Voynich Manuscript Oracle - oil paintings of plants that never existed
The Voynich manuscript is a 15th-century document that no one has ever deciphered. The script is unknown, the language unknown, and the plants drawn across its pages do not exist anywhere in the natural world. Those plant illustrations are the starting point for this oracle.
Czech painter Klára Sedlo has worked with the manuscript as a source for several years. She took the original sketches and repainted them as detailed oil canvases, asking a single question with each one: what would these plants have looked like if they had actually existed?
What you see on the cards
The 28 interpretation cards show plants that levitate, dance in formations, glow, or rise from deep bodies of water. The style is realistic in technique but surrealist in subject. The oil paint texture is present in the image: these plants have weight, volume and their own quality of light.
Each card carries a short English text, an affirmation, motto or reflection that connects to the character of the plant. The meanings are metaphorical, built around growth, appearance and direction. Not keyword lists, but image-driven statements that ask something of you.
A more detailed explanation of each card is available through an online guidebook, reached via the QR code included in the set. That guidebook is in English.
How this deck came to be
In 2019, Klára Sedlo leafed through a book reproduction of the manuscript for the first time. She was immediately drawn to the plant illustrations, as if each plant spoke its own visual language. She began converting the sketches into oil paintings, looking for the form these plants might have had.
As the series grew, the plants shifted in her imagination: brighter, some developing what she describes as bodies. She writes about dreaming of strange gardens filled with unknown plants. This oracle is an extension of that years-long painting series.
Each copy in this first edition is numbered and signed by Klára Sedlo, from 1/500 to 500/500. That information appears on a separate card inside the set.
About Klára Sedlo
Klára Sedlo is a Czech painter working in oil. Her series around the Voynich manuscript began in 2019 and developed into a sustained long-term project. This oracle is published under her own label, Klara Sedlo Studio.
Specifications
- Number of cards: 30 (28 interpretation cards, 1 QR card, 1 signature card)
- Language on cards: English
- Guidebook: online via QR code, in English
- Edition: 1st edition, numbered and signed, edition of 500
- Publisher: Klara Sedlo Studio
- Author and illustrator: Klára Sedlo
- Dimensions: 78 x 146 x 15 mm
- Publication date: 13 October 2025
Questions we often get
Is there a printed guidebook included?
No. Each card carries a short text, and a fuller explanation of each card is available through an online guidebook reached via the QR card in the set. That guidebook is in English.
What does it mean that the deck is numbered and signed?
Every copy in this first edition has a unique number between 1 and 500, handwritten and signed by Klára Sedlo on a separate card inside the set. The total edition is 500 copies.
