The Public Tarot: Generative Fortunes

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Explore the directory of tarot cards and their keywords:


A generative tarot reader by Marilyn Roxie. The Public Tarot: Generative Fortunes was made with open-source, interactive fiction software Twine. Purple text indicates word associations with the 78 Rider-Waite tarot images given by 31 survey respondents who ranged in familiarity or lack thereof with the tarot. These responses were then remixed with text from A.E. Waite's The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), which is in the public domain.

The tarot card images are of the 1909 Rider-Waite deck illustrated by Pamela Coleman Smith, originally scanned by Holly Voley and sourced from the Internet Sacred Text Archive. These images are in the public domain and have been passed through a 16-bit color filter. You can explore the card meanings individually here.

Special thanks to survey-takers, troubleshooters, and play-testers:

Hune Ceaulage, ChapelR, Barbara D’Aversa, Devon, the Digital Futures class at Manchester Metropolitan University, feodoric, GoblinSpaceWizard, Nolan Harris, Kelly Jones, Michelle Jones, Ciel King-Williams, Ryan Daniel Koenig, litrouke, The Mad Exile, Ruth Miller, Natari, Ocean, Fex Orumwense, Daisy Polaski, Elsie Profilio, qdot, Ruune, Ant Shea, Tala, Wendy, Nam Vo, Bishop Xiong, and all anonymous survey respondents.

The background image is a photograph taken by
Rodion Kutsaev, the photo for Divinatory Meanings is by Daniel Albany (AlbanyColley), and the cursor icons are by MadameBerry, all licensed in the public domain.

Release history and news:
Initial release, February 3rd, 2018
Gallery showing at Manchester Metropolitan University, February 8th, 2018
Update, February 12th, 2018: added Card of the Day and Celtic Cross readings, made Divinatory Meanings section easier to find, added clearer instructions for when to click and scroll, added links for public domain assets