Everybody needs a vampire deck. Is a tarot collection even complete without a vampire tarot? 😉 And this one in particular is tantalizing!

The Tarot of the Vampires by Charles Harrington and illustrated by Craig Maher is sleek, modern, and cinematic. You might recognize Charles as the author of the Murder of Crows Tarot (2020), Tarot V (2021), or the Ferenc Pinter Tarot (2021). He’s also a frequent speaker at various tarot conferences.

In terms of a genre, this tarot is delectable blood-sucking dark urban fantasy horror. These illustrations reveal a secret world coexisting with ours– as Harrington puts it, “the world of the undead and their eternal dance suspended between Heaven and Hell.”

That world of the undead and eternal dance enthralls all the more in Tarot of the Vampires because of Maher’s art. Craig Maher is an impressively talented artist in the realm of fantasy and imaginative realism. His renderings of this vampire universe are masterful. The detailing in these illustrations is next level. Just you wait and see.

“The tale of the vampire, as told in these cards, is of powerful beings struggling to do what is right in a world that can be dark and terrifying.” That is how we are introduced to this world of mystery. Bat wings, moonlight, shadows, silhouettes of bramble, medieval weaponry, teen-film-inspired romance, and magic– there are so many story lines in this deck to keep you endlessly entertained.

Vampire lore is enduring in both our historical culture and pop culture. Their origins come in part from the Romanian strigoi, the spirits of the unquiet dead risen from graves to menace the living. Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula solidified the enduring fascination for vampires by British and American audiences.

Over the next centuries, vampire lore would be the inspiration for stories exploring female sexuality, queer sexuality, gender nonconformity, rebellion, religion, mental illness, and the taboo, spiraling to our most primal anxiety– fears around death and mortality. And this deck by Harrington and Maher is exceptionally well keyed to explore these themes.

Random aside – I really love the depiction of the Wheel of Fortune as an ancient book of lore. Harrington’s representation of the natural cycle of life through predator and prey, with the Wheel of Fortune card here illustrating this “inconvenient truth” of the natural cycle. That is the very heart of this deck’s theme– vampires as predator and mortals as prey, the red rose and the white lily.

Also, here you can see how much information is provided to help the beginner interpret their card readings. This deck would be a perfect gift for any vampire lover, even if they have minimal knowledge of the tarot. The guidebook is more than plenty to get them started and for the cards to be operable.

Major Arcana, Keys XVII (The Star) through XXI (The World)

For some of the cards in this deck, Harrington took creative liberties to better weave the vampire narratives. For instance, The Sun card, which departs from traditional tarot imagery.

A human falls through a shattered window, chased by a vampire, but in doing so, is saved by the bright rays of the sun, which burns the vampire’s flesh. On one hand it’s implied, per vampire lore, that this person is now safe. But on the other hand, he looks to be in quite a precarious situation per that illustration.

Ooh… is the maiden from The Fool card now transformed into a risen vampire here in Key XX: Judgement, who is then featured in the next card Key XXI: The World?

“High above the city streets,” reads the entry for The World card, “the fledgling vampire, whose journey we have followed, rejoices in her new life. In her hands are the lily of mortality and the rose of the immortals.” (This is also the symbolism on the card back design.)

Back in The Fool card, the stranger offers the young woman a red rose, and behind her is the white lily. In The Lovers, our innocent mortal now holds the red rose, her hand covered in blood. She undergoes a transformation from maiden to beast in Strength, then dies in her lover’s arms in Death. So I love that in The World card she now commands both the rose and lily equally, in her hands.

Tarot of the Vampires, Card Back Design

The card back design ties the thematic threads together, revisiting the rose and lily symbolism. Upright you’ll see the red rose, and in reverse the white lily. Even with this card back, the deck can be read with reversals, especially with the fantastic reversal meanings provided in the guidebook.

Lilies in this deck are symbolic of the mortal world and humanity, while the roses are symbolic of the world of vampires and the sensual life of those who choose the eternal night.

