The Tarot Channel

The "Ultimate" Tarot Trainer

I'm have my doubts that *any* software package could ever be the "ultimate" Tarot trainer, but the Ultimate Tarot Trainer (Windows only) certainly claims to be. 

I haven't seen a copy -- and probably won't, since Mac users are left out. But even if I had a Windows PC, I'm not sure I'd respond well to the hard-sell, hyper-marketing language found on the product's home page, which sounds right out of a late-night commercial for one of those flimsy vegetable choppers:

"Other Tarot software costs as much as $199 ... that's just not affordable for beginners. So rather than charge $199 ... or $149 ... or even $99 ... I've decided to sell it for only $29.00!"

Oooookay. If you have PC and twenty-nine bucks to spare, you can check out the Ultimate Tarot Trainer for yourself.

Three Cards to Midnight - Interactive Game Based on Tarot

"With all eyes on Germany this week for the Games Convention in Leipzig, the biggest adventure news in recent memory comes quietly from a most unexpected source. More specifically, from Chris Jones and Aaron Conners, creators of the beloved Tex Murphy series, who have now provided Adventure Gamers with the first details of their brand new adventure, Three Cards to Midnight." -- Jack Allin

Using Tarot cards as a central theme, this new adventure game is due in November 2008.

You can find out more about the game at the Adventure Gamers website. To see the mysterious (and nicely done) trailer for Three Cards to Midnight, visit the Unofficial Tex Murphy website. (I love the cards shown in the trailer! I wonder if they'd make a companion deck to the game...)

Thanks to Bonnie from Comparative Tarot who provided this great tip!

-- Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book

iTarot (iPhone 2.0 app)

As it turns out, my personal favorite of all the iPhone Tarot apps now available is iTarot, the Tarot-reading application from the folks at Astrology.com.

iTarot is an adaptation of the Tarot-reading web application already offered at Astrology.com (even if you don't have an iPhone, you can try it out in any web browser). The iPhone version offers one-card "Love" or one card "Daily" readings, served up from a virtual copy of Lo Scarabeo's Universal Tarot.

Since both cards are drawn at once, it's easy to ignore the "Love" and "Daily" labels and make this reading into anything you want it to be: a Yes/No reading, a Yes/If-No/If reading, a Pro and Con reading, etc. The animations are smooth, making the program a pleasure to use. While an Internet connection is needed to download the application (of course!), you don't have to be connected to the Internet to use it.

A tap of the "Show" button reveals -- gah! -- canned meanings ... but these, at least, try to be innovative. They're written in first person, so each one comes across as a sort of affirmation. In general, these are more engaging and less offensive than the pre-fab meanings included with Touch Tarot or Party Tarot.

If you have an iPhone and an interest in Tarot, iTarot is a must-have app at a great price (free!).

PS: While you're at the app store, try Astrology.com's I Ching application, too! By interacting with the interface, you build your own I Ching hexagrams line by line -- without having to toss coins or shuffle yarrow stalks. The resulting hexagram is delivered with a series of brief interpretations, but I prefer to turn to the corresponding chapter in I Ching for Beginners or Balkin's The Laws of Change.

Tarot Library Organizer

TWM Publishing is in the planning stage for a Tarot Library Organizer.

This will be a database to manage your decks, spreads and book collections. It is also planned to have a client management area.

This is your opportunity to voice your wish list, so dream big and tell Heidi what you want at the TWM Blog, Aeclectic Tarot Forum thread, or via email.

-- Janet Boyer

Touch Tarot (iPhone 2.0 App)

Just released yesterday, Touch Tarot is yet another program designed to turn that fancy new iPhone into a pocketable, portable Tarot deck.

The main menu pretty much says it all: with the tap of a finger, Touch Tarot generates one-card, three-card (Past, Present, Future), and ten-card Celtic Cross readings. The only deck included is the familiar Rider-Waite; if you like, you can gaze lovingly at each and every card in the deck one-by-one using the built-in card browser.

Inevitably (*sigh*!) the developers have included a library of short, pointless canned meanings for each card. The Empress, we are told, heralds "stable relationships" and "material wealth." The Lovers warn of pending temptation (!) and looming change.

I asked Touch Tarot, "When will a developer release an iPhone deck simulator that isn't saddled with stale, trite canned meanings?" My one-card reading supplied the Seven of Swords: "Logic and reason win the day."

Ah, we can only hope. If you like your readings served up with 50-word meanings tacked on, Touch Tarot will set you back just ninety-nine cents.

Party Tarot for the iPhone

Strength: Fast, easy Tarot readings with a tap of the finger. The best deck simulation software available for the iPhone.

Weakness: Canned meanings included with the software are lame.

If you're the happy owner of a new iPhone 2.0 (or a 1.0 owner who upgraded to the new 2.0 software this weekend), then you'll want to know about Party Tarot.

Party Tarot generates makes generating quick readings fast, fun, and social. Tapping the screen reveals a menu, offering guided readings (structured Past, Present, Future readings, which can be expanded to include Opportunity and Summary cards) or open-ended readings (based on one-card draws).

The open-ended readings are the most fun. When the user taps the Spin button, cards from the familiar Rider-Waite deck spin past the screen, slot-machine style. Another tap stops the spin, picking a single card for the user to interpret.

The 78 canned interpretations -- one per card, regardless of position -- are too brief, too vague, and too imprecise to be of much use, and deserve to be ignored. That said, though, with Party Tarot on your iPhone, you'll always have access to a Tarot deck ... and you'll have one more reason to pull out that shiny, sexy iPhone in public!

Visit the developer's site, see a video of the software in use, or download a copy directly from the App Store. At $1.99, it's a steal!

Video Fortune Teller DVD Reads Tarot?

The Video Fortune Teller DVD uses the random-access capability built into almost every DVD player to serve up "customized" Tarot readings. Pop the disc in your PC, click Enter, and "Madame Munzunicar" will assemble your canned reading from scratch.

Weary of Tarot readings? You can also consult her Crystal Ball readings for "Yes/No" answers, consult her Spirit Board for "Magic 8 Ball"-style commentary ("My sources say no!"), or hone your psychic abilities by guessing which of eight symbol cards Madame Munzunicar will draw.

Prefer to try before you buy? Snag a free sample reading from the web-based version of the same software over on FortuneDiva.com.

Stone Riley's Spirit Hill Tarot

Every year, the perennially inspirational archetypes of Tarot are imagined anew by countless visual artists. Now here’s New England’s Stone Riley, creator of Spirit Hill Tarot (2006, Spirit Hill Studio), who has devised a CD of striking Tarot paintings based on his "New Modern Art" theory.

MacTarot 1.9

Okay, I admit it: when I comes to Tarot software, I'm really picky.

When I work with Tarot software, I want to feel a virtual deck of cards in my hands. I want flexibility. I want lots of spreads (and the ability to use custom spreads on the fly). I want the ability to work with virtual decks -- cards I scan in from my own private library. When it comes time for a reading, I should forget that I'm using software at all.

Especially in its earliest versions, the excellent Orphalese Tarot set the standard for Tarot software ... but it's for Windows only, and, like millions of other people, I've made the move to the Mac. (The Orphalese Tarot is, by the way, the only piece of Windows software I miss at all!)

And so, with high hopes, I downloaded -- and subscribed to -- MacTarot. I started out with version 1.7.5; this week, the programmer released an upgrade to version 1.9. Is this new version of MacTarot the Tarot software of my dreams?