Questions about daily readings for my bachelor thesis

[ButGay]

I have a few questions about daily readings since it is a very personalized experience. It is for reseach in my bachelor thesis (and my own curiousity). I am super grateful for anyone who can help me out!

1. How do you do daily readings?

2. What are you usually trying to find out when you do your daily reading?

3. Do you read only upright or also reversed?

4. Do you have all the card meanings memorized or do you have to look them up sometimes?

5. Have you ever taken notes about your readings?

Thank you so much!

[DanielJUK]

With all due respect, how will you use this information for your thesis?

If our forum members respond, will their text be anonymously used or under their username?

Will you take the actual replies or just use it in a generalised reply to form an opinion? 🙂

[ButGay]

56 minutes ago, DanielJUK said:

With all due respect, how will you use this information for your thesis?

If our forum members respond, will their text be anonymously used or under their username?

Will you take the actual replies or just use it in a generalised reply to form an opinion? 🙂

Thank you, these are good and valid questions!
I need the information to find out if there is a popular/common way of doing daily readings as a guide.
It is completely anonymous!
The thesis is about making daily tarot card readings digitally accessible specifically for blind people. I would like to use your knowledge to find the best possible way to simulate the process of a reading so a blind person can do it without someones help. (Also, only 10% of blind people can read braille, so most have no good way of reading tarot cards irl.)

[Eric13]

Maybe it would have been better since this is your first. real post to come on here and simply ask if forum members would mind answering these types of questions. And explain why you would like to know this. 

[ButGay]

15 minutes ago, Eric13 said:

Maybe it would have been better since this is your first. real post to come on here and simply ask if forum members would mind answering these types of questions. And explain why you would like to know this. 

I would have loved to elaborate in the original post, but the word limit is making things a little tricky unfortunately. I am unfamiliar with this forum so I thought simply asking like this would be a decent enough way

[gregory]

I have no idea how they pull cards and identify them if they don't use Braille - do we assume they are identified by a computer ? but I'd think the ideal solution to much of this is speech to text software like Dragon (if that one is still around - it's what a blind friend of mine use to use to write poetry.)

 

1. How do you do daily readings? How do you mean - what spreads etc ?

2. What are you usually trying to find out when you do your daily reading? (How is this any different for blind people ?)

3. Do you read only upright or also reversed? Also - what's the relevance to blind people in particular.

4. Do you have all the card meanings memorized or do you have to look them up sometimes? Again - it's the same for us all.

5. Have you ever taken notes about your readings? Now there Dragon could help.

To be honest, except for note taking - how do any of your questions differ for blind people and sighted readers ? We all ask the same kinds of questions, we all choose our spreads; some of us use reversals and some don't - I imagine the same applies to blind readers. Dragon would solve all of the "issues" except the ID of the card.

Edited November 13, 2022 by gregory

[ButGay]

1 hour ago, gregory said:

I have no idea how they pull cards and identify them if they don't use Braille - do we assume they are identified by a computer ? but I'd think the ideal solution to much of this is speech to text software like Dragon (if that one is still around - it's what a blind friend of mine use to use to write poetry.)

 

1. How do you do daily readings? How do you mean - what spreads etc ?

2. What are you usually trying to find out when you do your daily reading? (How is this any different for blind people ?)

3. Do you read only upright or also reversed? Also - what's the relevance to blind people in particular.

4. Do you have all the card meanings memorized or do you have to look them up sometimes? Again - it's the same for us all.

5. Have you ever taken notes about your readings? Now there Dragon could help.

To be honest, except for note taking - how do any of your questions differ for blind people and sighted readers ? We all ask the same kinds of questions, we all choose our spreads; some of us use reversals and some don't - I imagine the same applies to blind readers. Dragon would solve all of the "issues" except the ID of the card.

