© Copyright 1997 by Pam Williams. All rights reserved.
The Tarot has definitely found a niche on the Internet, and on the World Wide Web in particular. In addition to the many online psychics who will read your cards for a hefty fee, there are dozens of Web sites devoted to the Tarot that are created and maintained by Tarot enthusiasts as a public service. In this article, I'd like to share some of my favorite Tarot sites and other Tarot-related Internet resources.
One of the first Tarot sites I found on the Web, and one that has remained a favorite Tarot resource, is Mary K. Greer's Tools and Rites of Transformation (T.A.R.O.T.) site, located at http://www.nccn.net/~Tarot. This is a very comprehensive and well-designed site by a well-known Tarot author. This site goes beyond self-promotion (and believe me, Mary Greer has plenty of Tarot books and other products to promote) to include a lot of general information on the Tarot, spreads, card meanings, reviews of other people's Tarot decks and books, and a large list of Tarot links. My only complaint about this site is that it hasn't been updated in some time, so several links are broken or outdated. Nonetheless, this is a site worth visiting and bookmarking for reference.
Another reference site that I found very useful and interesting is Michele
Jackson's Tarot Page ( A large compendium of Tarot information that is available on the Web is Lysator's
Neopagan and Occult Divination Archive, found at
http://www.lysator.liu.se/religion/neopagan/tarot.html. There are links to lots
of Tarot information pages and several decks in this rather plain-looking but
utilitarian and comprehensive site. In addition to Tarot information, this page also
includes links to information about non-Tarot forms of divination. Lysator divides
its divination material into Occult and Neopagan categories, which is a somewhat
unusual but useful approach. This is an excellent site to visit when you have plenty
of time to explore. It helps if you already have a basic knowledge of Tarot, but
even the newest reader can find material of interest in this archive.
If you're just starting to investigate this ancient system of divination, how do
you get started? Well, in addition to visiting Michele Jackson's "Of Interest to
Beginners" page and reading some of the basic Tarot information on Mary Greer's site,
you can check out Joan Bunning's excellent site, Learning the Tarot: An Online Course,
at
http://www2.dgsys.com/~bunning/top.html. This self-paced online Tarot reading
course uses the Rider-Waite deck to illustrate the lessons. All you need is a Tarot
deck and a computer. You don't even need to be connected to the Internet; you can
download all of the lessons or order a copy in print or diskette versions, with or
without a Tarot deck. The course is free online or downloaded directly, but Bunning
charges a reasonable fee for providing hard copy and diskette versions of her course.
This course has a very high reputation as being useful, accurate, and well-designed.
There is also a Tarot FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Page on the Web at
http://www.eden.com/!r3winter/tarotfaq.html. This document originated on the
alt.tarot newsgroup (I'll cover newsgroups and other non-Web Internet Tarot resources
at the end of this article), and is posted there on a regular basis.
When you've finished the online course and have read the other beginners' pages
on the Web, it's time to go shopping for Tarot decks. Many of the general resource
pages have links to online decks and samples of decks that are available, and you
can also check out the growing number of online bookstores like Amazon.com and
Barnes and Noble, most of which now carry a selection of Tarot decks and deck-and-book
kits. However, if you want to go right to the source, check out the U.S. Games
Systems, Inc. Web site at
http://members.aol.com/usgames/tarhome.htm. While they don't have samples of
every deck they publish, they do reproduce catalog-type product photos for most of
them so you can get a feel for the Tarot decks they offer. Another Tarot deck
publisher on the Web is Llewellyn. Their Tarot Kits and Decks page is located at
http://www.llewellyn.com/tarot.htm.
Those of you who already belong to the "Tarot Deck of the Month Club" and have a
hefty collection of decks and books might be interested in surfing over to the "Folly
of the Alchemist Tarot Resources" site at
http://www.clysmic.com/tarot/. This attractive site provides excellent and
comprehensive information about rare, foreign, and out-of-print Tarot decks, and
resources for locating and purchasing the same. So if you're looking for that
special, out-of-the-ordinary deck for the jaded Tarotist in your life, take a look
at this site.
Tarot 'zines are gaining in numbers and popularity on the World Wide Web. One of
the best Tarot 'zines online is Crystal Sage's beautiful Tapestry e-zine
(http://www.tapestry-magazine.com/).
