A little space for reflection

Why I’m building this

I wanted the useful part to come first: a full deck, a clear way to draw, and meanings you can read without creating an account. The aim is a calm, accessible place to explore tarot on a phone or computer.

I publish this project under the pen name Rowan Vale. It is an editorial identity, not a claim to professional divination credentials. The site is a small independent project and is not affiliated with a tarot publisher or the creators of the historical deck.

How the meanings are written

The explanations use the Rider–Waite–Smith tradition as a starting point, then translate its themes into plain-language reflection prompts. The words are original summaries, not a reproduction of a modern guidebook. AI-assisted drafting is part of the development workflow; the cards shown and their directions are selected by the browser, not by an AI reading your question.

Historical symbolism can be compared with A. E. Waite’s The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. This site takes a reflection-focused approach and does not adopt every divinatory claim in that text. A reversal is interpreted in context rather than mechanically negating the upright meaning.

The same card data supplies the generator and meanings directory. Corrections should improve that shared source, so a change can remain consistent across the site. You can send a correction or suggestion.

The artwork and its sources

The card faces are historical 1910 Pam-A Rider–Waite–Smith scans, illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, from the Wikimedia Commons collection. Each selected file has a public-domain source record; individual links appear beside the cards in our meanings directory.

The site uses those historical illustrations, not a modern publisher’s recoloring or proprietary deck. The geometric card back is made for this site. Inter and Cormorant Garamond are self-hosted open-source fonts under the SIL Open Font License.

Your reading stays with you

Drawing takes place in your browser. Saved readings stay in that browser, with no account or cloud sync. A shared link contains only the spread type, card identifiers and directions. It does not contain a question, name or journal entry.

See the privacy page for the separate treatment of website requests and contact messages.

What this tool is for

Reflection, learning and curiosity. A card is not evidence of another person’s feelings and does not establish a future event. The tool’s role is to offer an angle for thought, while leaving decisions with you.