Hello, everyone.

Moderators, please move it if this is not an appropriate place.

So I started learning Tarot and as part of it I was trying to find the best way to record my readings. I am a software developer so I figured I'd write a little diary application that would allow you to track your readings (various spreads and various decks), pull descriptions from various sources and allow you to put in your own interpretations. As I am in the process of writing it now, I decided that other folks might find it useful. Maybe there are other features that you guys think would be useful for this. Please post your ideas. Once the app is written I will make it available to anyone who wants to use it.

Please post or send me pm.

SUCH a great idea. Hook me up!!!!! Ive been wanting this for a while. For a short time i was taking to drawing up my own blank cards up on paper in the form of the spread i chose for the day and making notes of the reading that way...but it was confusing, and after a while of doing it...I got WAY too many cross references going so i had to scrap the idea. but if it were a software design, I could retrace a card reference with the click of a mouse through a highlighted word (kinda like we used to do for power point in school, you remember when we numbered and ordered the pages?

there is this computer game i have that pulls spreads up for me, with little bookish one word and short sentence interpretations below the card...but it is basic at best, and I cannot successfully add notes on the thing without pulling several windows up. One thing I would like is to personalize my cards to fit my own meanings to them. For example, the Tower is significant to me for more reasons than just the traditional reading of the card. Same thing with the lovers or the Chariot or the Fool etc etc....I think it varies from reader to reader. Now if i were reading for a stranger i would use the conventional meanings for the cards, but thats not the kind of reading i want to give myself. -V

So far the list of features i can think of:

1.ability to pick different decks per reading (which are most popular to start?)
2.card descriptions library per deck - it would be editable, so you can put your own descriptions/meanings/interpretations
3. will start with a couple of spreads and will add more overtime (which are most popular to start?)
4. record your own readings or for friends, so you can catalog them and be able to look up and put more notes afterwards
5. maybe add some astrological stuff so you can correlate things (e.g. moon phases, any other suggestions?)
6. analysis of frequency of cards you get per person (readying for yourself or others that is)

i am actually making a little site for this application. I also would like your opinion as to what would be better:

1. web-based application that will run through the browser (the data would be saved on the server for your account, accessible from anywhere - just need internet, don't have to worry about backup, automatic upgrades etc)
2. desktop application that you can download and install on your computer (data would be saved on your computer, only accessible from your computer, you will have to worry about your own backups, but you can use it without internet access, you will need to worry about upgrading)

which option would you prefer?

If you can think of any other features (no matter how small), please feel free to drop a note.

This is a great idea!

1)The most popular decks are the Rider-Waite deck and the decks which derive from it, such as Universal Waite, etc. Hanson-Roberts is another Waite derivative that's also quite popular. Other decks I've noticed are popular are MotherPeace Tarot, Tarot of the Cat People, Dragon Tarot (the mid 1990's one by the same guys who did the Wyvern CCG), Angel Tarot, Egyptian Tarot, and the list goes on. What you might want to do is check Amazon or Barnesandnoble.com and sort their Tarot decks by 'bestselling' and see what shakes out.

2) Win.

3) Three card spread, seven card spread, and the Celtic Cross seem to be the top three spreads for readings. I personally use the Celtic Cross almost exclusively. If you can, go to a psychic fair, talk to the readers, and find out what their favourite spreads are--that is, if you don't find the information you're looking for here.

4) Win

5) A general information box would be nice. Some people are affected by stuff like the weather more than moon phases, but any text box like that would probably prove useful.

6) That's a good idea, too. This way the user can spot trends in their readings they might miss otherwise. If the same cards pop up over and over again it's usually a pretty strong sign.

I'm actually voting for the second delivery method. There are so many browsers out there and what works on one may break another. If it's downloaded to an individual computer there's no worry about that. Only thing I'd ask for would be an automatic update or an easily accessible 'update' button.

Darkmage,

Thanks for the feedback.

One small note:


The app will be flash based either way, so it shouldn't have browser dependency issues (as long as you have a flash 9 or later plugin).

Keep them coming!

well, i would say the second is probably the best idea cuz people tend to do it in the privacy of their own homes anyway, and I don't always have internet access. HOWEVER, it would be really awesome if I could compare notes with other people...say just forward them the page with my notes so they can see it for themselves. Wouldn't it be neat if we could do readings for other people online? I guess that can happen with a private AIM chat though so scratch that idea.

i would say i ALSO generally deal with the Celtic cross, just because i have consistently better readings with it!

The deck I have fallen in love with (though i really don't know how popular it is) is The Druid Craft tarot...but I assume the most commonly used is the rider-waite deck.

The one disappointing feature of the software i have now, is the fact that i cannot search for a specific card, once I have drawn my entire spread onto the table. It disallows for extra draws, and also does not allow for inverted cards and does not offer their alternate meanings. Also I cannot look at two cards at once so you can imagine my frustration. I wish I could offer more helpful suggestions, but I am not a hard person to please (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

One thought on the interpretations aspect, might be to allow for combination interpretations - if two cards show up in a spread consistently, exploration often leads to a deeper meaning between the two of them. I have frequently done readings using the celtic cross spread where certain combinations of 2 and three in a straight line (either in the cross or the side bar) bring to light an often more specific message than the reading a whole delivers.

Another feature that might be useful as a stand-alone application would be the ability to create new spreads. By assigning a number value to a position and having the ability to edit descriptions of cards based on what spread is being used, individuals can customize their own style of card-reading to fit unique situations, or to follow their intuitive sense of how the cards should be read in any given case. In my own experience sometimes a new spread will occur on it's own, in a matter of speaking.

I would also vote for a desktop application, although it might be worthwhile to consider an online library/database of other readers' interpretations and customized spreads - if that were an option. A desktop application does mean that users without constant internet access could still use the program, and once its out of development, it wouldn't be unreasonable to make the application paid software; this is a very inventive idea for an application, and could be very useful not just for doing readings, but as a learning aid as well.

peace

ps. Additionally, and I'm not sure if this was your intention already or not, but being able to assign different interpretations based on the position of the card in a given spread would also be a bonus.

This post has been edited by Vagrant Dreamer: Sep 15 2009, 11:58 AM

Excellent idea!
for starters i would love to have it wen ready.
also for a deck if u could i would apreciate the crowley thoth deck, if possible, otherwise i can learn a few new ones, lol