Are Tarot Apps The Wave of the Future?

Although I love technology, the thought of using a tarot app never crossed my mind. In fact, I’m rather old farty when it comes to tarot: I like a deck in my hand and a classic Rider Waite Smith one at that, thank you very much.

But at a tarot conference a few years back, Bill Tarot demonstrated an app he was working on. It had a lot of cool features and I found it interesting but then put it out of my mind. Tarot apps? Meh, not for me.

Seems those apps were intent on getting in my grill though.

They started popping up all over the place.

I was introduced to Teresa Deak’s beautiful Gratitude Tarot app and admittedly, I enjoyed playing with it. Hmmm…..this is fun and I can get a meaningful reading on it. But can this replace my deck?

I noticed app businesses like Tarot ECards and Galaxy Tone making appearances at conferences or hanging out on social media. Companies that were solely focused on tarot apps? Hmmm…..could this be a growing market?

Then my attention really got a swift kick to the skull when Joanna Powell Colbert launched the Gaian Tarot app. Okay, this app stuff is serious business. If the ultimate earth mother is embracing technology, I better get crunking on this app business and learn more. Game on!

I decided to sit down with the brains behind Galaxy Tone, Shonna Hill and get the inside scoop.

How did you get into the tarot app field?

In 2002 I took a Tarot class, and later that year met the man who will soon become my husband, Christopher. He was an early user of Android, and noticed that there was space in the market for a Tarot app. So for fun, and to learn Android programming, he made Galaxy Tarot… and it started to take off. I was working part time as a therapist then, so he contracted me to write card interpretations for the app, and then reversed interpretations as well. In 2012 we came to Cambodia, just for a visit, and we both really loved it here. I was going to get a job teaching at first, but instead ended up throwing myself into all kinds of Galaxy Tone work. I basically do everything but the programming now and totally love it.

On average, how long does it take you to create an app?

The underlying machine for our Tarot apps is an ever-growing and changing thing. It’s been evolving for about four years.

For each individual application there are a lot of variables that affect the time it takes to get it out into the world. It really depends on how much original content we need to develop and if we are implementing new features that have to be programmed.

What do people need to know about working with them?

We try to make our apps so that, even as an absolute Tarot beginner, you can just install the app and start using the cards and learning on the fly. The app guides you to take the steps, like focusing and thinking of a question, and shuffling and choosing the cards, so you don’t have to know how to use Tarot cards to begin.

I think if someone was expecting the Tarot to tell them with great certainty what exactly was going to happen, like “you will meet a tall, dark stranger”, they might be a bit surprised that it tends to be more meditative and reflective than that. I think that’s true about the Tarot in general, at least the way a lot of Tarot readers use it: it’s not so much about fortune-telling as it is introspection and gaining a new perspective.

Do you think tarot apps will make decks obsolete?

No. There’s still something special about touching and shuffling and meditating on actual, paper cards, and there’s definitely something to be said for unplugging from our devices now and then. Plus, if I visited a Tarot reader and they whipped out their tablet to do the reading, it might take away from the magic of the experience.

How do you see them changing the professional tarot industry?

One thing I can see is that Tarot apps allow artists to get their decks out into the world more easily. It seems to be quite difficult, and take a long time, to get your deck published by one of the big Tarot deck publishers, and it seems like self-publishing involves a lot of overhead and hard work.

There’s a lot of hard work involved in making an app too, but once it’s made it can be auto-magically delivered to people who want it — there’s no need to package and mail anything. The same way that downloadable music has made it easier for independent music artists to get their music into the world, Tarot apps can make it easier for Tarot artists to share their work.

Also, I think Tarot apps are allowing more people in the general public to learn what Tarot is all about so some of the pervasive myths that go with Tarot will start to fall away. People will have a better understanding of what the Tarot is and how it can help them; hopefully that will make the job of professional readers easier.

I’m old skool – how can you convince someone like me to give those apps a whirl?

There has been a lot of discussion in Tarot forums that I visit about the authenticity (or lack of) of digital Tarot, and honestly I don’t really see why a Tarot reading I do on my phone will be any different than one I do with my paper cards, as long as my intention is the same. It was pointed out, in one of those forums, that our phones are super-infused with our energy; they’re in our purses or pockets all the time, and we use them for so many things. With our apps, you can still shuffle the cards and select them one by one, so if you’re someone who likes to feel that little nudge to select one card over another (like I do), that is not missing. So I don’t feel like digital Tarot is lacking in any way.

Plus digital Tarot offers more. It’s portable of course, so you can have an array of different Tarot decks and books, plus a Tarot journal, all in your pocket. It’s also discreet, so, say you’re at a party and meet a new person, and want to do a quick reading about them, well, you can do that.

Also, artificial intelligence opens up a whole array of potential. For example, you could save your readings for a year in the journal on your app, and then analyze them all for common cards and other patterns. We have a lot of ideas for using the capabilities of software for taking Tarot above and beyond what can be done with paper cards.

Oh, and the other day, I did a Tarot reading on my Kindle Fire in the bath. That was pretty awesome.

What new apps are you conjuring up next?

We just released the Gypsy Palace Tarot app this week. Now I’m going to spend some time reflecting and restoring, making plans for 2014, and, of course, spreading the word about our apps. We’re also working on getting all of our new apps out for the Kindle Fire.

A little bio on Shonna:

Shonna, a Canadian, currently lives near the temples of Angkor in Cambodia with her life and business partner, Christopher, and their two cat-kids. She has a background in psychology, and is fascinated with all the weird and wonderful things people do. After many years of not knowing what she wanted to be when she grew up, and no less than three totally different careers, the twisty path of life brought Shonna to her happy place: working in the Tarot biz and being a small business owner. When she’s not making apps or reading the cards, Shonna is raising her kundalini, voraciously consuming films, and exploring Asia, particularly the food.

You can find Shonna posting:

on Facebook: www.facebook.com/galaxytone

on her Tarot website: www.aceofstarstarot.com

and check out all of Galaxy Tone’s apps at galaxytone.com

I’m not sure if I’ll ever be a total tarot app convert but I’m keeping an open and curious mind to see how these apps will transform tarot in the future.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” ~ Arthur C. Clarke

Blessings!

Theresa

So tell me – what do you think about tarot apps? Will they replace decks? How might technology improve tarot or the lives of tarot readers?