How we write
Our editorial standards: who writes Orbitarot, where every meaning comes from, how we check the numbers and what we will never do.
Who writes this site
Orbitarot is an independent site that builds free tools. We are not psychics and we do not present ourselves as tarot masters. Everything on the site is written from the published sources named below, and the sources are shown on every page so you can check them.
Where the meanings come from
- Card meanings and position readings are written by us in our own words: one meaning per card upright and reversed, plus 1,404 short readings for the positions a card can take in a spread. They follow the traditional meanings shared by modern readers; we do not copy books or other sites.
- A. E. Waite's 1910 meanings are quoted exactly from The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (public domain) on every card page, next to a note on how today's reading differs. Waite chose the symbolism and Pamela Colman Smith drew all 78 cards, so Waite's text is the primary source for this deck.
- The card art is Pamela Colman Smith's deck, scanned from an early 1909 printing (the “Pam-A” state) and published on Wikimedia Commons as public domain. We checked the licence of every one of the 78 files.
- The I Ching judgments and lines are quoted from James Legge's 1882 translation (public domain). The plain-language reading under each one is ours.
Every text is checked line by line against the sources named on each page; quotes and figures are verified, never invented.
How we check numbers
Every probability on the site (the chance of a card, a repeated number or a changing line) is computed exactly from the 78-card deck or the coin and yarrow methods, and the arithmetic is shown on the page. Where we ran a simulation, for the yarrow stalks, we say so and give the size. Our 14 guides are each built on one checkable finding: a quoted primary source or a computed figure.
Astrology, numerology and gematria
The astrology calculators run on an astronomical engine built on VSOP87 and Jean Meeus's Astronomical Algorithms. We compared it with NASA JPL's Horizons ephemeris at 500 random moments from 1900 to 2100: the Sun and planets came within 0.0011 degrees and the Moon within 0.0050 degrees. The method page sets out the zodiac, house systems, orbs, time zones and place data (GeoNames, CC BY 4.0). The texts for each placement, house and aspect are our own summary of what astrologers commonly associate with them: a symbolic tradition, not a tested finding. Numerology uses the Pythagorean and Chaldean letter tables shown on the numerology page, and its number meanings are our own summary of common modern usage. Our gematria tables match the two public calculators we checked. None of these tools predicts health, pregnancy, death, legal outcomes or money.
How a reading is made
Cards and coins are drawn in your browser with a cryptographic random generator. The text you read is assembled from the written meanings above and a set of plain rules (for example, how many Major Arcana came up). No AI writes your reading, no person sees it, and your question never leaves your device. More on how the readings work.
What we will not do
- Predict health, pregnancy, death, legal outcomes or money results.
- Sell psychic readings, credits or subscriptions, or publish testimonials we cannot verify.
- Invent quotes, studies or statistics. If a fact cannot be checked, we leave it out.
Corrections
If you find a mistake, write to hello@orbitarot.com. We correct errors and update the date shown on the page. Last review of this page: October 16, 2026.