Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Steele Alexandra Douris, author of the new Spirits, Seers & Séances.

Steampunk Tarot Mini - Llewellyn Worldwide The Steampunk Tarot Mini - Llewellyn Worldwide

Aside from the cards that made me double-take, there were some that also made me look longer at them than others. I was intrigued by what the image was saying, by what new direction it was stretching me in. Again, the Steampunk Tarot Manual was a great companion and guide in presenting the subtle changes in these cards from what I’m used to or had thought of. Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Debra DeAngelo, author of The Elements of Horse Spirit, Pagan Curious, and the new Sacred Massage. One of the cards that I was ambivalent over was the Fool. Showing a chimney sweep in a tall hat, with a dog at his feet, I see more the court jester than the Fool. And yes, in many ways they serve the same function. The High Priestess to me looks like a stage magician’s assistant, seated between two pillars made up of gears, wearing a top hat, holding Tarot cards in her right hand, with her left hand on a globe, which is surrounded y Tarot cards.

The Steampunk major archetypes are the Gods of the Machine. Acting as mediators are the court card Legates, the movers and shakers who oversee the Four Leagues – the elemental suits of Airships, Engines, Submersibles, and Leviathans. While defining the Major Arcana are representing the theme of the story, and the Minor Arcana as the scenes and actions that carry out the theme, the Court Cards are seen as the people living, experiencing, and animating the themes, scenes and settings. The Major Arcana are The Gods of the Machine and represent the heart of the Imperium. They have mostly been renamed to fit the steampunk setting, with only the Empress and Emperor retaining traditional names. Likewise the four suits have also been renamed to fit this universe, and are now The Four Leagues, which depict the four quadrants of the Imperium. Swords are now Airships, Cups are now Submersibles, Wands are now Engines and Pentacles are now Leviathans. The King of Wands again looks a bit like a sneaky stage magician, standing behind his throne and looking out at the reader. The Two fo Cups – absolute magic! A male and a female figure are standing, facing each other. Each figure holds a cup, and is pouring something into the beaker on the table in front of them, Above them is a blue and white yin/yang figure, which is sending blue and white streams of energy wound around each other into the same beaker. I adore the Chariot, which shows a mechanical vehicle with a female figure, standing, goggles on her head, one hand steering the vehicle and the other holding a beautiful blue parasol. Looks very “Mary Poppins” to me, but the parasol is actually supposed to be “steampunked” (modified with amazing gadgets and technologies, making it a useful weapon. Either way, it’s a great card!

Victorian Steampunk Tarot: Unravel the mysteries of the past

The Eight of Cups is soooo steampunk! We see a female figurein the forefront, goggles on her head. Behind her is a mechanical mechanism, with eight arms outstretched, an upright cup on each arm. Soooo H.G. Wells! Along the same note is the Six of Swords. Here we see a male and a female figure in a “flying machine”, with a big balloon over them. I love the scan that accompanies the chapter on Tarot basics – it is the Hierophant, which shows a very grandfatherly type figure seated in his chair, books on the table next to him, and a young boy and girl seated at his feet, paying rapt attention to what he is saying. This is a chapter in any book where I will say take with you what works, and leave the rest behind. There is good information here on reading the Tarot, but nothing is ever written in stone. What Moore does do is make you think, which is the most important thing one can do when reading the Tarot. (I am referring to reading in a conscious manner, not “over-thinking” every little thing.) I loved her suggestions that when practicing reading read for an imaginary querent (Seeker), pretend that a celebrity has asked for a reading, or use the Court Cards as people to read for. The Victorian Steampunk Tarot is a semi-illustrated 78-card tarot from tarot author Liz Dean, who created the Art of Tarot. Each of the major arcana is a collage of steampunk-related elements, while the minors are arrangements of the suit element and symbol (Dragonflies, Bees, Beetles and Moths).

Each character has their own mix of skills, equipment, and expertise, and they might just have to work together to succeed. Will you trust your companions, and should they trust you? Not everyone is a hero after all. With a turn of the wheel and a spin of the cog, the oracular machinery of Barbara Moore’s Steampunk Tarot lumbers into action. Fantastically illustrated by Aly Fell, The Steampunk Tarot is an electric marriage of science and alchemy, nature and technology, human and machine. 78 evocative cards radiantly retool the images from Pamela Colman Smith’s Classic 1910 Tarot. Screenshots