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