This site recently changed locations on the Web, and it appears that not all of the
sections of the site made the transition smoothly. Nonetheless, this e-zine is a
real find and a joy to read. The articles and advice offered are useful and
informative, and the artwork is gorgeous. This is a site to return to again and again.
Another Tarot e-zine I recently located is The Chariot: Tarot Online Magazine at
http://w3.uwyo.edu/~astarte/tarot/magazine.html. This is a new offering in the
online Tarot world. The online version is plain-looking and dowdy compared to
Tapestry, but it offers some useful information. The premiere issue (July 1997)
includes an essay on "The Fool's Journey", a review of a Book of Thoth (Aliester
Crowley's Tarot deck) site, a beginner's column, and a Tarot poetry page. Hopefully,
this online publication will mature well and provide interesting information in the
months and years to come.
Less an e-zine than an online Tarot column, dtKing's Tarot Weekly
(http://tarot.readers.com/home/) offers
the Tarot-inspired musings of long-time Tarotist dtKing, as well as a Tarot Reader's
Directory. Each column is illustrated with an appropriate Tarot card or other image.
Although the illustrations and the text swap columns on the page a bit too often for
a smooth reading experience, this is an interesting and attractive site, and worth
visiting regularly.
There are also a lot of online Tarot decks out there on the Web, from the
Rider-Waite deck (
http://www.npl.washington.edu/cgif/tarot/) to Morgan's Tarot (last seen at
http://www.sleepbot.com/morgan/) and
beyond. Most of the general Tarot sites mentioned in this article have links to
various Tarot deck sites. Still, I have my own favorites. One is the Maninni deck,
a collaborative effort by some of the members of the Tarot-L mailing list (again,
I'll explain about mailing lists at the end of this article). Another collaborative
deck by members of the Tarot-L list is The Dollie Tarot
(http://www.thefool.com/dollie/). The
Dollie Tarot is a humorous deck of tableaux featuring various dolls and action
figures. YoTarot, a project by artist David Kassel and writer Steve Lewis, is a
poetry-and-Tarot-images deck on the Web at
http://www.levity.com/yotarot/index.htm. There is a lovely, limited edition
photo-collage deck on the Web called the Transformational Tarot at
http://www.tarot.readers.com/transform/, which was created by an expressive art
therapist. Another beautiful photographic Tarot deck on the Web is Rev. Jennifer
Moore's Healing Tarot, located at
http://www.bluewitch.com/healtar.htm. This site also contains Tarot articles
and other Tarot-related information. And a woman named Ariadne has a Tarot deck in
progress and has produced a set of Tarot-themed decorative capital letters. Her site
is located at
http://www.ici.net/cust_pages/ariadne/ariadne.html. There are also several Web
sites that offer online Tarot readings, such as Jonathan Katz's Free Tarot Reading
site (
a href="http://www.facade.com/Occult/tarot/) and Annikin Divination Systems site
(http://www.annikin.com). Both of these sites
also offer free readings using other divinatory systems. These sites are good for
those times when you need a quick reading but don't have a deck handy.
Finally, there are several non-Web Tarot resources that are worth checking out.
There are two Tarot-related Usenet newsgroups: alt.tarot and alt.divination. To
subscribe to these newsgroups, check your Internet Service Provider for the
availability of the newsgroups and instructions on reading them. There is also at
least one Tarot mailing list, Tarot-L. To subscribe to this mailing list, send
e-mail to a href="mailto:listserv@techunix.technion.ac.il">
listserv@techunix.technion.ac.il with the message SUBSCRIBE tarot-l <your
e-mail address> <your full name>. Turn off your .signature file, if you
have one, when subscribing to mailing lists, because the automated programs that
process most subscription requests will not understand them. You can also visit the
Tarot-L Home Page at
http://www.lightspeed.bc.ca/hilander/tarotl.html for more information about the
mailing list, subscription information, list rules, and various list members.
While this is not a comprehensive review of all of the Tarot information available
on the Internet, it should be more than enough to get you started exploring on your
own. There are many more Tarot-related sites on the World Wide Web, and you can
spend many hours reading the postings on alt.tarot, alt.divination and the Tarot-L
mailing list. But don't forget that the virtual Internet Tarot experience is no
substitute for the real thing.
Happy reading and happy surfing!