Do I need two steampunk tarot sets? The answer is yes, definitely. Especially when they are both absolutely lovely and both completely different.
The one you can see photos on this page is the new Victorian Steampunk Tarot.
The artwork combines clockwork and mechanical devices with Victorian imagery in settings that include iconic English landmarks and symbols. The Empress, for example, shows Queen Victoria on a Penny Black stamp against a golden field with an elm tree in the skyline, behind The Emperor you can make out the Crystal Palace while Judgment shows monuments from London's Magnificent Seven cemeteries. The minor arcana suits are dragonflies, moths, bees and butterflies - reflecting the Victorian obsession with collecting specimens from the natural world, but still associated with the usual tarot elements of water, fire, air and earth respectively.

The Victorian Steampunk Tarot is certainly likely to appeal to steampunk aficionados. I really wish I had owned a copy a while back when I was asked to play a fortune teller in a steampunk murder mystery game called Intrigue in the Clouds, set on an airship. It would have been the perfect accessory to go with my costume. Even the box that the set comes in looks just right.
A more important question was, how well does it work as a tarot deck for divination? The only way find out was to do a reading for myself. I asked a question about romance - you can see the cards I got in a three-card spread at the bottom of this page. In the past: The Lovers. The meaning of that is obvious. In the present: The Knight of Dragonflies, indicating a good suitor who brings friendship and affection, but more a romantic dreamer than a man of action. Yes, that describes my hubby pretty well. For the future: The Wheel of Fortune.Good luck and a change of fortune is on the way.
Well, I hope that prediction comes true and, yes, I'd say any deck that comes up with a reading as appropriate as that is a deck that works.
Victorian Steampunk Tarot
Links and previous related posts
Victorian Steampunk Tarot
The Animal Wisdom Tarot
The Crystal Tarot
Rider Waite Tarot
Steampunk Tarot - Gods of the Machine
http://www.rylandpeters.com/
1 comment:
I recently bought this deck. I also have another Steampunk deck that I dearly love; but this one excites me in its simplicity. It seems more cerebral, more intuitive. I like the dismissal of some of the ultra-heavy symbolism I've seen in decks over the last 45 years of reading.
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