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♦ PART ONE ♦

EXPLORING THE IMPERIUM

The Shape of the Tarot

“Would that it were possible for you to get wings, and soar into the air, and, poised midway between earth and heaven, behold the earth’s solidity, the sea’s fluidity, its flowing streams, the spaciousness of air, fire’s swiftness, and the coursing of the stars, the swiftness of heaven’s circuit round them all! Most blessed sight were it, my son, to see all these beneath one sway – the motionless in motion, and the unmanifest made manifest; whereby is made this order of the cosmos and the cosmos which we see of order.”

Corpus Hermeticum, Book 5

Preparing to Land

Your airship is finally about to overfly the capital city of the Imperium. What do you see when you look down from the gondola of your craft? As the clouds clear, your eyes are drawn to a four-square city with a round temple-like structure at its heart. This is where the Gods of the Machine abide, you are told. They are the sacred presences who keep the machine of life turning in this world. Around the temple, four pyramid-like structures are erected. Your guide tells you that these are the Guild-Houses of the aeronauts, engineers, aquanauts, and navigators. They are not really pyramids at all, but are built as four tetraktii. Within each of these is found the headquarters of the Legates who answer to the Gods of the Machine.

You know that the Imperium and your own world have a common origin but that somewhen, things diverged. Recent technology has made your visit here possible, and you are itching to explore this world that has so much that is like your own and yet which is so different. They say that some things are very familiar to visitors, while others seem almost historical or futuristic. Technology has diverged and developed in different ways, and you are going to explore just how.

Your guide gives into your hands a pack of cards. She says, “Before landing, perhaps you might wish to acquaint yourself with our world? The Imperium is represented by the images of the seventy-eight cards in this box. These are the twenty-two Gods of the Machine, the forty cards of the Four Leagues, and their sixteen Legates. We regard each of these cards as a teacher and a guide.” As the cards spill from their box into your lap, you see that this is a tarot pack, similar but different from those that you know. You may be already acquainted with its symbolic language and you wonder who will be your guide to this world. Pick a card that seems to speak to you—the one that attracts your gaze and makes your skin tingle. Just hold it and regard it. Let it be your guide to the world into which you are about to step.

The Gods of the Machine

The Gods of the Machine cards (numbered 0 to XXI) represent the heart of the Imperium. They are the Major Arcana of this tarot and they form the matrix of the machine. Their primal impulses beat out the determining rhythm to power this world, and their influences course through every artery of the Imperium. Each is an actor in the temple of the machine which keeps the world turning. From them, all wisdom stems and flows out to all parts of this world. They are the primary gateways for powerful forces that affect everything in a long-term and profound way. (See panel opposite for the Steampunk Tarot Gods.)

You experience the Gods of the Machine both personally, as your inner life is geared round by seemingly outer events, and also systemically, as your whole outer environment becomes drawn into their bigger drama. As you change, so does your outer world; this is why the Gods of the Machine are the shape-changers of the Imperium. They are the essential fuel in your vehicle, giving you different kinds of performance.

In each Gods of the Machine card entry in Part Two, look under Gate of opportunity, Gear-change, and Blockages to clear for the specific outlines of each power in your life (see The Language of the Machine, overleaf, for further insight).

The Steampunk Major Arcana

Many of the tarot names with which you may be familiar have different titles in this world, but you will recognize them easily because the conventional order and value of the Major Arcana remains the same.

