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Blood & Rust: The Misery Tarot

Created by Publishing Goblin, LLC

From the Alley: The Misery Tarot seeks to be born from the deep wound in our hearts. Through blood and rust, the Misery Tarot crawls from the dark. A tarot to traverse our trauma and pain, uniquely reading over the top of other tarot decks.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Misery Monday XIV | The Reading Cloth, The Deck's Back and Flip Through!
2 days ago – Mon, Mar 17, 2025 at 11:12:01 AM



Welcome back Misery Travelers,

(If you didn't back this project, and the flip through in this update has you regretting it? Pre-order now!)

We have the deck complete now, are you prepared for this? But first, let's take a look at the Tarot Cloth. Got to keep you on your toes, here.

The Cloth is an 18x18 reminder of the paths you traverse. The winding stairs down, the blades, the wired woods, the flesh, the rot, the nails, the rusted shell of life, and out to blood. You might also use the cloth itself as a reading spread, placing a card from any tarot deck in each section to understand the journey ahead, or how the path will unfold. It will be a nice soft fabric too, so it will be enough to wrap your deck in for general carry of the deck, if you so desire!



And our card back does much the same, inviting us across the 7 suits toward our entrance. The deck back is our first step to using it, after all, so we are at the top of the spiral stairs that the Victim traverses down to the Museum. I really like how Wire is the frame and manages to be a doorway, a portal, at the bottom of the card. This is not a deck to be used with reverses, so it also helps establish which side is down.

And that means we now have the Flip Through!!




I also have 5 more decks in hand that I'd love to send to some people who want to share it on socials or through videos and give their thoughts on the deck! If you are a tarot channel, or know one you would love to see talk about the Misery Tarot, now is the time to let me know about them! (You can also email me at [email protected]!)

And lastly, HISTORIC launched last week and is doing pretty well. It's a grim-dark dungeon delving game that runs on cards, and is really gorgeous. Give it a look if that's of interest to you!

Thanks all, and Happy Monday,

7DA
your pub gob

Misery Monday XIII | The Bloody Finale & The Final Vote
9 days ago – Mon, Mar 10, 2025 at 11:11:54 AM



(If you want the mess of my life update, watch the video. Otherwise, stick to the text for things about the project haha)

Welcome back to the end of our deck. The final cards of the House of Blood, and thus, the full deck now being visible on the campaign page. But let's take it one step at a time, by looking at our final five cards.



  • 5 The Excess
    In our suit of Blood, we have The Endurance. It can be hard to overcome the journey we've been on here. To push the blood back into our bodies and force our hope to stay. Sometimes, we must understand that even parts of us are poisoned by the route we've taken. We must learn to lance the poison from our bodies, and free ourselves of trying to save the rotten parts we haven't had the heart to throw away.
  • 6 The Ecstasy
    In our suit of Blood, we have The Feeling. The ecstasy of this hope is looking in the mirror and smiling. Even as we cry. It's feeling in our bodies again. Remembering who we are, how to feel, and knowing that even in hardship and difficulty, we can be happy again.
  • 7 The Finale
    In our suit of Blood, we have The Living. To finally walk out of this house, this greenlit house of night, is to return to the world. Streetlights, cars, friends, the outside world awaits. We are now human again. The blood is in our veins, no longer in a bottle, in a creature, or something to steal or earn. We live it.
  • Denizen
    In our suit of Blood, we have The Blood Letter. This is charlatans offering miracle cures and fixes. There are unique paths for each of us, and while we can learn from one another's journeys, do not take anyone serious who says that they know the one way forward. You have your own path. Do not be cheated this close to the end.
  • Ruler
    In our suit of Blood, we have The Shadow. What we have learned from, grown from, healed from, is not gone. The ruler of Blood is the shadow of us that waits back in the green lit house of night. It is not dead. It is learned from, grown from, and departed. But do not ever mistake yourself for becoming something or someone new. We grow, change, but we do not lose what went wrong, nor do we lose the lessons from its learning. Respect the dark.

The Final Cards VOTE!



Enoch and I are actually at an impasse, and could use help! Please vote in the comments for the version of the Living and the version of the Shadow you most prefer! My idea was for it to be the Living person leaving the house, but The Shadow staying there, waiting there. In the original attempt, which is Enoch's preference, we have them both in the same doorway of the house. In the second version, my preference, we have The Living framed in the door heading outside, leaving into the world, with the Shadow in the living room doorway, waiting inside.

The Full Deck!



Our houses are all now realized. And that means... The deck is complete.  Well, there is still the upcoming deck back, but still. It is complete. Go back to the campaign page, scroll down through the full thing, top to bottom, and appreciate what it has become for us. Truly an amazing thing. We did it.

