Copyright: (C) 1995 Alvaro J. Arancibia


Table of Contents
Tarot!  version 1.0

As a developer, I make no statement as to the false or true quality of the readings of the Tarot. I just tried to introduce the formal meaning associated with each card, as well as making the deeper interpretation of their relationships available to you. If this art has survived for so many years, there must be something in it.

Table of contents:

About Tarot brief presentation of the Tarot.

   Cards the cards.

   Arrangements about the way to play Tarot.

The Game about this program.

   Sound and Music activating sound.

   Language changing the language.

   Specific Question Make a specific question.

   General Question Make an ambiguous question.

Registering about this program.


General Question

Press the Shuffle Button at least once, while at the same time you think of what you would want to know. After Tarot! has shuffled the cards once, you may do it as many times as you feel like it. Then, press the Deal button.

You may use this section to ask, for example, "how will this year fare for me" or "I want to know if this guy is really serious".

Tarot! will first resolve for the major arcanes, and then for the combinations of these with the minor arcanes and thus give some precission to the answers.


Shuffling
Shuffle Button

Press this button to shuffle the deck.

In the real game of Tarot you're supposed to shuffle the cards yourself, thus affecting the outcome of the game. Since this is an electronic deck, Tarot! will introduce a variation in the shuffling proccess according to the time you press this button.


Specific Question

Here you ask things like "does he love me?" or "will i be able to cope with this matter?". You may choose not to type your answer, but at least press the Space bar or any key into the Question Box; of course, if you want Tarot! to print the Question, you must type it here.

The first four cards represent the relationship between you, the answer, the environment and the opposition; the fifth card is taken as the sum of the first and fourth cards modulus 22, and it shows a more specific relationship between the Consultant and the answer.


Toggle sound and music.
Sound and Music

Select either option to toggle the ON or OFF status of Music and Sound; the Sound will be heard when shuffling, dealing or at other times.

When active, both options will show a checkmark at the left side:


About Tarot!
About...

Select this option to access the About screen, where the ego and monetary matters are dealt with.


Language

Select this option to open the Language Selection screen, where you can press the radio button of the desired language. Then press the OK button to activate the change of language:


Registering information
To order tarot, select the Help-About option in the Menu Bar; press the button marked as Register and, once in the Notepad, select File-Print. Fill in the form and send it to

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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About Tarot

Tarot is the name of the ancient art of reading the cards; that is, to find out what is really happening with our lives, and what'll become of us. The cards are referred to as arcanes, or cards, of which there are two types: major and minor. These cards trace to very ancient times, and mostly everybody agrees they go back to the ancient egyptians priests.

Tarot is the western version of the I'Ching (or Yi-King), the Book of Changes that attempts to untangle the immanent permanence amidst the beings of change. There are gross differences, but the profound likeness begins to emerge as soon as we delve into the meaning of the cards of the Tarot.


The Game

The screen of Tarot presents the following structure:

Tarot! uses two of the main ways of dealing the cards.  In the first one, at the lower left, you can use the Four Card Arrangement, where only the major arcanes are used to answer a specific question.

At the lower right, you can click over the Seven Card Arrangement, used for dealing with more general questions, the likes of "How will I fare this year?" or "what about this boy I met last night?".

Notice that, as soon as the mouse cursor is over any of the areas mentioned above, the bottom line of the screen, usually white, delivers the message "General Question" or "Specific Question".

You can also activate the reding modes by using the menu bar at the top of the screen and selecting "General Question" or "Specific Question", or by using the key combinations or the Menu Bar at the top of the screen, as indicated below:

The blue crystal ball is used to browse the 22 major arcanes.


The Cards

The cards of the Tarot are a deeeeeeeeeeeep matter. But let's review them briefly.

Everything you see in an arcanes is significant: the drawing itself, proportions, theme and even colouring. I've tried to make the drawings as faithful as possible to the Marseille Tarot, in itself among the very oldest. Even if these drawings divert from what you may have seen, what is really important is the meaning associated with each card, and that tends to stay the same.

First, we have the 22 major arcanes: the most important cards of the game, charged with profound and strong meanings, meanings that may and will change with the position they are in; this position relates to the arrangement being used to deal the cards.

In the Tarot! main screen, press over the blue crystal ball to browse the major arcanes.

Then there are 58 lesser or minor, used to give precise meanings to the major influences of the major ones. 52 of these are associated with the traditional deck of playing cards, with 4 more that are associated with thoughts or messages. Tarot! uses the spanish deck, although the same results can be achieved with the english deck. However, the flavor is not the same with the latter ones, since the Tarot has mostly been played with the spanish deck.

The cards that stand for jacks, queens and kings represent people, each of this card with an astrological sign of its own. The Tarot has meanings to find out the gender of the person involved, but Tarot! has not yet implemented them - for now, we refer to someone with such and such characteristics.


Arrangements

To better present the arrangements while dealing a game of Tarot, some astrology must me introduced, since it is from this discipline where the meaning of each position is taken.

We part from the following disposition of the houses, each with a sign attached, and arranged as a circle, with the 1st. house at the left hand:

          10

      11      9

   12            8

1                   7

    2            6

       3      5

          4

Thus, the specific meaning for each card is taken in accordance with the place it occupies in the four card or immediate dealing. The fifth card is taken as the sum of the first an fourth cards modulus 21 (thus, the 22nd. card, The Traveller, really has a value of 0), and resumes the affinities between the Consultant and the answer (or the cards that represent each of them).


Arcanes
The arcanes are the cards that compose a game of tarot.


Major Arcanes
The major arcanes are the 22 main cards that compose a game of tarot, and which dominate the game, having an extraordinary force by themselves.


Minor Arcanes
The minor arcanes are the 56 cards of the Tarot that allow some precision in the game; 52 of them may be associated with the traditional deck of playing cards, with 4 more that are associated with thoughts or messages.