Pamela Steele is one of my close tarot friends, and really, though she might not know it, also an art mentor. There’s a fiery and fierce “I’ll do it myself!” independence to her. If you tell her “no” and gatekeep her, she’ll dismantle the gate altogether. She’s also contributed so much to the tarot community at large, having always been a passionate advocate and supporter for deck creators.

I was honored to write the Foreword to the Eternal Seeker guidebook, and to do so, I had an early prototype of the deck on my desk for weeks, working with it everyday, doing daily card draws, and I found myself really connecting to this deck.

If you read just the card titles above alongside the imagery, you’ll see The Fool in The Seeker card, The Magician in The Magus, The High Priestess in The Oracle, and The Empress in Divine Feminine. However, the numbering diverges from the tarot Key numbers. Where we might commonly associate 1 with Magician, here it’s The Seeker (calling to mind The Fool).

So first, you need to dismantle any preconceived notions of the Major Arcana. Eternal Seeker is its own divination system, and simply hearkens to some of the Major Arcana tarot archetypes. The specific number associations in Eternal Seeker are rooted in numerology, and deeply intentional.

There’s a 1990s high fantasy adventure video game aesthetic to this deck. Working with this deck reminds me of King’s Quest (anyone reading this even know what that is?). As a kid I was obsessed with that game! So for me, this is the type of artwork and deck that brings me back to my inner child.

As I said in my Foreword, Pamela Steele is a true sorceress of portals. Her art takes you to another world, one of dragons, mages, and enchantment. Eternal Seeker Oracle reads as if a wise woman sits tenderly by your side, whispering foresight. The deck conveys a strong, honored sense of tradition, veneration of our elders in the Craft, and what it means to be the eternal seeker.

Steele started out as a traditional artist, mainly in the world of fine arts. And then as the years got on her, she found that her hands and wrists weren’t what they used to be, so she had to adapt. Steele found digital art and learned it at lightning speed.

Her first deck, published back in 2007, was the Steele Wizard Tarot, a deck I have and treasure. It featured fantasy art reminiscent of role-playing games that bring me nostalgia. That deck was particularly well-suited for pathworking.

Let’s continue our walk-through of these cards. A personified world tree as The Universe is just magical. I’m also in love with that Weaver card! Heart Song is about finding what makes your heart sing, what inspires you to play and dance with abandon.

The guidebook is really well-written, full of much wisdom and insight. I love how Steele talks about caring for and “feeding” your deck. The more you work with and handle a physical deck of cards, the more attuned you become to it, and the more reliable it will be in readings for you.

I love how this deck invites us to revisit the Old World tarot tradition of divining with the Majors only, with the inclusion of 11 additional Spirit-channeled cards for a total of 33. The numerology of 33 signifies the revelation of that which was concealed. Occultists associate the number 33 with sacred teachings, the Holy Trinity, and the Triple Goddess. The number 33 is the mirror of a trinity on Earth reflecting the trinity of Heaven.

Above you’ll see one of my favorite cards in this deck: Truth. “The path of awareness,” inspired by the Truth card in the Steele Wizard Tarot. This card is number 27 because the numerological correspondence to 27 is that of compassion and acceptance of being. The rune featured here is Mannaz, representing one’s self.

Eternal Seeker Oracle feels like your sage grandmother embracing you with timeless, timeworn words of wisdom. Steele is the elder who mentors this new generation of would-be seekers on pagan spirituality and divination.