Dynamic Tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 11 Jun 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Osher	11 Jun 2005
With advances in paper like e-books, the day will come when Tarot could be like the pictures in Harry Potter. In other words, a card will have a short 'movie', to illustrate it. So, Tower might show a tower being destroyed, but on the foundations, a new one rising. The question is, would a Tarot card that had a movie built in be good to read with, or just a novelty? A movie or a series of animations, could illustrate something well...or it could be too distracting?

closrapexa	12 Jun 2005
I should think that it would be a novelty. I would want it, of course. You could write Tarot on a jar of jam and I would buy it only because of that, but It wouldn't be Tarot, in my opinion. The whole point is that the cards suggest things to you, work on your intuition. A movie is some else's interpretation made into movie form. Only a small example would be the many movies that have been made from books, with many of them being bad, or not at all what you imagined it would be like.

Fulgour	12 Jun 2005
Shakespeare wrote for his fellow players, the same way Beethoven often composed well aware of his musicians ability and personal style. We can only glimpse at these special additions, when today we listen, read, or watch. With the intuitive undercurrent at the heart of the Tarot even something like holographic reversals could only be seen as the interpretation of the artist, and so, ourselves. But this is ever much the case, even with "static" images.

Astra	12 Jun 2005
This is actually a concept I've been playing with (not working on, so far), and my take on it is that it will probably be useful for something like meditation, but not for readings per se. Given the fact that you can't shuffle and deal cards with animation built in, the base cards for a "real" deck would have to be a single image, but even with a computer generated reading, I would think you'd have to have several different animations to go with each card, which could come up at random to allow for latitude in the interpretations. The work involved in that (never mind the disk space) would be, well, massive.

Osher	12 Jun 2005
Astra wrote: Given the fact that you can't shuffle and deal cards with animation built in, the base cards for a "real" deck would have to be a single image, but even with a computer generated reading... The work involved in that (never mind the disk space) would be, well, massive. I disagree...we already have flexible screens as thin as paper. Batteries are still rigid, but that is changing, and they're already thin enough. The only question is over storage, and even there... The development of paper e-books is rapid, and it might lead to e-Tarot within the next decade. The question, could we read an animated card?

WolfSpirit	12 Jun 2005
I think it would be a problem that you have to pace yourself to the movement in the cards. Some readings go quickly, and some people like to sit with their cards in front of them for a while until something comes to them. Unless you could set it to slow motion - a tower slowly collapsing, wouldn't that be scary, LOL. Or the card could repeat itself over and over, but I think that would soon become annoying. In truth, I think having the cards show the same movies over and over again would soon become boring, more boring than images without movement in them. Maybe another interesting option would be you get to see several images for a card and you stop the movie at the image you want - so you can put together a personal deck of your own favourite images. Personally I would only get it if it can only be done at an affordable price too. And I am quite fond of cardboard cards.

OakDragon	12 Jun 2005
IIRC, Ciro Marchetti's Tarot of Dreams is coming with a CD-ROM, which will include, among other things, animated versions of some of the cards.

Fudugazi	12 Jun 2005
Will we ever have a Grim Reaper on a Death card that will whisper to us: - this time I mean death and slide the side of its hand along its throat? Not sure how that would please the clientele!

Osher	12 Jun 2005
I'd be interested in seeing the Decameron or Manara versions...

WolfyJames	12 Jun 2005
I would love for such a deck to be. Wow, that would be really neat, to see the atmosphere of the cards coming to life. I'm definitively looking forward such a deck. I would love to see all my decks like this. Imagine the Gothic Tarot (by Vargo) with mist rolling around the characters, the wind blowing in their hair and in their clothes, with wolves howling in the back with creepy sounds... I want one!!!

Emeraldgirl	14 Jun 2005
Wow what a great idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are a few decks that would be great to see animated (yes Osher I agree on the Decameron or Manara decks) I will be keeping a eye out for The Tarot of Dreams for another reson now. Although as there is not just one simple meaning for any card so could they be tailored to recognise the surrounding cards? And to give different interpretations accordingly?

The Dynamic Tarot thread was originally posted on 11 Jun 2005 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.