STEAMPUNK TAROT	CONVENTIONAL TAROT
0	Apprentice	The Fool
I	Technomancer	The Magician
II	Aviatrix	The High Priestess
III	Empress	The Empress
IV	Emperor	The Emperor
V	Horologer	The Hierophant
VI	Explorers	The Lovers
VII	Triumph	The Chariot
VIII	Engineer	Strength
IX	Inventor	The Hermit
X	Time Machine	The Wheel of Fortune
XI	Brazen Head	Justice
XII	Suspension Tank	The Hanged Man
XIII	Spring-heeled Jack	Death
XIV	Spirit Gauge	Temperance
XV	Cyborg	The Devil
XVI	Stricken Tower	The Tower
XVII	Comet	The Star
XVIII	Moon Voyage	The Moon
XIX	Solarium	The Sun
XX	Regeneration Machine	The Last Judgement
XXI	Cosmic Blueprint	The World

The Four Leagues and their Legates

The Leagues (cards numbered Ace to Ten) and the Legates (the court cards, entitled Messenger, Navigator, Lady, and Captain) are the Minor Arcana of this tarot. They have a less long-term influence than the Gods of the Machine, and relate more to the day-to-day management of life events.

The Leagues depict the four quadrants of the Imperium. Airships fly through the air, Engines govern fire, Submersibles plumb the depths of the waters, Leviathans explore earth’s pathways. They equate to conventional tarot suits as follows:

airships = Swords

engines = Wands

submersibles = Cups

leviathans = Pentacles

Each number within the Leagues has its own defined function, or theme, which is modified by its suit:

☼ aces: setting out, starting up, initiating something, honoring essentials

☼ twos: choosing a way, partnering, reflecting, opposing, dialoguing

☼ threes: fulfilling, combining, understanding, coordinating, creating

☼ fours: structuring, ordering, defining, stabilizing, finding boundaries

☼ fives: breaking out, checking reality, bringing awareness, striving

☼ sixes: exploring confidence, self-worth, harmony, returning to center

☼ sevens: experimenting, heroically re-ordering, finding courage, making space

☼ eights: reassessing and recognizing, grappling with consolidation, accomplishing

☼ nines: seeking self-fulfilment, creative completion, contentment, satisfaction

☼ tens: engaged in finalization, the restatement of principles, passing things on, bringing things home

The progression of Ace to Nine completes the cycle, while Ten is both the culmination of the cycle and the beginning of a new one, in a long and endless spiral. Be aware of these resonances, especially when you’re trying to work out where a querent (the one for whom you are reading) is within a process, or when you draw several Minors of the same number.

The Leagues represent the responses your vehicle has to the road you are on. These are experienced according to your personal lifestyle, the way you relate to others, and the wider effect upon those around you.

In each numbered League card entry in Part Two, look under Personal lifestyle, Interaction, and Impact to help you navigate your way through a spread (see The Language of the Machine, overleaf, for further insight).

Legates of the Imperium

Acting as mediators of the Gods of the Machine are the sixteen court cards who are the Legates of the Imperium, or ambassadorial representatives of the Four Leagues, comprising all the skills that maintain this world. They are the movers and shakers of the Imperium, overseeing the Four Leagues, each with their own distinctive character and personality.

The equivalent correspondences between the Legates and conventional court cards of the tarot are:

messenger = Page

navigator = Knight

lady = Queen

captain = King

The Legates can represent those whom you encounter on the road, as well as states you express yourself and influential events. They may symbolize either a male or a female, and need not necessarily correspond to the gender depicted on the card.

In each Legate card entry in Part Two, look under People, Processes, and Events for the appropriate interpretations to your spread (see The Language of the Machine, over-leaf, for further insight).

Steampunk Wisdom

Each of the seventy-eight cards brings its own Steampunk Wisdom. This offers one or more questions that will help open up seemingly intractable situations to your own deep insight. This is your own unique discovery that will help reveal meanings for your specific situation, making your quest come alive by the response of your own insightful oracle.

The Language of the Machine

The three types of card—the Gods, the Leagues, and the Legates—each have different functions in the machine, and so they come with their own distinct language. They offer slightly different modes of life-navigation on the journey that you are engaged upon. When you’ve learned to calibrate these, your itinerary will be clearer, your journey will have a more defined trajectory, and your mode of travel will make for a smoother ride and more exciting quest.