Minor Arcana, Ace of Wands through Five of Wands

There are so many of my personal loves as influences in this deck’s overall aesthetic. You’ve got Old Hollywood, 90s teen drama, modern gothic, and set designs encompassing both the worlds of the sublime and of decay.

Love the description and illustration for the Four of Wands– “In a dancer’s cage high above the crowds at a nightclub, a vampire moves her body to the beat. But it’s not the blaring music that fills her ears, it’s the pounding pulse of so much life all around her. . . . She revels in the perfect moment . . . all of this is just for her.”

Minor Arcana, Six of Wands through Ten of Wands

There’s some The Crow vigilante justice vibes here as well. Vampires engaged in combat, hunters, and that Eight of Wands with a vampire whose head as exploded into a cloud of eight bats. Throughout the cards there is the ongoing tension between mortals and vampires. Some cards tell stories from the vantage point of the mortal, and some from that of the vampire.

Click on the above image to take a closer look at that Ten of Wands! “The seeker has found the object of his evening’s adventures– possibly a romantic partner, a meal, or maybe even both.” And check out the winged figure here– You saw him earlier in the Two of Wands.

Minor Arcana, Wands Court Cards

Fun trivia fact: A photo of teenage-me inspired the illustration for the Page of Wands! Yes! That Page of Wands is me circa early 1990s! =) “A young apprentice blood mage reads a spell from an ancient grimoire. Her ankh wand flares to life, crackling with power.”

By the way, click on any of these image files for a close-up viewing of the cards. The resolution quality I took these photos in aren’t that great, so just keep that in mind. The actual card images are crisp, clear, and sharp. Also, the illustrator has many of the cards posted in his portfolio, where you can really study the incredible story details.

Ace of Wands

I think that our fascination with vampires can come in part from identifying as being “on the outside.” Many of us who find ourselves lovers of tarot are also walking along the fringes of society, like vampires.

A recurring theme in the imagery here is that of the vampire as a tormented hero. This archetype is inspired by vampire fiction from the last century, like Louis from The Vampire Chronicles, Angel and Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or Bill and Jessica in True Blood, Edward and his family from Twilight, or the characters in The Vampire Diaries.

Minor Arcana, Ace of Cups through Three of Cups; Six of Cups through Eight of Cups

I cannot wait to see future projects by Maher. He is definitely an illustrator to follow. None of his figure drawings are ever stiff. He knows to render a translucence and to add texture to skin. The landscapes come to life because of his thoughtful detailing. When it came to illustrating a vampire tarot deck for our modern age, as they say, Maher understood the assignment.

As you ooh and ahh over these beautiful cards, I’ll share some insights from the guidebook. The word divination, writes Harrington, comes to us from the Latin divinare, meaning “to foresee” or “to be inspired by a god.”

Minor Arcana, Four and Five of Cups; Nine and Ten of Cups

A tarot reading, a form of divination, thus functions as a “sacred conversation between you and your understanding of the divine– be that a god or goddess, the universe, or even your own psyche.” The guidebook to this deck is a fantastic introduction to tarot, helping the beginner through their first practice readings, and even supporting an intermediate reader’s interpretation of reversals.

There’s even an entire section dedicated to shadow work with the tarot. “The shadow, according to analytical psychology, is a projection of the unconscious parts of ourselves that the ego (our conscious mind) does not identify with.” The guidebook walks you through some simple techniques in shadow work with your cards.

Minor Arcana, Cups Court Cards

I love the point that Harrington makes about tarot court cards– they are strongly associated with people and personalities, and in a reading can either indicate a person or an aspect of yourself. Yet “vampires famously don’t tend to concern themselves with society’s gender norms. Similarly, the gender of the characters in the cards, including the court cards, should not be taken literally in a reading.”

Seven and Eight of Cups

Kind of a random comment, but I was struck by how Harrington described this deck as “part of the Rider-Waite-Smith school of tarot.” It’s the way it’s worded. You often just hear about a contemporary deck as being RWS-based. I think I’m going to be borrowing that phrasing– “part of the RWS school of tarot.”

