Blood of Baphomet Tarot
The Blood of Baphomet Tarot is a deck of 78 tarot cards created by occultist and author Travis McHenry. It was first published in 2025 by Bloodstone Studios as a limited first edition of 300 decks in conjunction with the Baphomet Tarot.
Development
As Travis was developing the Baphomet Tarot, he felt the artwork could also work as woodcut-style images, similar to the artwork he used for The Tarot of Vlad Dracula. Rather than set the woodcut against a paper background, he made the bold decision to create a two-tone red and black card design. Fundamental to this concept was matching matte red edges for the deck.
This deck embraces a wide range of cultural depictions of Baphomet and similar horned deities to provide the deepest possible connection with the ancient concept of a horned god. These include the Goat of Mendes from the Egyptian religion, the Baffomet of the Knights Templar, and the Sabbatic Goat of Éliphas Lévi.
Influences
Some of the influences which inspired the illustrations in this deck include:
- Goya's paintings Witches' Sabbath and The Great He-Goat.
- The Devil card in the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot.
- Lord of Darkness, Tim Curry's character in Legend (1985).
- Black Phillip, the black goat in The Witch (2015).
- The ram-god statues Travis encountered throughout Egypt in 2021.
Content
The content of the deck is fundamentally the same as the Baphomet Tarot. Aside from the two-tone color scheme, there are minor changes to the card descriptions in the guidebook.
The Major Arcana follows the traditional tarot pattern; however, because this deck expresses reverence for Baphomet and decries the hypocrisy of organized religion, the imagery of the Hierophant and Devil cards are inverted.
The cards of the Major Arcana are all linked to Kabbalistic principles. The first ten cards are connected to the ten sephirot of the Tree of Life and the second ten cards are connected to the ten qlippoth of the Tree of Death.
The Minor Arcana is fully illustrated and follows the traditional layout of four suits, except pentacles/coins have been flipped upside down and are now called "pentagrams."
These cards include many surprises, including female knights (in honor of the original female Visconti-Sforza knights) and some drastic departures from the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot imagery.
Publication
The deck was first published by Bloodstone Studios following a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2025. This campaign raised $43,347 against a goal of $6,666.
Travis also released a grimoire of Baphometic magic called The Book of Baphomet.