When you interpret the cards you’ve drawn, whether they are upright (▲) or reversed (▼), consider each of the entries in Part Two as follows:

The Gods of the Machine offer you three aspects, which show you:

☼ Gate of opportunity: What gift does this card offer me now? What dangers attend it? What might I be missing?

☼ Gear-change: What changes are involved? How can I get into gear for them? How can I compensate for change and balance myself? Where are my gears slipping?

☼ Blockages to clear: What is stuck or blocked? What am I missing or avoiding? How can I clear the way forward?

You may find all three aspects helpful, or that one in particular is relevant to your question. You will find Blockages to clear especially useful when you have a difficult card that you can’t interpret, or when a positively themed card like XIX Solarium falls upon a negatively themed position in your spread, such as “What is stuck?”. This challenges you to look in your rear-view mirror to focus on something you are missing or avoiding.

In addition, each of the Gods of the Machine cards has its own micro-spread, so that you can experience for yourself how each archetype fuels its unique part of the machine. Use all the cards or just the Gods of the Machine for these micro-spreads.

The Leagues (cards numbered Ace to Ten) offer three ways to help you navigate your way through a spread:

☼ Personal lifestyle: What is the mainspring of my own motivation? What mood colors my life? How does my attitude shift the focus? How am I sabotaging myself?

☼ Interaction: What am I giving or receiving in relationships with individuals? What dynamic is affecting or skewing our interaction? What increases or reduces communication? Where I am failing to meet the other person?

☼ Impact: How do events affect others? What is going on around me that I am experiencing or am a part of? How do my choices change the world or impact the community? What systemic changes are afoot?

The Legates (the Messengers, Navigators, Ladies, and Captains of each League) do not always represent people, and so offer three different interpretations:

☼ People: Who is this person in my life? What aspects of myself are manifesting or are activated? What characteristics are shaping things? Where am I not being true to myself?

☼ Processes: What action or behavior is denoted? What kind of process am I undergoing? What accelerates or delays the changes?

☼ Events: How does this manifest? How will I recognize this? What constellates as a result? What events is my question caught up with?

The worthy philosopher Epictetus reminds us that “The universe is but one great city, full of beloved ones, divine and human by nature, endeared to each other. This is truly seen within the Imperium, as we see from the schematic ground plan set out overleaf.

Courts of the Four Leagues

“Wisdom is the chief and leader: next follows temperance; and from the union of these two with courage springs justice.”

PLATO, Laws 63

The Imperium is governed by the Four Leagues, under the guidance of the Four Regulators, or primary Gods of the Machine: VIII Engineer, XIV Spirit Gauge, XI Brazen Head, and XXI Cosmic Blueprint. Each of these Regulators of the Machine is associated with four other Gods of the Machine, working cooperatively. Each League is also under the jurisdiction of these Four Regulators, and answers to them. At the center are the Technomancer (I) and his Apprentice (0), as the master who imparts knowledge, with the student who is initiated into all the workings of the Imperium and its powers. The diagram of the Courts of the Four Leagues (see overleaf ) shows the Imperium at one glance.

All who would aspire to become apprenticed to the machine and understand the regulation of the Imperium are invited to study this template carefully, for many secrets lie within it. A few of these mysterious laws are outlined on pages 25–27 for you to meditate upon.

Laws of the Imperium

Four Regulators of the Imperium govern four different courts, just as the four seasons of the year succeed each other:

Court of the Engineer is concerned with issues of sovereignty, courage, organization, creativity, fire, and spiritual health. The strength of VIII Engineer is upheld by the four governing executives of the Imperium, who are:

II Aviatrix • III Empress • IV Emperor • V Horologer

The League of Engines supports these four stabilizers of the machine.

Court of the Spirit Gauge oversees issues of devotion, harmony, relationship, love, water, and emotional health. The temperate genius of XIV Spirit Gauge upholds the flow of life, aided by the love, progress, plans, and luck of:

VI Explorers • VII Triumph • IX Inventor • X Time Machine

The League of Submersibles supports this trailblazing foursome.