1. Yes! Spreads are very interesting for this.
2. Not at all! It's for design choises.
3. This is for features (some people prefer upright only)
4. This is for features too (toggling existence/visibility of card description)

Right now it's mostly about user experience design; If I want to simulate something I have to know how it works. It will be fullly digital via a website and yes, the usage of screenreaders is very important! Another important point is that I could find no screenreader-accessible tarot card reading website either. I use screenreaders, and the websites aren't built to be used by them unfortunately.

[gregory]

Does anyone here know of websites where blind people can pull  tarot cards and tell what they are ? I've found one with playing cards and gamblers, but....

 

So what you hope for in the end is to be able to design a site where blind people can pull cards and do daily readings in the way they prefer, and take notes on them ? Sounds like a good idea...

[ButGay]

6 minutes ago, gregory said:

Does anyone here know of websites where blind people can pull  tarot cards and tell what they are ? I've found one with playing cards and gamblers, but....

 

So what you hope for in the end is to be able to design a site where blind people can pull cards and do daily readings in the way they prefer, and take notes on them ? Sounds like a good idea...

Yes thats my goal! Unfortunately I am not too experienced with card readings myself so I was looking for advice here.

[Rupicapra]

Sounds interesting. What is the topic of your thesis? What subject is it in?

[Teemu]

I do not do daily readings. I feel it is way too much (for me).

[ButGay]

38 minutes ago, Rupicapra said:

Sounds interesting. What is the topic of your thesis? What subject is it in?

Basically its about creating a website that makes it possible for visually impaired (and blind) people to read tarot cards independently; one reading a day at most. They should be able to document their readings and interact with other users about the readings. It focuses on UX and UI design and the programming aspect that makes it accessible for assistive technologies

[Grandma]

2 hours ago, ButGay said:

Yes thats my goal! Unfortunately I am not too experienced with card readings myself so I was looking for advice here.

My advice is to become very familiar with reading Tarot before attempting to design something with which to read Tarot.  

 

Systems designed to do things that the designers don't know how to do have a tendency to not do the things well.  For example, I know a nursing home where the elevator access is at a funny angle to the hallway, making it very difficult to move a gurney on and off the elevator.  The patient lies there while staff maneuvers back and forth doing an eight-point turn.  The architects who designed the elevator lobbies clearly never transported a bedridden patient, which is an important function of an elevator in a nursing home.  I also worked in a pizza restaurant where it was almost impossible to clean the makeline because the drain was higher than the bottom of the reservoir.  Icy cold water had to be splashed and scooped rather than swirling efficiently down the drain.  The designers of this makeline had clearly never cleaned a makeline.

 

How will you assure that your program will enable anyone, blind or sighted, to read Tarot when you don't know what is involved in reading Tarot?

[Raggydoll]

What grandma said. Also, unless you yourself have impaired eyesight, I’d make sure to consult someone who know what that is like. 

[gregory]

22 minutes ago, Raggydoll said:

What grandma said. Also, unless you yourself have impaired eyesight, I’d make sure to consult someone who know what that is like. 

 

She does have impaired eyesight - she has to use screenreaders. She did say this.

 

And this is why she is asking what people need to do daily readings. Both to help herself and her thesis and to design something others can use. It's not so much about "this is how to read" as making it possible for blind people to pull cards, "see" what they are, with perhaps generic meanings if they are needed at first - like a lot of on line reading sites have - and make notes on them. Ir doesn't seem an unreasonable aim to me.

[Grandma]

25 minutes ago, gregory said:

And this is why she is asking what people need to do daily readings. Both to help herself and her thesis and to design something others can use. It's not so much about "this is how to read" as making it possible for blind people to pull cards, "see" what they are, with perhaps generic meanings if they are needed at first - like a lot of on line reading sites have - and make notes on them. Ir doesn't seem an unreasonable aim to me.

It is very reasonable and very admirable.  I don't mean that @ButGay needs to learn how to read.  I mean she needs to make sure her program includes everything necessary to produce a readable spread as well as resources to assist in reading that spread.  Not how to read per se, but what is involved in reading.

