Tarot Cielo by Kat Black

Queen of Pentacle

Queen of Disc

Your question is everything but insane.

I would be so sad is such a promising deck remain "digital"...
Hopefully it won't.
 

Queen of Disks

Thank you!!

My point being, if a deck is digital, then you can't shuffle it, (at least , I don't think so.) Which means you can't read with it. So what does it actually do?!?! Don't get me wrong, I love the art for the Tarot Cielo, and I absolutely LOVE my Golden. I use it all the time. But my Golden is out in the real world doing its job (very well) and serving its purpose. What purpose would a digital deck serve? How would it work? I'd very much rather it didn't just sit in my hard drive and take up space.

Anybody know something I don't?
 

HearthCricket

I have loved this deck from the start, but I have to admit, I am a bit disappointed that it isn't being published by US Games. I was hoping for something very similarly treated as the Golden, with gilded edges and a gorgeous box to boot. I am definitely old-fashioned in working with tarot. I like to hold the deck, touch and smell it, and shuffle it on my own. I like using cards for altars, or a reading and leave it out for the day and keep coming back to it and looking it over, pondering it. The concept of putting decks on computers bothers me as much as putting books on computers. It is not longer tangible. The computer world can be a cold one. I much prefer the tactile world. I will never read a book online! Sadly, I won't be using decks online, either. It just doesn't click with me. I need to hold it in my hands and really get down and dirty with it!
 

blackroseivy

The computer does shuffle for you, from what I understand.

I am very disappointed as I was hoping to buy this one... :(
 

Queen of Pentacle

Not my cup of tea.

The computer does shuffle, for sure.
If you want to see, they are many sites doing that online, or software that you can download (like Orphalese wich is free) that you can try.

Cute and nice but that's all. No feeling or insight for my part.

As many others, I am craving for a real deck, that I can hold in my hand and take with me, meditte on or just enjoy
And if possible as gorgeous as the "Golden Tarot" with its incredible heavy cardstock, gilded edges and box...

One can dream, can't I
 

Jessica_Marie

So Sad! I hope this doesnt remain digital. I just fell in love with the images Ive seen but I cannot do anything with digital tarot cards... I really hope it gets published.
 

Queen of Pentacle

Let's be confident

Frankly Jessica_marie,
So do all of us.

Theyre a lot of wonderfull digital decks, but they are just beautifull pictures.
I (and many I am sure) cannot do a thnig with these... except maybe a screen saver.
I love deck that you can fell, touch, take with you. Especially after such a wonder as the Golden tarot (the most wonderfull card stock and box I ever have, and I have a lot) I would be very sad that this even more beautifull deck dont incarnate (is that english ?) too.
May medieval or classical deck are on the way for 2009, and excepcted, I really hope that this new one from Kat Black will become a reality.

Let's be confident.
 

retrokat

I'm back!

After almost six months of (unpaid) work on the Byte Me! Festival, I'm back on deck with creating the rest of TC.

For the record - I'm making it at a printable, albeit small, resolution. Printed cards would be around playing card size. By making it this small, I massively increase the number of images I can use in the deck's creation without getting the 'fuzziness' of some component parts of Golden.

I am NOT looking for a publishing deal with a traditional tarot publisher though, as that would restrict the primary purpose for which I'm making the deck - ie for digital delivery (phone, web and perhaps other things...).

The reason I am making it primarily for digital delivery is pretty much the same reason that US screenwriters are on strike. Creators deserve to make a decent living from the popularity of their creations, and with digital distribution the overheads are much lower - and yet the traditional media are not sharing that potential profit with creators.

Think of it this way... I have amazing, dedicated fans who I really love. But if they buy my deck and look after it, treasure it and pass it on to their grandchildren - I probably made maybe 50c (or as low as 20c) from that relationship. Since tarot isn't on the scale of mass-market novels, then the chances of me making a living in a traditional model is nil, regardless of how popular my deck is.

So... I would rather have, say, 10c every time someone chose to use my deck on tarot.com and paid their $6.95 for a reading. That's still a very small %, and the amount I got would depend on the ongoing popularity of my deck - as long as people continued to USE it (as opposed to a traditional model where there's just a one-off payment when they buy it) then I could continue to earn a living from it, and also support myself to produce new work as well.

It's not that I'm a money-grubbing greedy so-and-so, it's just that I think creators deserve to get paid for their work the same as anyone else who does their job well.

Anyways, I'm back to the pixel-pushing and very excited about doing something creative. The Byte Me! Festival was a huge commitment of both time and money for the digital content community here in Western Australia and they responded pretty pathetically - so many people said they'd come along and then just didn't bother. So from now on, I'm just working on my own projects and those with Jasper. And Tarot Cielo is at the top of that list!

I know a digital deck won't suit everyone, especially the traditionalists who prefer treestock over pixels - so I will make sure that there's at least a small run of 'real' decks. It won't be possible to make it like Golden (I don't think US Games would probably ever spend that much on producing a deck again anyway! Talk about expensive production for the price...) but I've had several offers to publish the deck by small, independant publishers in the US, who would allow me to retain full digital rights. Tarot.com claims to have over a million users, so my guess is that there are many people for whom a digital deck is fine and dandy - let alone all of the people whose mobile never leaves their hand! :)
 

retrokat

Leisa ReFalo's iPhone tarot

http://tarotconnection.net/episode-65/

- a good, simple, basic example of how you can use an iPhone as a portable substitute with multiple decks.

Call me a geek, but I don't think it's that much different to a treeware deck - it's still something you hold in your hand.

Technically you would have to scan your own deck and load it on your own phone, as sharing ('distributing') a digitised deck would probably breach copyright rules.
 

Leisa

Digital Tarots

Hi Kat,

Your idea of course is much better and would give a more complete reading to have a digital deck and supporting software that would allow more complicated readings than one shuffled card at a time.

Leisa