The Tarot Channel

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.

The Grail Tarot

The Grail Tarot: A Templar Vision "retells the Grail legend and relates the quest for the sacred Christian relic to our desire to understand the puzzle of our own lives". The deck is collaboration between author John Matthews and artist Giovanni Caselli.

The Renaissance-themed imagery looks very authentic and the cards have an unusual and possibly unique feature; when laid side-by-side in order, they form a continuous frieze. For example, The Magdalene (High Priestess) gazes at The Gnostic Christ (Magician), offering him the chalice with her right hand and Sheba (Empress) and Solomon (Emperor) sit under a pillared portico. This concept is not as gimmicky as it might sound, as it is not apparent from each individual card that they are capable of being part of a continuous image. However, when joined together each background flows seamlessly to the next. The cards are borderless and each image fills the whole card, except for a small section at the bottom that contains the card number and title.

Torrid Tarot

In the mood for some steamy Tarot-themed novellas and novels? Look no further than Ellora's Cave Torrid Tarot series. With titles like Dead Awakening (The World), Premonition (7 of Cups), All Chained Up (4 of Wands) and Triple Booked (3 of Pentacles), there's something for everyone who likes their Tarot romantic and naughty. (Ages 18 and over, please.)

-- Janet Boyer

2009 Readers Studio

The Tarot School has recently announced the dates and primary speakers for the 2009 Readers Studio. Slots fill up fast, so you may want to check out the RS09 page to reserve your seat!

Next year's dates are April 30-May 3, with Rachel Pollack, James Wanless and Geraldine Amaral hosting the Master Sessions. There will be other presenters announced, as well as after-hours study groups and brand new Lunch N' Learn Sessions.

Click here for more information!

-- Janet Boyer

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

2009 Tarot World Annual

Heidi Snelgrove has defrauded dozens of subscribers and contributors with the now defunct Tarot World Magazine and the never-published 2009 Tarot World Annual. You can find her at: http://www.facebook.com/people/Heidi-Snelgrove/1179124751

The Whispering Tarot - Liz Hazel

Liz Hazel, author of Tarot Decoded and current Editor of the ATA Quarterly Journal, is out with a new deck called The Whispering Tarot.

The signed and numbered First Edition is limited to 500 copies and just started shipping out a few days ago. According to Liz's website, Kozmic-Kitchen.com:

"The Whispering Tarot is a tarot deck for all times and all places. And this is a talking tarot: it whispers, it giggles, it reveals what you need to know. This deck has a gentle but powerful soul. It's bound with a fortune-telling charm and true to its muse. Knowledge, wisdom, emotion, and esoteric lore hum through the lines and colors.

And the longer you use it, the more secrets is will share with you..."

To view a few card samples, find out more, and order the deck, visit Liz's shop.

-- Janet Boyer

Where Tarot can take you

I love the Tarot connection in this story, from MercuryNews.com, about Kay Ryan, the new U.S. Poet Laureate!

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.

Build Your Metaphysical Business

If you're a professional Tarot reader, Astrologer, Reiki therapist or other metaphysical practitioner, Elizabeth Genco has some valuable information she'd like to share with you about building your business!

BuildYourMetaphysicalBusiness.com is a site dedicated to giving metaphysical and holistic solo practitioners the tools they need to make more money, help more people, and have much more fun in the process.

You can get a free interview called Grow Your Business With Spirit with Tarotist James Wells at Elizabeth's site, as well as sign up for her free newsletter and marketing teleclasses on how to be a client magnet. To find out what others are saying about Elizabeth's marketing wisdom, click here.

-- Janet Boyer