[gregory]

Which is exactly what she is asking us to help with. I'm not sure that offering the facility to create a spread and providing a way to see a card and offer card meanings mean you have to know how to read, actually. I know the theory of playing the guitar, but however hard I tried I never managed to apply it in practice.... I can still tell others how to go about it, though. Come to think, I wonder if Orphalese could help here.... A programme you can go to when you know nothing, and it takes you through the whole process. (IT also has genius tech support....)

 

@ButGay - take a look and maybe contact them. https://orphalese.net

[Raggydoll]

1 hour ago, gregory said:

 

She does have impaired eyesight - she has to use screenreaders. She did say this.

 

And this is why she is asking what people need to do daily readings. Both to help herself and her thesis and to design something others can use. It's not so much about "this is how to read" as making it possible for blind people to pull cards, "see" what they are, with perhaps generic meanings if they are needed at first - like a lot of on line reading sites have - and make notes on them. Ir doesn't seem an unreasonable aim to me.

Thank you for explaining, I agree that it sounds reasonable! 

[DanielJUK]

10 hours ago, ButGay said:

Thank you, these are good and valid questions!
I need the information to find out if there is a popular/common way of doing daily readings as a guide.
It is completely anonymous!
The thesis is about making daily tarot card readings digitally accessible specifically for blind people. I would like to use your knowledge to find the best possible way to simulate the process of a reading so a blind person can do it without someones help. (Also, only 10% of blind people can read braille, so most have no good way of reading tarot cards irl.)

 

Thank you for sharing your thesis project with us and answering all our questions ❤️

 

I have a family member who used to assistant newly blind people and worked for the local area here in London. This is a area that has really been scaled back due to finances and she retired a few years ago after doing it for 30 years. I am uncertain whether there is much of the department left now 😭. She told me about Braille as well and I always presumed everyone knew it. She has a Braille typewriter for imprinting on paper and writing letters for her clients in Braille. Older people with vision impairment are more likely to know Braille and younger people are much more likely to use all the technology we now have. But it's not as many people who know it as you think 🙂 .

 

13 hours ago, ButGay said:

I have a few questions about daily readings since it is a very personalized experience. It is for reseach in my bachelor thesis (and my own curiousity). I am super grateful for anyone who can help me out!

1. How do you do daily readings?

2. What are you usually trying to find out when you do your daily reading?

3. Do you read only upright or also reversed?

4. Do you have all the card meanings memorized or do you have to look them up sometimes?

5. Have you ever taken notes about your readings?

Thank you so much!

 

When I started learning tarot, I pulled a daily tarot card from physical decks around me. I would read up on the meanings and look at the picture. I used it to describe the day or something that would happen that day. I would do it at the start of the day and really I was seeing how it turned out. I did it like this for year or two, seeing the practical manifestation of the card and how did the card meaning apply to the day? Sometimes it was hard to apply it but I learnt so much about the cards and their nuance from doing this and I journaled every day. So this was turning theory that I learnt to practical, this is how the energy of the card actually is! I used upright and reversed after a few months to get more depth. I looked them up but gradually could just look at the cards as time went on, so it was a learning exercise. I always recommend this to all beginners! Some people like to do the card at the end of the day to review the day rather than at the start which could cause anxiety.

 

After this studying period I become more lazy 😆. I use an app which auto-generates a card of the card. I use an Android app called Galaxy Tone - Galaxy Tarot. It hasn't been updated by the owners for a long time so I always hope it keeps going. It gives me a random new card, upright or reversed at midnight each day. The app also has a generic meaning and how to apply it as a daily card. I find it quite accurate for each day. I do look at and think about this card of the day every day still. I don't really read the meaning anymore, just look at the card.

 

We have discussed this before in this forum but I think websites and apps which generate cards have to have well-built algorithms. Every card has to be able to come up and it has to be totally randomised. I found the app I use quite good, it seems to be accurate. This is the free readings site of our old archived tarot forum site here - https://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/free-readings/ it also seems to produce good randomised card selections. Some of the random cards are made by members here and they have text made for each card. So I think how the card is generated is important, the coding and function of the site. It's useful if it is going to show this card more than this one, they all have to have equal chance, like shuffling a real deck.