Court of the Brazen Head oversees issues of discrimination, honor, integrity, struggles and changes, air and mental health. The just insights of XI Brazen Head combine with the powers of the agents of integrity and balanced action:

XII Suspension Tank • XIII Spring-Heeled Jack • XV Cyborg

XVI Stricken Tower

The League of Airships reflects the actions of this fearsome four.

Court of the Cosmic Blueprint oversees issues of wisdom, diligence, means, resources, work, earth, and physical health. XXI Cosmic Blueprint’s wisdom is shared by the four celestial spheres of influence:

XVII Comet • XVIII Moon Voyage • XIX Solarium

XX Regeneration Machine

The League of Leviathans reflects the cosmic influences of this planetary four.

Complementary opposites

As you explore this template of the Imperium, you will notice that the Gods of the Machine each have their own pairings around the central temple, mediating resonant and complementary principles. Within the turning of the machine’s wheels, everyone alive notices these eleven complementary and opposing powers that cause life such joy and difficulty. It is the task of the Apprentice to meditate upon these principles in order to become an intrinsic part of the machine of life. The twenty-two separate principles of the Gods of the Machine are rarely studied in isolation from these pairings in our world.

COMPLEMENTARY OPPOSITES	PRINCIPLES
0 Apprentice and I Technomancer	novitiate • mastership
II Aviatrix and XVII Comet	spiritual path • destiny
III Empress and XVIII Moon Voyage	creativity • imagination
IV Emperor and XIX Solarium	authority • power
V Horologer and XX Regeneration Machine	time • eternity
VI Explorers and XII Suspension Tank	love • sacrifice
VII Triumph and XIII Spring-heeled Jack	life-drive • death’s closure
VIII Engineer and XXI Cosmic Blueprint	strength • wisdom
IX Inventor and XV Cyborg	introspection • manipulation
X Time Machine and XVI Stricken Tower	mutability • sudden change
XI Brazen Head and XIV Spirit Gauge	justice • temperance

Experience these complementary opposites for yourself by laying out the Gods of the Machine in these pairings. What do you notice? Look at the pair of principles where you are currently embroiled and choose another card from the Legates and Leagues: what action, process, or question shows you the way forward? Answer the Steampunk Wisdom for these cards to gain guidance.

Seven initiations of the Apprentice

The Apprentice experiences seven steps of initiation in the Imperium via the following triads of mentors, who help explore and assimilate these lessons and stages:

1. Triad of Technology Working with the nuts and bolts of power

I Technomancer • VIII Engineer • XV Cyborg

2. Triad of Invention Planning things out and risking the consequences

II Aviatrix • IX Inventor • XVI Stricken Tower

3. Triad of Creation Conceiving how inventions find their place

III Empress • X Time Machine • XVII Comet

4. Triad of Balance Working with control and authority

IV Emperor • XI Brazen Head • XVIII Moon Voyage

5. Triad of Experimentation Trying out the inventions in practice

V Horologer • XII Suspension Tank • XIX Solarium

6. Triad of Commitment Engaging in and testing what is made

VI Explorers • XIII Spring-heeled Jack • XX Regeneration Machine

7. Triad of Harmony Rejoicing in the results and gladdening the Imperium

VII Triumph • XIV Spirit Gauge • XXI Cosmic Blueprint

If you find yourself undergoing any part of the creative or learning processes without clear guidance, these triads can serve as a metaphysical support to your vehicle. Lay out the three cards of your chosen triad, and in the center place one randomly drawn card from the rest of the pack, to represent the issue you are currently carrying. Then, see how these mentors help clarify your way forward.

Now that you have received your primary orientation, you are invited to step deeper into the Imperium. The machine is powering up, and each card is awaiting your attention. Like the Apprentice, you make ready to step into its depths and discover the motivational forces of life at first hand.