Decks v. Deck apps

I've been experimenting for a couple of months now with deck apps for my daily draws. I love the idea of "if I have my phone, I have a deck with me". I also like the option of having a journal that I can make on-the-go notes in. In practice, however... Not so much.

I'm finding that without the tactile interaction with the cards, the connection isn't there. Has anyone else had this experience?

The only purpose I might have for a phone app would be to be able to look up a card if I had any reason to. I have no temptation toward them since we have no cell service here and I therefore don't own a smart phone to use them with. I certainly wouldn't read with them since they're too much like one of those "fortune telling machines." I need to handle the cards to be able to feel connected enough to read them.

I prefer having the physical deck but when I'm out somewhere and have a question, the app is convenient. I use the Tarot of the Vampyres app when I'm out, or when my toddler is being grabby, or when I don't feel like getting set up for a reading (get a deck out of storage, shuffling, etc.) I didn't think I'd be able to connect with images in an app but I did, so much so that I ended up getting the physical deck.

Nope! I apps! They're so convenient, and I like that I'm really not paying a higher price for them or having to store them. For instance, I don't really like the Tarot Illuminati, but I have it in app form because I like it's set-up and card interpretations. Totally dislike the artwork though.

Apps allow me to be a little more adventurous with my tarot deck purchases, and if I end up not liking a deck, it's not that big of a deal because it didn't cost that much and I don't have to find some place to store it or try to get rid of it.

I get a daily RWS card from the Galaxy Tarot app and it's usually on-point to my day. The only deck I couldn't really connect to in app form was the BOS: So Below deck. I don't think I would like that deck either way though. All the others have created meaningful value in my life, and I may not have purchased them at all if my only option was a physical deck.

No, I don't feel any different reading from one or the other, both are equally useful tools. I'm with Amanda. Zero difference between connecting with a digital deck versus the same one in paper. Some of my most memorable, most accurate readings have been from an app. I'd gladly take digital copies of every deck in my collection for convenient use when pulling out the actual paper deck isn't convenient.

I tend to agree that apps are secondary to the real thing, but I do really love the Holy Light app. At this point, it also has the most comprehensive insight into the cards themselves. The accompanying text is from the not-yet-published companion book!

mrpants said:

I tend to agree that apps are secondary to the real thing, but I do really love the Holy Light app. At this point, it also has the most comprehensive insight into the cards themselves. The accompanying text is from the not-yet-published companion book!

Click to expand...

Tarot of the Holy Light is one of the apps I have. The book is a definitely a mind-blower. I did appreciate the opportunity to see the cards before buying a physical copy of the deck.

Semi-random aside: I decided not to get the deck, because all I can think when looking at the majors is "projectile lactation".

Funny that you started this thread, Mary Heather - I was just contemplating startin a thread on it myself!

I was wondering if others found their apps useful, and accurate? I do find mine to be fairly accurate. The Lenormand one, particularly...It is convenient too, when traveling around, to have them on the phone...

I do find them a bit Magic 8 Ball sometimes, but hey, even that toy can be fairly accurate! I think the same spirit infuses all systems of divinity - so I see no reason for the apps to not be just as good as the physical cards.

But I do like shuffling and reading physically from my own decks, too.

Best of both worlds!

ETA oh and as the others said - if you don't like a deck too much, it is then no great loss!

I got several apps for the decks that I'm on the fence about. It's good for doing one card per day. However, I don't find the reading great or accurate. Most of the time, it's opposite, sometimes it hits the mark. So I guess for me, I have to shuffle the cards and feel them physically to have a good reading
I use Fools App

I prefer a physical deck. The readings I've done with apps have been pretty out there. But perhaps that is because I feel I SHOULD to shuffle them in the hand.