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@Symph you might like these older discussions on the forum with similar discussions to this (it's fine to start a new discussion on this, but these might also be worth a browse)..... BTW most phone apps and websites are not AI, they have algorithms for random picking with stored interpretations. It's not the same as AI, there are tarot chatbots and sites out there and people use ChatGPT and all the others but again this is not the same as programmed software for reading. My advice is to use a digital deck for shuffling and picking the cards but interpret the reading yourself.

A good place to start could be to do a daily recap. Draw one card at the end of the day, asking beforehand, "how did my day go" or "what lesson can I draw from the day?" Something like that, instead of asking advice from the cards. (I can't take credit for this, not sure where I learned this from, just picked up on it here and there.) As far as trusting electronic tarot apps. My opinion: really like a digital version of a dice roll. No different to me, really, and just as reliable. A really good one is Galaxy Tarot.

You and I are on a similar page it's like, I suppose if I have no other method it can work but it just doesn't really feel right and it's hard for me to trust it. I'm a bit odd in the sense that while I love Tarot and want to become very good at reading it to have a strong regular personal practice, I also have trouble figuring out what to use it for. I'm not a curious person, I don't wonder about a lot of things, I don't have much drama in my life, so often times I'm like "I feel like reading some cards!" And then I sit there for 30 minutes going "but what do I want a read on?.... no I don't really need to know that, don't need to know that..." And then I just give up and go "well I'm not gonna FORCE a question I don't actually feel compelled to ask.." So yeah, kinda weird.

Welcome back @Rachelcat 🙂

I've used the facade web page, and as someone who holds the public view of it's a good parlor trick coupled with a bit of cold reading it's one half dozen ot the other. On a personal note, I only use digital decks I physically own. The reason behind this is if I need to draw cards to clarify. However, I feel no connection to the draw and being a bit of a luddite, I prefer cards. In a more serious note, if you need to have the cards fo whatever reason, digitsl is better than none. I've been in a similar position as you though. My ex refused to let the cards in the house because he noticed I could use them and center myself to where the abuse didn't get a reaction because I could meditate on the cards (my mom let me keep them in her house). In that case, facade was a lifesaver, and this was before all the apps came out.

Hi everybody! Hope all is going well for you! This week for me will be Vintagia: I Ching Oracle for Psychogeography and Creative Discovery. It’s a Kickstarter that’s kind of out there, but I had to have it because it’s an I Ching deck! It’s 64 cards for the 64 I Ching hexagrams. The illustrations are photos from DOCUMERICA, a US EPA project of the 70s to document everyday life and environmental conditions of that time and place. Cards also have “VCR panel” icons: record, rewind, play, fast forward, etc. The box looks like a videotape box (but card-sized). The I Ching base is the Wilhelm translation, I think. The booklet has MANY sets of interpretations: “vector drifts,” “psychogeography and intuitive walking,” and “prompts for creative discovery” (containing separate prompt sets for active imagination, fiction and poetry, journaling, music composition, music performance, fine arts, and philosophy). That’s a lot! (And to be honest, it all seems a bit pretentious. But that might be because I’m not understanding it yet.) I’m not sure how I’m going to use this deck. I’ll probably start with spreads in the booklet and then try to move on to some I Ching spreads I’ve used before. And I’m going to have to keep my magnifying glass handy! In the meantime, interview! What is your most important characteristic? 61. Inner truth, silence reveals the real voice The deck is an extra pair of glasses to help me see further within. What is your strength? 49. Revolution (molting), erase to reinvent The deck isn’t shy to recommend out with the old in order to welcome the new. And the world revolves. Your weakness? 27. The corners of the mouth, tend the whole like a garden Meta: The deck might be weak in aligning traditional I Ching meanings with its key phrases. What can you teach me? 64. Before completion, let an edge fray, leave an open space Last card in the deck isn’t about completion, but its opposite. Similar to 49, but more open. Everything is always new if we leave space for it to enter. How can I learn it? 10. Approach, move closer to a crackling edge Crackling? Same as a fraying edge above? I can learn about staying open by not just leaving an open space, but actively moving toward it. What will be the outcome of our work together? 39. Obstruction, where the path blocks, the soul walks I won’t get much out of it this week, but I will be encouraged to return to it later for more study (for my soul to walk through it). Ok for now. I’ll get into the VCR panel thingies next time!

Yeah I can't lie, I just did a spread and sort of, tested it by asking the same question different ways and prying into it to see if I'd get contradicting answers, nope, it was 100 percent consistent in how it read. I don't however like having to read this hodge podge of different decks so I guess I'd need to buy one of their decks to actually have one I can intuit more from, and it's hard for me personally to be as umm.... I dunno my brain goes "Well yeah but it's just an app" But I mean, if it says the same thing every time.... It really is odd to me though, I'm shocked it still works honestly.

