Imaginalis

Tarot & Myth

The Fool from the 1909 deck: a young traveller in a bright tunic steps toward a cliff edge under a yellow sky, a white rose in one hand, a small dog at his heels.

Through tarot, into myth, symbol and the old wisdom traditions.

Draw a card and look at it closely. Then read what people have seen in it for more than a century, in myth, in art and in the sky.

Coming soon to iPhone

The method

See the card for yourself.

Imaginalis never tells you what a card means. It shows you what is on the card, and what people have seen in it for more than a century. Then it asks what you see.

Draw at home from your own deck and log the cards in a few taps. Or shuffle and cut the 1909 Rider⁠–⁠Waite⁠–⁠Smith deck in the app. Lay one card for the day, one of eight spreads, or a spread you design.

Temperance from the 1909 deck: a winged figure pours water from one cup into another, one foot on the bank and one in a pool, irises beside it and a path leading to the mountains.

What do you notice first?

The water goes from one cup to the other and none of it spills. One foot on the bank, one in the pool.

Journal

Every card you draw, kept with your notes.

Your journal keeps each card and spread by day, with what you wrote. Write a line, or speak it. Your iPhone turns your voice into text, then deletes the recording.

After thirty days, look back at the cards and images that keep returning. Export the whole journal as one file whenever you like.

Tuesday, 29 September

The Six of Cups from the 1909 deck: in an old garden a tall child bends to hand a smaller one a cup of small white flowers.

I keep looking at the flowers, white like little stars. And the tall child bending down so the small one can reach.

Library

The myths and history behind all 78 cards.

Pamela Colman Smith drew these 78 cards in 1909. Open any of them to see where it comes from and what people have seen in it. Read 69 echoes from myth, art and history, each checked against its sources. A glossary explains the terms, and a shelf holds eight books to read next.

The Hermit from the 1909 deck: an old man in a grey cloak on a snowy height holds up a lantern with a star in it.
The Light of the World by William Holman Hunt: at night, a crowned figure with a lantern knocks at a door overgrown with weeds.
William Holman Hunt, The Light of the World, 1900–04. St Paul’s Cathedral, London. Public domain.

Path

Learn the basics of tarot in four weeks.

Twenty short lessons, one a day, five to seven minutes each. You learn the deck and its history, the 22 trumps, the four suits and their court, and how to lay cards for yourself. What you notice in a lesson goes into your journal.

  1. Week 1 · Day 1What a tarot deck is6 min
  2. Week 1 · Day 2How Waite and Smith made this deck6 min
  3. Week 1 · Day 3How to look at a card6 min