Transformational Tarot

This unusual Transformational Tarot Computer Game uses words and images to read what is current in your life. Find out where you are going, clear up mental confusion, divine someone’s real motives, find your true path.

Guaranteed to give better advice than a bartender and it’s cheaper than visiting a psychologist. This game is available to play on all computers. (Not a printed deck.)

Click here to see all the cards for the Tarot Deck.

Click to play a sample game

HOW TO USE The Transformational Tarot

Make sure that you clear your mind with a meditation: it is important that you have a small period of inner silence before you click on to reveal any of the cards in the spread. If you ask a question , it should be very general, involving the direction of your life.

Pay especial attention to the issue or bridge card, if there is one (spreads three and five). Sometimes the Tarot doesn’t answer the question that you thought you were asking, but instead answers you at a deeper level. Most of our real questions are at an unconscious level, so the player should be aware of this feature of the Tarot.

I believe that part of the “magic” of Tarot decks is in the intention (attention) of the person pulling the cards.

It doesn’t seem to matter that you cannot physically pull the cards from the deck; in my Tarot, the intent of the user is very important, because otherwise the computer is just pulling a random card. The “magic” is still there because it comes from you, not from the machine or even from the deck.

My goal with the Transformational Tarot was to create a unique Tarot that was philosophically very balanced, and applicable for the spiritual issues of contemporary life. While this tarot doesn’t adhere to certain traditions — such as card numbers — I believe that the Transformational Tarot embodies the spirit of the tarot — it is intended to work at a generally higher level than telling your fortune.

Exhibited at “Digital Concentrate Exhibit” Purdue University in March / April 2005

Recommendation from the editor of Inner Realm Magazine, Barbara DeGraw to a readership of almost 100,000 in the NY, NJ area
(see below)

An article I wrote about the making of this deck — META-Physics – featured in the January 2005 edition of Inner Realm Magazine

TESTIMONIALS

I think your Tarot site is wonderful and beautiful. I am recommending it to all of my friends and almost 100,000 readers from Inner Realm Magazine (January 2005). — Barbara DeGraw, editor of Inner Realm Magazine

I loved transformational tarot. It is the only tarot reading online that gave me very deep insight to the core of my problem. That is very rare to find. — A.C.

Never thought a computer program would be able to emulate the shuffling process, however, my reading was as profound as I would have found it with cards…. —C.K.

What a great tarot spread! It actually helped to clarify (and surely will continue to do so as I continue to think about it) some of the issues I have been struggling with. Thanks! — Chantelle L.

Beautiful experience – thank you! — W. Okoli

I Love your tarot deck and how it works!!! Thank you so much for creating this! — S.B.

This is wonderful work. I consider this a well constructed deck, offering a truly intuitive read. This deck offers intuitive cues without the sometimes chaotic input of the card collages of James Wanless’ Voyager Deck. Remarkable work. — J.H.

I am very impressed with the cards and the readings they perform. Very accurate and truthful. —Erin

Just read the cards. It was great..although I feel I can read others pretty well I’m pretty pessimistic about my own readings. This one was great. It totally addressed current issues (shockingly well, in fact). Congratulations. — M.K.

I love the art work. —M.M.

I would like to congratulate you on a job well done. Very intelligent and accurate. — M.H.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

“The Ghost In The Machine”

I had wanted to create a Tarot deck for years, but it was not until I was looking at the artwork of René Magritte that something inside of me clicked. I have always liked how he titles his work: the title does not describe the piece, but instead, the words of the title seem to set in place a kind of alchemic reaction in the mind. This relationship of words, image and concept is something that Magritte explored to a great depth, and something that I find quite fascinating. The combination of the mysterious image and the enigmatic words of the title serve to do what I call “stop the mind”, an effect that resembles what happens during certain types of esoteric meditative practices. When the mind is stopped, something extraordinary happens: another type of thought process starts to emerge.

My original idea was that I wanted a way to randomize the titles to my paintings. I posed myself the following question, “Does an image change when a phrase is placed next to it?” I wanted to see how the context of the words changed the perception of the image, and how the proximity of the image changed the meaning of the words.

A Tarot deck seemed to be an ideal medium for my experiment. Since I work in interactive media, I started creating the project in Flash. Rather than create new illustrations, I chose paintings from the last 15 years. These images became the Arcana cards. Then I culled words from three Tarot books that I own. Throughout most of this project, I had no idea whether my Tarot would actually work: did I choose appropriate images and words? Most importantly, I had no idea if a mere computer program would be able to perform the magic of a real Tarot deck.

Since the completion of the deck I have done several readings for myself and my friends. I cannot speak for the others, but when I draw a spread, the cards seem to address my current mental, emotional and spiritual state.

A mysterious thing I have noted: in all the spreads I have drawn, there are some cards in this deck that have never appeared in any reading I have done for myself. They do, however, appear for others.

Is this Tarot Deck merely matter of random scripts, chance, and mathematics? Or is there truly a ghost in the machine?

— Aliyah Marr, September 2004

Be Sociable, Share!