 

I think if you are making a site for people with vision impairments, a good description of the card would be useful. Sometimes I find reading text descriptions useful when interpreting and more than generic meanings. Waite wrote some descriptions for RWS cards. But a text description that could be screen read I think could be good. For example, the star in the sky is over the man on a horse. Or something like that. I think describing the scene is very important.

 

It's all an excellent idea though, good luck with it ❤️

[Rupicapra]

11 hours ago, ButGay said:

Basically its about creating a website that makes it possible for visually impaired (and blind) people to read tarot cards independently; one reading a day at most. They should be able to document their readings and interact with other users about the readings. It focuses on UX and UI design and the programming aspect that makes it accessible for assistive technologies

Thank you for sharing, this sounds like a great project. 
 

I think @DanielJUK explained how I use the card of the day. 
 

in general, people decide for themselves if the use reversals or not. I think most people remember the meanings with time, but personally I like to have a handbook available in case I get stuck or maybe there is some extra info that’ll might apply to this. And journaling about my cards is a big part of my practice.

 

 I like the Fool’s dog app on android and iOS, I think there is a free version available which uses a mix of decks. It has options to e.g. read reversed cards or not, it also lets you save and have a journal of the cards you have drawn. 
 

good luck with your project 🙂 

[gregory]

19 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

I think if you are making a site for people with vision impairments, a good description of the card would be useful. Sometimes I find reading text descriptions useful when interpreting and more than generic meanings. Waite wrote some descriptions for RWS cards. But a text description that could be screen read I think could be good. For example, the star in the sky is over the man on a horse. Or something like that. I think describing the scene is very important.

 

 

This would be brilliant. 

 

Maybe one thing worth doing would be to look at a reading site which works (The old AT one seems to) and see how it could be added to to make it accessible. In fact, you could email the creator of that site; she might be able to help; she is very techy - and there is a contact link on the page. It still works - I used it two days ago for something !

 

13 hours ago, Rupicapra said:

Thank you for sharing, this sounds like a great project. 
 

I think @DanielJUK explained how I use the card of the day. 
 

in general, people decide for themselves if the use reversals or not. I think most people remember the meanings with time, but personally I like to have a handbook available in case I get stuck or maybe there is some extra info that’ll might apply to this. And journaling about my cards is a big part of my practice.

 

I think reversals is the least of your worries, @ButGay And blind readers could indeed have a handbook open in another tab if they need to.

Edited November 14, 2022 by gregory

[devin]

What a wonderful idea. I wish you the best of luck.

 

I don't do daily readings anymore. When I did, it was as a practice drill.

 

1. I lay down three cards - no spreads.

2. What the day ahead will hold.

3. 90% of the time I only use upright cards.

4. When starting out, I looked up card meanings frequently.

5. Yes. Making a note of readings can be helpful and interesting.

 

As an aside, I've never done single card readings, but I know that lots and lots of people do.

 

All the best.

[Nemia]

 

How do you do daily readings?

I used to do it for many years - just one card. I also took a picture and documented it. And for some time, I published these as Card of the Day on a forum where people could click on it and use it for themselves. 

 

What are you usually trying to find out when you do your daily reading?

How the energies of the day manifest in the card, and the energies of the card manifest in the day. I just try to connect the card and the way I experience my day. 

 

Do you read only upright or also reversed?

Only upright. 

 

Do you have all the card meanings memorized or do you have to look them up sometimes?

I know my cards and they have deeply personal meanings for me. I sometimes read card meanings in books just to get inspiration but every card has a distinct voice for me. 

 

Have you ever taken notes about your readings?

I never do a reading without documenting it. As mentioned above, I wrote little divinatory or affirmative texts for those cards and published them. It was such a useful thing to do, why did I stop???? 

 

Wishing you success with your undertakings!