@Symph I feel ya. It is a lot less physical, but I found the shuffling feature a nice substitute. It’s just an animation (tied to a randomizer) but I could imagine you could project your energy into it that way. For me, so long as the cards are shuffled and random, I’m happy, though I do appreciate the animation because it gets me in the mood and makes me think I’m influencing the shuffling more. I think Fools Dog (minus their sampler pack) is pretty good at keeping in app purchases out of their apps, though it’s been a while since I’ve used them. Plus you get the guidebook in the app, if there is one. As for whether you can get accurate readings, I never had a problem with that. The cards I got were on point. Plus the journal feature helped me look back at the spreads I’d done and review/add to their entries. I don’t know if you can export your journal though, something to keep in mind. No problem! Hope you enjoy. Let us know how it goes for you.

Well I kept pondering it afterward, and like, if the app were to not use any kind of digital intelligence, but just be a card randomizer, why couldn't one's own consciousness bond with it and get accurate readings? Still sounds weird to me though, no cards to shuffle, no cards to pop out of the deck by chance, you know what I mean? So much like... physical energy is involved in Tarot. Anyway... As far as the apps I was seeing it was like Labyrinthos, Keen, Daily Tarot Card Reading, like I dunno, they don't all mention AI or anything, maybe I should have titled the thread "can an app give an accurate reading". I mean at the end of the day, you either trust your reading or don't, I just see like "in app purchases!" and it feels much less... sacred? But if you have had good experience with TFD I'll at least give it a shot. I'll ask some light questions to see if it feels accurate or intuitive, thanks for the recommendation! I

What apps were you looking at? I had good experiences with The Fools Dog tarot apps back when I used tarot apps. I looked up one deck by them and I didn’t see mention of AI. You can use their spreads or make your own.

In another thread a member suggested to me that I use an app to read Tarot while I live at my parents since they don't allow the cards in their house. I started looking up various apps and kept seeing "AI Tarot reader" And suddenly I wasn't sure if this was a good idea anymore lol. Now I will admit, I am a lot more weary of AI or.. distrusting of it than most people are, and I could absolutely be paranoid. But whether or not AI is good, bad, neutral, it still kind of makes me question like... what makes the right cards come out of a deck? And are we sure a computer app can accurately do the same thing? A lot of people won't let others touch their Tarot decks so that only their energy is imbued in the deck, and isn't there something to be said for the energetic ritual involved, and bonding with a deck etc? I'm just curious how you guys view it, I personally haven't downloaded the app cause the more I think about it the more weird it seems. There's no bond between me and the app, there's a strange digital "middle man", I dunno... I'd be curious what other viewpoints there are on this or if anyone feels like I do about it. (Was hard to know what forum this should go in, hope it's right)

yeeeeeah, cause then there's no "evil object" in the house, I'll look into that!

@Barleywine Understood! I like them as "Major" indicators. I have a lot of time with the cards, but not a lot of time reading for others. I read more for myself and internal reflection than actually sitting down with someone else. I'd guess it's been around 15 years since I pulled a card for someone I didn't know. I have in the last few months begun studying again. It still calls to me. Sincerely,

Morning everyone, @Symph I understand about needing to keep peace at home. Maybe when you are out and about you can visit online resources like this one to keep in touch. I also like your reflections about The Fool, Hermit, and the World. 😀 In the end, I believe whatever the Tarot is, we carry it with us where ever we go. It's never locked away. Something must have spoke to you in order to get you to respond to this thread. @DanielJUK Yes! I agree "the story as a whole" is not the basis of what ever your working on in the moment. Overall, what I like about it is the journey, or the story that it reminds me of when I see one of them. And in how far back in time you can actually trace the story itself. I have two books by Eden Gray. Mastering the Tarot, and A Complete Guide to the Tarot. The pages are falling out of the first one. I typically keep a rubber band around it. lol They have highlighting and notes throughout Beyond that, maybe three or four others and that's my entire collection. Sincerely,

I spent over four decades trying to accept the Major Arcana as representing the significant life-events proposed by Eden Gray, only to realize that, in my own experience, they almost never did. So now I read them as showing the environmental backdrop or overarching theme for the events and circumstances indicated by the Minor Arcana. They may still create an atmosphere conducive to "something big," but I haven't seen it materialize in practice. (The Tower is an excellent example, usually indicating only mild annoyances.) Rather than continuing to struggle with it, I changed my perspective.

@Symph could you use a tarot phone app? There are many apps for both iOS and Android.

The Fool's Journey (which some people don't follow at all) is really a method of learning and remembering the Majors. It's useful for learning the progress of the cards when you are starting out. I think it was first published as an idea in a book by Eden Gray in the 70's. It was interesting to link the cards that way, Waite had also connected the major before that. I think it is something to think about though as it's a metaphor for the spiritual and archetypical journey we go through life. I do think we go through cycles like the majors and one completes and we are back at The Fool. I like the idea of the 3 phases of the journey, the cards do fit. I would only use it loosely in actual readings, because any of the cards could be an awakening at some point in our lives or a transformation. It's always interesting to think about which Major card you currently feel you are at that stage of life. I find that exercise quite helpful for self-work and you can see which phase you are in.

