The Enchanted Tarot CD
This program is one of the more entertaining and well-done programs in my
collection. The program uses the Enchanted Tarot deck, a beautiful fabric
collage deck by Amy Zerner. Zerner’s partner, Monte Farber, wrote the card
meanings and other text. Once you install the program, I recommend you take the
Quick Tour. This will show you how the program works. This program does a lot of
things and the interface is not especially intuitive. Generally, I ignore tours
on programs, preferring to figure things out for myself, but, in this case, taking
the tour will save you a lot of time and possibly frustration. There is
also a users guide included with the CD, but the tour is much more enjoyable and
is also easy to follow.
When you first run the program, a brief introductory animation takes
you through a door and down a hall that has images of the Enchanted Tarot deck.
You can stop it and jump directly into the program by pressing the right mouse
button. Once you get into the program, you get an opening screen. At the top of
the screen you will see "Your Vision Quest." Clicking on this will
start a movie that provides some background information on dreams, the
subconscious, and tarot in general and the Enchanted Tarot in particular. You
can click on "Formulate a Question" to get the question choices to
drop down. The screen will then look like this. There are
ten choices. The first six are called Messages and result in a one card
spread. The next choice is a three card Past, Present, Future Spread. This is
followed by two Mind, Body Spirit Spreads (three cards), and the last choice
will give you a Celtic Cross Spread. Once you choose a question, you generally
have to fill in part of it to personalize it. For example, if you choose
"Give me a message about..." suggestions on things you can ask about
will appear in brackets. You replace the bracketed information with whatever you
are asking about. You then click on begin and a new screen appears. Clicking on
the bar at the top will deal your cards. The cards will appear as
silhouettes.
Clicking on the silhouettes will bring up the image of the card and a card
meaning for its position. The screen will look like this.
Clicking on one of the first two choices in the menu on the right (The Dream,
The Awakening) will animate the image. A voice will tell you what the card
means. The meanings are based on the Enchanted Tarot Book. They are very similar
to those in the book, though not word for word. Meanings are also tailored for
the card position. For example, the meaning of the Lovers will be slightly
different, depending on where it falls in the spread. The third choice
(Enchantment) will provide a smaller screen with a suggested activity. Again,
the activities are based on those in the book. Once you have watched the
animation and heard/read the information for all of the cards in your spread,
you can click on Interpret My Reading to get a summary of the reading. The
summary can be printed, but it will not print the images of the cards or the
spread. Running the mouse across the top of the screen will give you a
drop down menu bar. You can use it to save the reading in your diary. The
diary will also give you an opportunity to add your own comments.
You can also use shortcuts to perform many of the program functions. For
example, control-s will save your reading, control - n will minimize the program
screen, and control-down will turn down the volume. You can find these and other
shortcuts in the Read Me file on the CD.
The crystals along the bottom of the first program screen provide choices of
things to do. The first crystal, Divination, is the default. It will
take you through the process described above. The second crystal is the Diary.
You can see previous questions asked (that you saved) and read your comments.
Clicking on View will show you the reading. The third crystal, History,
has three choices - Major Arcana, Minor Arcana, and History. Clicking on the
Major Arcana will show you a movie and talk about the Fool's Journey. The Minor
Arcana will show you a different movie, and discuss background information on
their history and on the suits. History will show a different movie and discuss
tarot history. The history provided begins with the documented history, but also
provides conjectures on theories on the origin of the word tarot.
The last crystal, Card Review, allows you to choose individual cards to see
and get their meaning. You can print the card meanings, but not the images
of the card.
This program is both attractive and entertaining. The movies and animations
are nicely done and the spoken portions are robust. The program advertises over
an hour of original music and over two hours of audio narration. The images,
spoken words and music combine to set a mood and immerse you in the reading
experience. I have read in another review that the program did not
multi-task, but I did not have this problem. I was able to refer to the program
while I wrote the review and captured images in my Paint program. The program
took up the whole screen, but using the alt-esc or alt-tab combination allowed
me to jump back and forth quite readily. Those who use the Enchanted Tarot as
their primary deck will feel right at home. The program follows the book very
closely. Those who are not familiar with this deck will enjoy the beautiful images
and the magical tone and atmosphere of the program. This is not a program
designed to give you a quick reading, nor is it designed to be customized as to
card meanings and decks - rather it is a program that sets a mood and takes you
through a reading experience. It is quite entertaining and one could spend many
pleasant hours using it. I recommend this program for anyone who is looking for
a beautiful and entertaining program. Highly recommended.
See the screens from a reading (bear in mind that the music and sounds add immeasurably to the experience.)
System Requirements; IBM PC. 486SX-33MHz, 8B Ram, 5MB hard disk space, double speed CD-ROM drive, Microsoft Windows 3.1 or Windows 95, Sound Card
This page is Copyright 1996/97 Michele Jackson
