a Steampunk Tarot?
All three of the devisers of the pack you hold in your hands share an interest in things wonderful, outlandish, and strange. We are all avid readers of alternative fiction that suggests new directions, new possibilities, and extraordinary opportunities. Moving more at the fringes of the Steampunk movement over the past few years (though now we have embraced it more thoroughly through the “steamsonas” we have created within its rapidly expanding universe), we noticed that there was one element that, if not actually missing, was seen less often: the sacred and metaphysical arts. Oddly, it seems that few (if any) of the leaders within the movement have sought to re-envision the parallel developments in spiritualism, magical orders, theosophy, and the burgeoning esotericism that marked the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which explored the metaphysical side of reality at a time when science was making its own breakthroughs, although there are certainly riffs on all of these in the welter of Steampunk literature which has poured forth in the last decade.
It could be said that there is no place for such things in the Steampunk universe, but in fact it is already there. The Gods of the Machine were not thought up by us (though we did choose their archetypal forms for this deck), having been present in Western hermetic lore since Classical times and then reawakened during the Renaissance. The awakening and divine embodiment of statues is taught by Hermes Trismegistus as early as the Corpus Hermeticum, while the ingenuity of automata was explored by Athanasius Kircher and others. The rich creativity and wonder of life on the other side of reality is everywhere celebrated in the history of our universe.
And since, above all else, Steampunk is about adventure—wherever, whenever, and whoever it features—it seemed high time that there should be a way of looking into and through the strange distorting glass of this new-old world, and to explore its vitality and wonder, and its wisdom. Just as we may turn to the tarot to aid us in navigating the shoals of uncertainty which surround us, so, in the alternative world of the Steampunk Imperium, it opens vistas that help us to see things in a new way.
Nor did we have to look far to manifest this deck. Even the most cursory glimpse into the Steampunk world shows a fascination with ancient wisdom, future possibilities, and the elemental qualities that are central to every tarot. Thus we arrived at the Four Leagues (the suits in traditional tarot) and the archetypes of the Gods of the Machine (the Major Arcana).
So, get ready to cross the threshold of the Imperium, where everything is just a little bit different, but draws upon the familiar as well as the unfamiliar. Beyond this page, we, as creators, will vanish entirely, to be replaced by our steamsonas, or alter egos: the bold adventurer Major Jack Squares, the wise Madame Hypatia Tetraktys, the devilishly clever artificer 124C (say it out loud)—and the voice of the Imperium itself. Join us, then, and prepare to be thrilled, astonished, and enlightened by the Gods of the Machine, as we enter the world of The Steampunk Tarot.
John Matthews, Caitlín Matthews, and Wil Kinghan
Oxford, 2012 – Year of Steampunk Dreams
INTRODUCTION
• INTIMATIONS OF THE IMPERIUM •
“These illustrious strangers came down into the world of things that come to be, in order to make trial of it.”
HERMES, De Castigatione Animae
There are many forms of reality. You inhabit but one part of a much vaster cosmos, and are perhaps ignorant of the Imperium. We urge you to acquaint yourself with its co-existence beside your own world, for it is but a step away.
The history of the Imperium is a long one, reflecting our beloved Queen-Empress’s long reign. But its roots lie much further back, in ancient times, before the arrival of steam and the enlightenment of anbaric power. Then, the Gods of the Machine walked among us, and we spoke directly to them—and they to us.
The technology of that era was the art of sympathetic magic, practiced from these earliest times, as we see from the Corpus Hermeticum, that great body of august knowledge that was disseminated in both our worlds many centuries ago. Long ago, it was widely believed that the influences of the protean stars were poured out upon the earth, and were capable of being canalized by the practitioners of ancient knowledge, to be contained within talismans, objects of worship, and through the devising of rituals. From the sacred arts of Egypt, to the sympathetic magic of the great philosophers Marsilio Ficino and Athanasius Kircher, or the making of the Prague Golem by the mysterious Rabbi Loew, you may see how this belief ensouled ordinary objects with divine influences in your own world.
Visions of the Artificers
Drawing upon this craft, the artificers of the Imperium’s Four Leagues created vehicles to roam the earth through the four elements. In their works the Gods of the Machine live yet, and are embodied within the ever-living influences of the tarot that you hold in your hands. Often, what was thought to be an illusion turns out to be reality, especially when the workings of the imagination are respected. The visions of those ancient artificers and natural philosophers paved the way to the science of life, and forged enduring presences that these seventy-eight tarot cards reveal.
When things are made by hand with intention and craft, they have a more pleasing aspect about them than things that are mass-produced from the bowels of a factory—even those powered by the might of steam itself. Where the industrial meets artistry and the deep hermetic spirit of inquiry, there we may perceive the flash of the spark that is purely genius. Within the Imperium, this genius is constantly at work, embodying all the possibilities of creation.
In your world, there are many myths about the creation of beings and the devising of engines, from Prometheus, who brought fire from heaven, stolen from the gods, to the story of Pygmalion, who created a woman from a statue, or Daedalus, who made wings of flight for himself and his son, Icarus, and used quicksilver (surely a precursor of anbaric energy) to give a voice to his statues; he also made the mighty fighting man Talos out of metal. In all of these we see the desire to embody what only the Gods are seen to know.
This theme of the theft of wisdom is one that has continually followed the human race in its search for the secrets of technology within our Imperium. The spirit of wisdom has whispered into the ears of inventors, artists, scientists, and explorers of the natural world, secrets that have revealed—like the fog of breath on a winter’s day—the lines, intersections, and patterning of life. When these connections were made, the sum of human knowledge started to become god-like in stature.
Within the Imperium, that discovery is still ongoing, but has lost none of the deep secrets of the artificer’s knowledge, nor the humility of craft, nor the personal hazard after exploration, nor, indeed, the bright excellence that enterprise for the commonwealth always brings. Respect for initiative and honor for those who dedicate themselves to the discovery of life’s secrets is celebrated within our world, for herein the Gods of the Machine engage humanity’s drive in the oldest search of all—for self-knowledge.
The Path of Discovery
Here, then, in this latest creation of our brightest holders of wisdom, is set forth the great mystery of making, and the exploration of the highest values and ideals of the human race. Within, you shall find the ways opening before you, as you follow the course of The Adventury, under the guidance of the Gods of the Machine themselves (so elegantly pictured by the artificer 124C) and with the aid of the Four Leagues and their honored Legates.
The shape of the Imperium is outlined in Part One, followed by The Adventury in Part Two, wherein the pathways of your exploratory adventures are set forth. In Part Three, blueprints and templates are provided for your journey, and in Part Four you will find orientation for life-navigation and advice on how to read the cards. Publications and websites that will extend your knowledge further are given at the back of the book.
The world around us is reflected in small, the microcosmic echoing the macrocosmic, as has been the case since time began. When you opened the box in which these shining images are kept—barely restrained from leaping forth of their own volition—you may have