Learning tarot completely from apps

I find that as well. Hidden Realms is a good example. I own the physical deck and it is one of my current rotation, like it a lot. I find it especially good for inter-personal dynamics as it is very character-driven. I also enjoy the app of that deck and use it, though not as much as some of the other apps. I find the app for this one somewhat 'cooler' in messaging. Oddly I find my Fools Dog app for Bonefire (my fav app) warmer than the actual deck (which I also like very much btw). I have 11 Fools Dog apps and have all but one of the physical decks (Chrysalis) and have found using them to change how I read the decks.

I too own a number of apps, mostly out of my inability to wait for the actual deck to be shipped: I get SO hyped that I need to treat myself with something that brings the object of my desire closer to me As for their usefulness as learning tools... err... They are not for me. I am the one who cannot really read a book unless it is an actual copy that I can hold in my hands. The same is true for tarot: I don't even consider myself as owning a deck if I only have the app. Plus, I like to be able to do whatever I want with my decks and books, which I cannot do with the app version.

PS: I wouldn't even be able to do a reading with an app. Not that it is not possible, in line of principle, but I like to shuffle my deck, which is part of a loooong meditating process before I finally cut it, and I find this meditation is impossible unless I am using a physical copy.

Good grief, things have changed here on AT...

Alta said:

There are some very good tarot apps available, I have three myself. Generally you can do single card draws, spreads etc and generally they have some sort of abbreviated meaning (at least) for the cards.

I note that people are signing up for ATF with only apps, no deck. Now this isn't to say that they might not acquire a deck in future but it made me wonder.

Do you think it is possible to become fluent in Tarot, become at least a decent if not excellent reader using only apps?

I am so old school, even liking and using the apps, that I am inclined to say that arranging, shuffling and pondering the cards at least in part requires a physical deck. What do you think?

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It was only a year ago since I posted in Advertisements about my "Tarot & Numerology" App on iTunes and it started a very heated thread.
"Hostile" reception to Digital Tarot would be a good summary of my previous engagement on the subject here.
I've had a busy this year (moved from Scotland to New Zealand) and had too much on my plate for Forum time.
I return, during the holiday quiet, to find that there's not just one thread on the subject of online tarot/tarot apps but several!
Things have changed! Now digital seems to be accepted here on AT!?

Anyway, since so many of you are using Apps for Tarot now I would love it if you could all try out my own App which I've written myself. I'm looking for feedback, honest critique and idea for new features.
Look for "Tarot & Numerology" on the iTunes App store. (iOS only, sorry Android people!)
It's native for iPad too.
It has features that I believe are unique and very advanced. e.g. Tarot Deck Creation. You can create your own deck in the App using the device camera or uploading your own art work.

The App is a mobile version of the Phuture.me website which I created and run.

Callanish

This thread has made me think about using online apps to try learn more about the cards i do use lotus tarot sometimes ill try some more now aswell

Alta said:

I am so old school, even liking and using the apps, that I am inclined to say that arranging, shuffling and pondering the cards at least in part requires a physical deck. What do you think?

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Certainly, pondering does.

And do they allow you to design your spread, or change spreads halfway through?

And quite often when I've shuffled and I'm cutting the deck, it wants to open in two places. I usually check both locations, which one gives me the cards that speak to the situation best. How is an app ever going to do that? There's something to be said for the analogue method of skin-on-card.

Very interesting thread Alta!!!
It seems like it is a situation of how old we were before computers, and PDAs became mainstream? Many of us love the feel of the cards, the ritual of physical shuffling, etc. Some of us even shuffle when we are watching TV, just because it feels comforting....

I was not interested in apps. I love the feel of my paper decks.....but then I kept reading about how awesome the enlarges details on the Shadowscapes deck by Fools Dog, an I bought my 1st app... And my mind is now expanded..

I do totally agree that the energy of apps are very different from paper decks!! But the question is: Can a Newbie learn just from electronic sources, and do good readings? I am going to agree with Ainvli!

Plus they are SO affordable. Most Fools Dog apps are $3.99. Some are less. You can get several apps for the price of one mass media paper kit.