Praise Enoch for all this hard work. Quietly we have also fixed a few errors here and there, cleaned up some odd spaced titles, and are moving towards a few test print decks. You won't see those represented on the house graphics, but they will come together in the end.

Now that you've seen it all, how do we feel about the deck? Its 100 cards? Its meanings?
Any favorite cards from it all? Any praise we want to heap on Enoch?? I know I have plenty in mind haha.

We will see you next week with the deck's card back and reading cloth!

Talk soon,
7DA
your pub gob

Misery Monday XII | Blood Cleanses, Blood Heals
16 days ago – Mon, Mar 03, 2025 at 11:02:44 AM




Welcome back my compatriots in Misery,

Today, we begin our final suit. We enter The House of Blood.
Acceptance + Hope.






  • ⬛ The House 
    • The House of Blood simply is. This simple home is a return to life. A shadow self of our home, but home none the less. No longer is this the abstract horror in the woods, in the palace of flesh, or in a horrid concretescape. No, this is the horror of being alive, and gathering the courage to continue. We are now in the Home of Acceptance. This is our home, our life, through the rage and screaming and crying, this is our shelter. Now we begin the journey to accept it.
  • 0 The Folly 
    • In the House of Blood, our 0 is The Vessel. It is our mistake to keep our hope locked away in a bottle, not to be seen or known or shared. We will rot away without its blessing. We must let it out, soak in it, and grow it in our arms, our bodies. Do not fear it dying beyond the vessel, we will nurture it in ourselves, where it cannot die.
  • 1 The Portal 
    • In the House of Blood, our 1 is The Blessing. In our home and reality once more, we make the bold plunge to be healed and alive and wanting, even in our cold kitchen, even in lonely moments at night, alone. We are still on the path of misery, but now we are alive and choosing to place our hope and joy in our hearts, pouring the blood on our bodies, truly drenching ourselves in the ability to breathe once more. This portal is a choice to let ourselves be happy again, even if it feels just a little out of reach still. Now, we have said we can.
  • 2 The Nemesis 
    • In the House of Blood, our 2 is The Vigilant. This fear, this trauma, does not go away. Even in normal moments, in the middle of the day, our pain, our PTSD, our traumas, it can come back and hit us at once. In that moment, you will feel like you have slid all the way back to the early houses. It is a shock. It is a horror. But you are not in those places. Center. Calm. Remind yourself that you are in this body, in this home. You are alive. This will lessen with time.
  • 3 The Wound 
    • In the House of Blood, our 3 is The Flow. Sometimes we worry that we are solely putting on a false face, a fake smile, a mask, as we pretend at being happy again. We worry about failure. And failure is possible, this is true. But do not mistake your trying for cowardice, forget the mask you wear, for it is not a lie. It is an honest attempt. This is not truly bleeding now, it is merely butterflies in your stomach. The mask you put on for now to show happiness is brave, because it is practice.
  • 4 The Harmonic 
    • In the House of Blood, our 4 is The Shared Red. The foundation of Hope is the sharing of life. Tell others where you have been, what you have felt. Share your pain, your hopes. Now is not just the time to bring people back in, it's the time to share what makes us human. Let them help you bear the burdens you have carried, then let them help you continue on. A great weight on your shoulders will lessen with each person you share it with.

The art is still scary, but do not be afraid. The whole deck has been a journey where you are guided, gently, on the path. The Path of Misery itself, in rewalking, seeing, understanding, is not dangerous. It is understanding. It is patient. And it is important we carry it from the start to the finish, for the hope we find here in the House of Blood is healing. 

I will see you next week, for the final cards of the deck. 

Carry hope with you till then,
7DA
your pub gob

Misery Monday XI | The Rusted God
23 days ago – Mon, Feb 24, 2025 at 10:36:17 AM




Hello my fellow travelers on the path,

Today is the end of Rust!! Then we'll head on our final path through the House of Blood. This deck is about to be complete. So soon. Enoch is vibrating with excitement, and thanked folks for birthday wishes. Today though, we break our chains and remove our shackles as we face the Rusted God and its Withered Speaker.



