created, knew the story it had to share about making it through the brine of life, and said: Oh wow it’s an oracle card.”

By the next morning, the entire concept for Found Oracles had formed in her mind. “And crows cawing outside my window for confirmation,” she adds.

That first pickle card eventually became part of a growing digital library of oracle stories hosted on FoundOracles.com.

Bringing the Digital Oracle Cards Into the Physical World

The printed cards are not meant to function like standard oracle decks sold on shelves. Instead, they are curated physical collections pulled from the much larger digital library and used in interactive storytelling installations and art exhibits.

The first printed collection, titled Hello World, includes the first 15 cards Bailey ever created for the project.

Her long-term vision is to continue printing themed sets for different exhibitions, venues, and experiences as the project expands.

“The printed cards are a curated set of cards from the ever-expanding card library,” she explains, “to bring the same experience of the digital cards into the tangible world.”

The Surreal Design Style of Found Oracles

The visual style of Found Oracles blends mythology, humor, symbolism, and modern surrealism.

Bailey combines imagery from antiquity with contemporary colors, objects, and compositions to create cards that feel both ancient and completely modern at the same time. She describes the overall aesthetic as “modern fairytale, mythic humor, surrealist mysticism.”

Each card begins with what she calls an “oracle object,” whether that is an item, animal, or concept that seems to arrive with its own story attached.

“When a new card is ready to be created,” she says, “an oracle object will come to me, tell me it wants to be a card and generally what its story would be about.”

From there, she creates the artwork through digital collage, often discovering additional symbolism during the design process itself.

How the Community Helped Shape the Cards

One of the most interesting parts of Found Oracles is how much the audience contributes to the evolution of the project.

Bailey regularly shares cards and intuitive stories across social media, where followers discuss interpretations, symbolism, and potential new oracle ideas together.

One example from the first printed set is “The Chewing Gum” card.

Bailey had compared holding onto expired situations to “continuing to chew old stale gum” in a video. Someone in her audience responded with a story about her young niece proudly explaining that she had successfully chewed gum for the first time without swallowing it.

“I responded, there’s a real story in this gum thing,” Bailey says. Soon after, the card was born.

That collaborative energy has become one of the defining parts of the project.

The Challenge of Printing the Perfect Green

Since Found Oracles originally lived online, one very specific design challenge appeared during the printing process: the color green.

Every card uses a signature glowing acid green background that had become central to the project’s identity. While it looked perfect digitally, Bailey quickly discovered that reproducing that exact tone in CMYK print was much harder than expected.

“When it is wrong, it is UGLY,” she jokes.

Getting the color right mattered because it tied together the cards, website, and overall visual identity of the project. After multiple tests and adjustments, the final printed version matched the vision she had imagined.

More Than Oracle Cards

At its core, Found Oracles is about connection through storytelling.

Bailey says the printed cards opened up possibilities she had not fully anticipated, allowing audiences to experience the stories in a physical, shared space instead of only through screens.

“The way that these cards allow me to connect my stories even more powerfully to my audience and community cannot be overstated,” she says.

That same philosophy extends into one of the project’s sister installations, The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune, which recently received a 2026 public art grant from ArtFields SC. Installed in Lake City, South Carolina, the machine dispenses miniature fortune stories to anyone passing by, creating another interactive storytelling experience rooted in surprise and reflection.

What’s Next for Found Oracles

Now that the first cards are printed, Bailey’s focus is on bringing the experience into real-world arts venues where visitors can interact with the cards and stories in person.

The digital library also continues to grow weekly, with new oracle stories added regularly to the site.

For Bailey, this project is ultimately about creating space for curiosity, humor, symbolism, and emotional connection all at once. Her motto captures that balance perfectly:

“Everything is that deep, but not everything is that serious.”

Where to Find Found Oracles

Digital Card Library: foundoracles.com
Story Studio Website: baileysendsword.com

Social Media:
@baileysendsword on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube

Visitors can also sign up for Oracle Mail through the website to learn about new oracle cards and stories, storytelling installations, and collector events.