Minor Arcana, Ace of Swords through Ten of Swords

In the guidebook Harrington reiterates a point he and I have oft joked about– if it’s an RWS-based deck, then the Six of Swords had better have a boat. We’re kidding, of course. Well, half-kidding.

Minor Arcana, Swords Court Cards

I low-key love how many cards feature that whole dystopian sci-fi dark Tokyo metro underbelly trope. That along with crypts, cemeteries, with cameos by werewolves, martial street fighters, and generally very attractive looking figures is why the Tarot of the Vampires is so much fun.

It’s a dash of steampunk, a dash of modern gothic, supernatural adventure and drama, equal parts glam and gore, indulgent, decadent, and altogether delightful. If you enjoy a rompy paranormal romance and coming-of-age, you’re going to love this deck.

Minor Arcana, Suit of Pentacles

In the suit of Pentacles, the pentacles itself features a mythical seal of the Eternal Order, described as a “shadow government made up of elite vampires who meddle in the affairs of mortal nations and manipulate the world in accordance with their designs.”

If you scroll up to revisit the Cups cards, the chalices and vessels of the suit are engraved with the vesica piscis, representing unity and hinting at the mysteries of the Holy Grail.

Back in the suit of Wands, the suit symbol was the Egyptian ankh– “used principally by the mystically inclined vampires known as blood mages who can tap into their own vitae to create dazzling effects.” It’s these little details of a vampire underworld that I so appreciate.

The Page of Pentacles is a vampire lawyer (of course). The Knight of Pentacles is a vampire bodyguard. We have a beautiful and voluptuous Queen, and the King of Pentacles is the lord of vaults, keeper of the vampires’ hidden blood reserves.

Minor Arcana, Two of Pentacles

Mansions, mogul vampires, and these undead in the roles of modern-day aristocrats express the archetype of what we humans struggle with– throughout the imagery, Harrington and Maher weave the sub-plot of having vast wealth and wondrous technology, paid for by draining the planet’s resources and oppressing lower income populaces. And so we humans are no different from the blood-sucking vampires of legend.

Vampire fiction, and thus a vampire-themed tarot deck, allows us to delve into these darker places, to wield that dark mirror. How do you cope with accepting the gifts you’ve received, knowing that in receiving these gifts, it necessitates draining the vitality from others?

Minor Arcana, Eight through Ten of Pentacles

More fun trivia– I believe the Eight of Pentacles card you see above features the deck’s illustrator, Craig Maher.

Seven of Pentacles

And yet there is beauty, joy, even heroism among both vampires and humans. The appeal of vampire mythos comes from these creatures possessing what we ourselves desire to possess– power, eternal beauty, immortality, great strength, and preternatural skills.

“A tarot reading begins with a question, and a question hints at unfulfilled desires,” writes Harrington. The cards can help you to size up your prey, and suggest a winning strategy, to move in for the kill.

The complex relationships and social structures of the vampire world can shed great insights into our own. These cards, guided by this modern world of vampires that Harrington and Maher have woven for us, will help you to seek out that which you desire.

Minor Arcana, Pentacles Court Cards

I also happen to know that Harrington is a master of rituals, and you reap the benefit of that in his guidance on rituals for blessing your new deck of cards, invocation words to use, and in general how to approach the art and the craft of tarot. I love the simple form invocation he shares (and he also shares a long-form version): “Open my eyes that I might see, open my heart that I might understand.”

Try using that intention-setting invocation before you do your next tarot reading.

While I wasn’t sent this deck for review, it was gifted to me by the deck’s creator, Charles Harrington, who also happens to be a dear, dear friend of mine. He and I go way back, at this point almost a decade.

The Tarot of the Vampires and its companion guidebook, Codex of the Vampires, is Llewellyn’s 2020s update to its previous vampire-themed decks of decades past. Charming, thrilling, and yet unexpectedly Hermetic, revelatory of your own deepest, darkest secrets, this is a themed deck you’re not going to want to pass up on.

Let’s close out with a walk-through and video review of the deck by Robyn’s Reflections, which I found fantastic and thus want to share:

And I love that the author and illustrator came together to record a walk-through of the cards, sharing their inspirations and intentions for each: