Steampunk Tarot: Wisdom From The Gods Of The Machine

The Steampunk Tarot: Wisdom from the Gods of the Machine,

by John and Caitlin Matthews 

Somewhere between a Victorian parlor and an airship engine room, this deck imagines a tarot for a world that never quite made it past brass gears and helium blimps. The 22 major arcana cards become the actors at the heart of the machine — the "gods of the machine" — spread across 78 scenes of a full alternate-world reimagining, where, fittingly, the Technomage sits as king and the Punk Diva as queen.

Created by veteran tarot duo John and Caitlin Matthews (the pair behind the Arthurian Tarot and the Wildwood Tarot) and illustrated by Wil Kinghan, this one leans hard into aesthetic — goggles, gears, and Gothic-Victorian flourish — without losing the plot on function. Fresh spreads and inventive questioning methods for life-navigation come packed in alongside the visuals, so it reads as more than a novelty deck for the steampunk-curious. As one reviewer put it, this deck offers both traditional and novel takes on how we find wisdom in the technology surrounding us — clockwork mysticism with something real to say.

Details:

• 78-card deck + 160-page companion book
• Published by Tuttle Publishing/Connections, 2012