A unique version of Reading Circle for those who would like to work through their collection of decks, participants choose decks from their collections to work with for the week. Some use one deck, others use two or more. Some combine methods: Tarot, non-tarot (e.g. oracle), playing cards, or any other divinatory method is welcome. All we ask is that you use at least one tarot or oracle deck. No collection is too large or too small. The only rules we have are the Tarot, Tea & Me Rules; Be respectful of one other. Please join us! Please post with your choice of deck(s) for the week Chat away about your deck, how you're finding it (or not), etc., it's all up to you Participants may either choose to share their readings here in this discussion thread or opt to have their own journal in the Journals Forum and link it here Yet others may even have an offline journal in paper & pencil/pen form Share as often, as much, or as little as you like. You can drop in and out at any time—reality and life permitting. New to tarot? Long time reader? Come on in! Participants fire cat pickles: RWS Rachelcat: Vintagia, I Ching Oracle for Psychogeography and Creative Discovery Click here for DoW 434 (10/27 - 11/2)

I've been reading through the Holistic Tarot by Benebell Wen and she makes some very interesting comments on the reversed Tower so I can share what I've read there. One reversed meaning mentions that the seeker has been given outside misrepresentations by others and been influenced by that. She says that makes the Tower reversed experience less drastic in its effect and there's a better chance of coming out of the experience and recover. She says the seeker is stronger than the reversed forces of the Tower. We need to look at surrounding cards to determine in what way the information has affected the seeker . Or the seeker has been falsely accused of something. It will be a jolt like in the Tower upright, but it will be possible to recover from the jolt and not see all being lost. They'll be able to salvage much and recover.

It's been an Aeon since I read it... So I guess I'll be reading it again soon 🙂. So... is this tiny little book now OOP and ridiculously expensive then??

Well unfortunately I can't actually read Tarot right now, I recently lost my place of living and had to move back in with my parents who are STAUNCHLY christian, and they won't even allow my cards in their house, I'm lucky they even let me keep them in the garage actually. I hate it too because I'm at a place where my intuition is rising, my fear is leaving, and I could really use some incite into where I'm at and how close I am to being done with the "turning inward" phase as you call it. But at the end of the day I'm not going to sneak the cards in or anything out of respect, I suppose I could ask some of my questions to the readers on here though! Hadn't thought about that haha. And yeah I mean, when I say I used to fear the Tarot I really mean it! Along with all the occult stuff I really did one hell of a shift, and that's why hearing about the fool's journey was so important for me. It was like, suddenly these cards weren't some spooky witchy means of spying on others or trying to figure out the future out of I dunno... ego or something, I was shocked to find that so many real life lessons that I knew in my heart were true were being taught through the cards. I had no idea the Tarot had such meaning and depth, and nothing about it seemed evil once I grasped what the cards meant. And when I realized you could use them for inner work, not just trying to know about the outside world, but trying to figure out your own inner world, these types of things drew me to it. As far as how I see the fool's journey now, I mean I haven't studied this stuff in ages, I have books that were gifted to me by a member here that I would be reading if they were allowed in the house! But the way you say it sounds right, it's like... you begin your journey innocent and naive, you ignorantly fall off the cliff so to speak, you then become sort of aware of your place in society, you brush up against uncomfortable systems, you realize you are powerless, so you turn within (hermit) then sort of.. the next level of true awakening happens, then once you are on the verge of self realization you are tested again to see if the lessons have stuck, and then you became a naked lady dancing on top of the world of course! (Ok I got a little sidetracked there at the end) So yeah that was my clunky ass way of remembering it lol

Symph — I really appreciate you sharing that. The way you described that moment of recognition, like something stirred inside you, really came through. I had a similar experience myself the day I stumbled across a reader at a Renaissance fair when I was young. It’s striking how those first encounters can stay with us and shape the way we connect to the cards. The three phases I described — Awakening, Surrender, and Transcendence — are just one way I’ve tried to make sense of the arc. Awakening feels like the Fool stepping into identity and will; Surrender feels like the turn inward, where solitude and transformation reshape us; and Transcendence feels like facing shadow and illusion on the way back to wholeness. It’s not rigid, just a lens I’ve found meaningful. They’ve become a kind of road map I keep returning to, refining little by little over the years. When one of these cards comes up in a reading, it often grabs my attention in a particular way. I’ll have a quick internal dialogue with myself — oh, this is important; what position did it fall into, where might the seeker be on their path, and how does this card make me feel in relation to the spread as a whole? That moment of pause helps me listen more closely to what the card is pointing toward. I’m curious how you carry that sense of the journey now — does it come through when you read for others, or more as a personal lens you hold in the background? Sincerely,

@TangaDo you have the book, the Traveller’s Report?

I can't remember EXACTLY what I was originally taught or believed about the 3 phases in the Tarot, but awakening, surrender, and transcendence and the way you described them is what resonates with me personally and fits my own journey. It was learning about the story the cards tell that made me want to read Tarot. I was still quite weary of anything that could be deemed occult at the time. Some gaia TV special came on and a man was explaining his view on tarot and he just had so much passion and love in what he was saying, and then he explained the journey of the soul that the Tarot sort of "tells", and whatever he said I was like "omg that's ALL SO TRUE" Something stirred inside me like I was feeling a calling or even a remembrance of something I used to know, and I ordered a deck the next day 😁