  • 5 The Excess
    In our suit of Rust, we have The Indebted. In excess, those in Rust give themselves deeply to all the chains that hold them. They pray still harder and show their devotion by adopting additional manacles. These are people who labor harder in the system to prove their worth to the machine that abuses them. On the other side, as we heal and rebuild, we may shackle ourselves to all the people and places we owe fixes/retries to. We may beg people's grace and forgiveness, but do not. Instead, give yourself grace as you move forward on your road of healing.
  • 6 The Ecstasy
    In our suit of Rust, we have The Gathering. The ecstasy of rebuilding is the gathering of friends and supporters. The ecstasy of rebuilding is having your base to live again. You will heal with others, let them gather about you, listen and talk, but also thrive in the living energy of others again. Even if they're challenging. Even if they're difficult.
  • 7 The Finale
    In our suit of Rust, we have The Unkept. To leave this space is to realize the chains that went into the dark on everyone were a lie. They go nowhere. You can undo the collar and free yourself. In time we will feel that all our steps are foolish, unkept by a safe path, but it will be good. You can remember the collar's weight, but do not stop. Keep going. There is nothing here that is stuck, no dark side, to be Unkept is to be free of the house entirely. Beyond rust.
  • Denizen
    In our suit of Rust, we have The Withered Speaker. There is truth in this creature's faith and words, it truly does shield him from his own fire. But there is also cruelty, chains, control. The chains from his flock come to him, they are his eyes. He speaks guidelines and rules into the world, and his flock follows. This is no indictment of religion or faith, but it is of the power dynamics that exist in spaces like that. No one should be a ruler over others lives, and we should not limit our paths by their words.
  • Ruler
    In our suit of Rust, we have The Rusted God. It is not alive. It is Tradition on a pole. Where all the chains go, to the hands of an unliving ideal. This rotten, never-living thing does not own you. There isn't even a person to buck off, merely take your chain from its open hands and move on to life. You were mistaken in thinking Tradition, in this case, was alive. 

And that's it! The full House of Rust is visible on the campaign page now, and that means you are now one suit away from the full deck. Take your time and check out that sweet campaign page now, it's so gorgeous!! See you next week when we step out of the rusted temple and back to our home. Each step has moved us closer to where we live.



7DA
your pub gob

Misery Monday X | The Suit of Rust begins
30 days ago – Mon, Feb 17, 2025 at 03:10:43 PM




Welcome my friends in Misery to the look at the Suit of Rust!
Yes, we are on the titular suits now. We're very close to the end. Ironically, Blood and Rust are... the other way around for actual order. But Rust and Blood doesn't sound as good to me. Sue me for my lack of cohesion!

  • ⬛ The House 
    • The House of Rust is The Temple Factory, the ornate, but old and decrepit, rusted out shell of the manufacturing of our tradition. Spilling into the suit of Rust is returning to the world you left in your absence of sorrow, and seeing it is a worn out space. This is reconstruction and working through what you have experienced. You must see the rusted world around you and find your own path here.
  • 0 The Folly 
    • In the House of Rust, our 0 is The Faithful. It can be easy to return to your life and get back on your knees in a row, falling back into line with how life was before. To try to just "return to normal". But reconstruction here must mean to grow past what set you up for the fall the first time. You cannot simple become one of the Faithful at the altar of rusted tradition. You must find your new path forward. We also see here an important theme in this suit, the chained collars on the faithful. Note that the chains always lead off into the dark, to nowhere.
  • 1 The Portal 
    • In the House of Rust, our 1 is The Failed Gate. The path ahead has been barred for as long as we've known. But now we can see it is not so. The old gate, perhaps once bolder and stronger, has fallen to pieces. Where you were once barred from going, you simply may push through. It may take a little effort, but do not be afraid to go out on the path yourself. That is where you are now in life.
  • 2 The Nemesis 
    • In the House of Rust, our 2 is The Wretch. This being has locked you in a cell of their expectations. They dangle your freedom at their whim, saying you must fall in line with how things have always worked, because that's how they had to live, and they won't let you live in a better truth than they have. Suffer as they did! But look closely and you'll see the bars of your cage, and the keys, are rusted away. They don't have the keys to your freedom, and never did. Just push the door open.
  • 3 The Wound 
    • In the House of Rust, our 3 is The Rusted Bones. Seeing what has happened to our home, our structure, foundations in our absence is hard to see. This is the ruin of where you once resided. It may have looked like this for some time to everyone else, but you couldn't see it until now. Looking on it will hurt, but see it for what it is. Fixable. 
  • 4 The Harmonic 
    • In the House of Rust, our 4 is The Honest Hands. The foundation of rebuilding is remaking what you have lost. It won't be the exact same, but be open to accept help in this process. Rebuild your home where it once stood-- clean up, pick up, rebuild. It's worth it, you will find your foundations to push further for the rest of your life from here.

Next week is the rest of rust... and then March 3rd and 10th is the rest of the deck in the suit of Blood...
What are you the most excited to see after that? The cloth? Guidebook cover? Oracle Dice full reveal? We'll see!

7DA
your pub gob