Stardust Wanderer Tarot

Stardust Wanderer Tarot - space opera built on Rider-Waite-Smith

The framework is familiar: 78 cards, four suits, Major and Minor Arcana. What Jen Sankey built around that framework is something else entirely. A universe of space pirates, ancient deities, and mythic storytelling, anchored by a single protagonist. The Fool here is Mena, and her journey through the deck turns it into a continuous narrative rather than a static reference.

The illustrations are by Carol Phillips, who gave visual form to Sankey's cosmic vision in saturated jewel tones. The four Minor Arcana suits carry pirate-inflected names: Oars, Chalices, Coins, and Swords. These map clearly onto the traditional suits, so anyone familiar with tarot will find their bearings quickly.

What you see on the cards

Each card combines mythology, steampunk detail, and outer space into a single image. The colours are rich and warm, and the compositions are narrative: you can see what is happening in Mena's story, not just a symbolic pose. A zodiac symbol is printed on every card, so the astrological correspondence is immediately visible without needing a separate reference.

The gold glitter edges give the cards a striking appearance and contribute to their durability. The smooth matte finish makes them easy to shuffle.

The guidebook

The illustrated guidebook runs to 136 pages and covers elemental, planetary, and zodiac associations for each card, alongside upright and reversed meanings. It also includes pirate-themed spreads designed specifically for this deck, built around the questions Mena's journey raises: identity, direction, and personal authority.

If you already know RWS

The deck follows the Rider-Waite-Smith structure closely. Readers already fluent in that system will recognise the architecture immediately and can focus on the thematic depth the space pirate narrative adds. The zodiac symbols printed on every card offer a direct route into astrological readings without having to memorise correspondences separately.

Lay the Major Arcana out in order and read the zodiac symbols as a sequence. It is a quick way to see how the astrological architecture of this deck is built, and it gives Mena's journey a whole extra dimension.

About Jen Sankey and Carol Phillips

Jen Sankey bought her first deck with babysitting money at age fourteen. Tarot has been central to her life ever since, alongside candle spells, moon work, and tea leaf reading. She serves as director of the World Spiritual Association and works as a tarot reader, author, professional witch, and teacher.

For the Stardust Wanderer Tarot, she collaborated with artist Carol Phillips to bring her cosmic vision into visual form. The result is a deck where the conceptual and the pictorial are clearly aligned.

Specifications

• Author: Jen Sankey
• Illustrator: Carol Phillips
• ISBN: 9781646713127
• Number of cards: 78
• Card language: English
• Card dimensions: 69 x 120 mm
• Box dimensions: 73 x 124 mm
• Weight: 454 g
• Guidebook: 136 pages, illustrated
• Finish: Gold glitter edges
• Availability: June 2026

Questions we often get

Do I need to know Rider-Waite-Smith to use this deck?
Familiarity with the RWS system is genuinely useful here, since the deck follows that structure closely. The suit names are easy to cross-reference with traditional suits, and the guidebook supports readers throughout. The narrative arc built around Mena also makes the deck approachable as a standalone reading experience.

What do the zodiac symbols on the cards actually do in a reading?
Each symbol indicates the astrological correspondence for that card. The guidebook expands on these with planetary and elemental associations. In practice, you can bring astrology into a reading without memorising correspondences in advance: the information is printed directly on the card face.