Aivli said:

Hello Alta! I'm going to jump in here with a happily resounding YES! I do think it is absolutely possible for someone to become fluent in Tarot and an excellent reader using only apps.

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Then there is Vampyres that is currently OOP, harder to find, and expensive for the physical paper version. That is an app that I bought purely for the book.

Vampyres one of the best companion books out there with creative angles on many sides of every card! Ian Daniels even starts with the balanced side of various cards, including the benefits of often negatively portrayed cards.
Other sections of the Vampyres info on each card includes:
Shadow side
Essence
Message
Analysis & symbolism
Alchemy
Kindred Spirits
Verse
Ian Daniels companion book for Vampyres is one of the VERY best out there (out of ~200 Tarot books I currently own). Good news, for those who still like the paper version, a reprint is rumored to be coming soon!

The energy of the apps do "feel" different, most likely because computers, the Internet, our phones, PDAs, etc, all have "energy" that is very different than paper.

The question of readings using apps? I read app cards just like a paper deck. I have used apps to pull cards for reading exchanges. So far, so good. I do believe the cards that are supposed to show up do. Why would an app not pull the "right" cards?

Very interesting thread!

I have to admit, I have a lot of tarot apps. And I mean a-lot-a-lot. Um… *goes away and counts* …Over twenty. Wow, they out-number my paper decks! I really should add them to my profile. That betrays a subconscious bias on my part, that I didn’t “count” them when listing the decks I own. Which is very strange, because I LOVE my tarot apps. I ought to, since I have so many of them, right?

I can’t say with authority that you can learn from only apps, because I had paper decks first and learned on them. But I can say that having the apps has helped me learn better. I love to do the “daily card” on my Fool’s Dog apps, because it’s so easy. The ability to flip from card image to meaning with a single tap (and back again), plus the ability to draw a daily card from a wide variety of decks with just a few taps — all of it automatically recorded for me in the app — has meant that I do daily draws more than I ever have with paper decks. And that has GREATLY improved my understanding of every single card in tarot in general.

Would I give up my paper decks and use only apps? Never! I love the physical act of shuffling, and the tactile experience of paper cards, and the energy of the whole paper-deck experience.

Would I give up my tarot apps and use only paper decks? Not without a fight! Not without grief and tears, too. I love the energy of the app-deck experience (I agree that it’s a bit different), and the convenience of them, and the fact that I can buy about five of them for the price of one paper deck.

Also, as others have pointed out, there’s the OOP decks like Vampyres, which I have as an app but not in paper, though I wish I could afford it.

Edited my profile to list all my apps. That's that particular subconscious bias kicked to the kerb.

It's funny, I have a few Tarot apps, but I don't believe the readings I get from them. I know in my head that they are just as random (actually more) as shuffling, and the RWS is the same any way you spin it, but I can't relate to the reading viscerally. It is as if those readings "don't count."

I'm relatively young and spend a lot of time accessing digital interfaces, so that may be what is coloring my answer, but I don't see why people can't learn just as much from a digital tarot (be it an app or a program like Orphalese).

So many vital, important, sacred parts of my life are either digital or otherwise incorporeal. That doesn't mean they aren't real. I treat my online relationships with as much or even more gravity than my meatspace ones; there is no reason that I cannot approach a digital tarot deck with the same respect and gravity, and learn just as much.

To be honest, I'm a bit miffed by people who say a digital deck cannot compare like it is a universal truth, because I spent my first year of tarot reading from Orphalese (and getting damn good readings, at that). I couldn't afford a physical deck because they're expensive and I was a poor college student, and I couldn't risk bringing one home anyway because my religious family would have had a fit. If it wasn't for Orphalese I would never have gotten into tarot in the first place because it was a safe, accessible route to dip my toes in.

I definitely understand why others might personally prefer physical decks, but to say someone could not learn from a digital deck leaves me feeling like, what, that year I spent on Orphalese wasn't real? Didn't count for anything? If people are signing up to AT having only used apps or digital decks thus far, then good for them. They found an affordable route to start getting into a really great practice, and I think that making tarot more accessible is wonderful.